Barbecued Salmon Steaks

One salmon steak per person.

Coat the back with olive oil. Sprinkle kosher salt on the oil. Turn over.
Coat the top with lemon juice. Don't be stingy.
Sprinkle with dill and tarragon.
Add a pat of butter on each steak.

Add a stick of hardwood to the barbecue to create smoke. Make sure that any flames from the hardwood won't burn the fish.
Barbecue, butter side up. Turn when appropriate.
Note that the skin will likely peel off while barbecuing. Re-salt the back. Don't over do it.

Banana-ish Bread

Into the bread machine, in this order:

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 cups white flour
1 cup corn masa flour
1 cup dried banana chips

2 TBSP white sugar

1 TBSP dry buttermilk powder
1 TBSP gluten

2 TBSP butter

1¼ tsp salt

1⅓ cups milk, preferably lukewarm.

Ideas for Chopped Salad

The idea behind a chopped salad is pretty basic: chop greens and stuff into smaller pieces. This makes the salad more dense physically, which results in greater flavor density. The result is that the salad is easier to eat, because I can get a whole mouthful easily, and more flavor (and nutrition) per bite. 

I've come to the conclusion that fundamentally, the recipe for a chopped salad is this: "Clean your refrigerator. Chop it with lettuce. Garnish. Serve."

Here are some ideas for chopped salad:

Ruth's Chris Chop Salad

Ruth's Chris Steak House:

Julienned Spinach radicchio & iceberg lettuce.  (3:1:6 ratio) [Comment: they mold the dressed salad in a piece of (clean) PVC pipe. Looks cool.]

Hearts of palm

Green olives

Sliced mushrooms

Sliced red onions

Diced boiled egg

Blue cheese crumbles

Chopped cooked bacon

Croutons

Lemon basil dressing

Other Interesting Ingredients:

1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup fresh or frozen corn, cooked and cooled

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed

3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack

tortilla chips or strips (optional)

Lemon Basil Dressing:

2 tablespoons Pommery mustard

Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

16 basil leaves, very thinly sliced

Coarse salt, to taste

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Creamy Potato, Kale, And Leek Soup

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4. Consider doubling it.

Prep: 5min Cook: 17min; Total: 23min

• 1 lb red potatoes, unpeeled

• 1 TBSP canola oil

• 1 pound or so of Italian chicken sausage

• 3 cups or so (6 oz) kale, chopped and tightly packed

• 3 cups leek, white and pale green parts, chopped (2 medium leeks)

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3 cups rice milk

• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut potatoes into golf ball size pieces and place on a microwavable plate. Cover with waxed paper. Cook on high, rotating occasionally, until tender, about 6 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in pot, cook the sausage until done. Drain. Add the oil, and heat oil over medium heat. Add kale, leek, and salt. Stir. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Add milk, potatoes, and nutmeg. Reduce heat to medium low. With potato masher or back of a large spoon, smash potatoes into small chunks. Simmer until flavors blend, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle each serving with pepper to taste.

Interesting Open-Face Fish Sandwiches

Fish, thawed, thawed. Salmon is one of our favorites. Whitefish works.
    (up to ½ pound per person)

Cut into 4 oz steaks.

Several slices sourdough bread (or 2 large homemade slices per person)

Marinade (enough for 2, maybe 3 people)

2 TBSP Hoisin sauce

2 TBSP Balsamic vinegar

12TBSP Chardonnay (white wine)

2 TBSP honey

2 TBSP Pepper-infused oil (or olive oil plus some hot peppers, if you like the heat)

Whisk this all together in a flat-bottomed bowl, and marinate the raw fish in it. 

Green Avocado Gunk: (each avocado serves 2, maybe 3)

½ avocado, fork mashed

3 or 4 Spanish olives, minced finely. (Usually these provide enough salt.)

2 TBSP sweet onion, minced finely.

6+ good grinds of black pepper
2 TBSP chopped fresh Thai basil
1 TBSP lemon juice

Mash it all together in a bowl. If you use a food processor, add 3-4 TBSP plain organic yogurt, and 1-2 TBSP olive oil to make it nice & creamy. 

Process:

Marinate the salmon steaks in the marinade sauce. Give ‘em no less than 15 minutes; an hour is not too much. Heat up the grille (I used a George Foreman grille; a barbecue would work well). When it’s hot, put the fish on the grille. Spoon some more marinade on them. Cook them until they’re done all the way through.

While they’re grilling, heat the marinade. It would be good to reduce the mixture by at least 50%.

When the fish is done, cut into ½” x ½” (x 2” or so) strips, and load back into the bowl of reduced marinade. Cover the fish thoroughly.

While this is soaking (again), oil the bread & toast it. When it’s done, spread the avocado green gunk on the toast, and pile on the soaked salmon. Garnish with a little very coarse salt (it’s crunchy!).

Enjoy with a good abbey-style dubbel ale. Ok... you can serve it with a nice white wine, if you want. 

Experimental Low Gluten Bread

1½ tsp bread yeast

1 cup sourdough starter (made with rye & spelt flour)

1 cup rye flour

¾ cup spelt flour

¼ cup 9 grain seed mixture

½ cup potato flakes
1 tsp xanathan gum

2 TBSP sugar or honey

3 TBSP olive oil

1 egg

1 tsp salt

½ cup milk

Load it into the bread machine, set it on "Whole Wheat" and fire it off. Adjust consistency by adding milk/flour as needed to make an appropriate bread dough consistency. 

Spaghetti for Company

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 lb bacon, cubed.
• 1 lb sage sausage. I used Jimmy Dean.
• 2 heads garlic, peeled and sliced
• ½ white onion, peeled & chopped.
• 2-3 TBSP dried Italian Seasoning
• 1½ tsp ground black pepper, maybe more.
• 2 TBSP dried Italian seasoning
• ½ tsp beef bouillon concentrate (low sodium variety)
• zero salt (this doesn’t need it)
• 1 large can (29 oz) cooked and diced tomatoes.
• 2 jars or cans, prepared tomato sauce; I used “Garlic & Herb.”

Preparations: preheat the cast iron Dutch oven on a stovetop burner. Chop the bacon up & fry it. Set aside on paper towels to drain. Pour off most of the grease, but save it for later.

Toss the sausage in the hot Dutch oven. While the bottom is cooking, use the spatula to cut into modest-sized meatballs. When these are about half done, add the garlic and cook together with the sausage. Drain tomatoes, reserving liquid; add to sausage. Add bacon and stir well while frying. When they're hot and spicy, add tomato sauce and reserved tomato juice. Bring to a boil, stirring.

I cooked the onions separately, in bacon grease. When they’re mostly done, add the beef bouillon concentrate. Cook together for a few more minutes and add to the sauce.

Adjust spices, which mostly means add more of this or that. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 hours. Yes, I said 4 hours.

Serve over whole wheat pasta. Enjoy!