Monthly Archives: February 2015

Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce (Gluten Free)

Posted in Dinner by

Salmon4

1990

I was thirteen and we were taking our first real family vacation. As I sat in the car driving through northern Michigan the roads became surrounded by water on both sides. I had never seen such a thing and it freaked me out a little. We arrived at our cabin skirting Lake Lelanau and the breeze from the water made the hot summer somewhat bearable as I steadied my jello-like legs from the long ride.

Salmon5

Settling in, my sister and I made quick friends with a couple of older boys a few cabins down. Their dad owned a speed boat and they invited us out on a ride. Having never been on a boat before, it was exhilarating. The sun was shining, the radio was blaring “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul, and the wind whipped through my long pony tail.

That week Dad went out on a charter fishing trip and returned with several King Salmon. He took me to the fish cleaning station at the back of the cabin and taught me how to fillet fish. Mom prepped the grill and cucumber dill sauce and soon we sat at the porch table and took in the sunset over dinner.

We returned to that cabin the next year. I begged Dad to take me on the charter with him. He promised once I turned sixteen he would make it happen. Time passed by too quickly and even though we talked about it and dreamed about it, that trip never happened for us.

In 2009, ten years to the day after Dad died, I found myself on a small fishing boat in Michigan. Vintage Thread took me up for a weekend – John, a close family friend of hers was an avid fisherman and we made our way out to deeper waters.

Not one hour into our trolling I saw a line pull, yelled ‘FISH ON’ and grabbed the pole from its holder. I immediately felt the weight of something big and heavy. John stood alongside me and coached me with the line. “Ok, pull. Ok, now reel. Stop. Pull, reel. Step forward. Back up. Reel more.” He barked a few directions to Vintage Thread who was at the wheel, but they did not compute with me. I had the pole anchored into my hip, painfully digging into my muscles and was struggling to hold the line. I turned to John, “It’s too heavy. You need to help me!”

“No way, you’ve got this. Just do what I tell you.”

A few minutes later a thirty pound King Salmon flopped into the boat.

We continued to fish for the rest of the day, pulling in nine more salmon, but none the size of the King. With the afternoon behind us and our bellies grumbling for dinner we pulled the lines and sped toward our slip. The wind was in my hair and the sun on my face, and I was transported back to those Michiagn family vacations and wished Dad had seen me reel in the big one.

30lb King

Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs fresh salmon, cut into 4-5 ounce fillets
1 medium cucumber, or 1/2 English cucumber
2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable cooking spray

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set the rack on the lower third position.
Lightly spray a 9×13 inch glass baking dish with vegetable oil and set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off of the cucumber. Trim cucumber as needed, then slice down the middle and remove the large seeds with a spoon. If you are using an English cucumber you can skip removing the seeds.

Using a box greater on the largest holes, grate the cucumber into a colander and nest the colander in a bowl. Lightly salt the shredded cucumber and let stand for five to ten minutes. Press the cucumber into the colander with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon to release as mush liquid as you can. Transfer to a clean, dry bowl.

Add dill, mayo and sour cream and a little black pepper to the cucumber and combine. Taste the sauce and adjust with salt and pepper.

Place the fish fillets, skin side down, in the baking dish leaving one inch between each. Dollop a spoon of cucumber dill sauce on top of each fillet and using a separate utensil (as to not contaminate the sauce) spread evenly over the top. Place remaining sauce in refrigerator.

Bake the salmon for approximately 20-35 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fillets) until the internal temperature reaches 130 to 135 degrees or until the fish is translucent and flakes easily.

Serve with reserved sauce and sides of your choice. Our family favorite is pasta, polenta or risotto with asparagus.

Aunt Helen’s Sugar Cookies (Mystery Man Part 2)

Posted in Desserts by

Sugar Cookies 5

(You can catch Mystery Man Part 1 here).

Mystery Man and I started dancing together, and we danced a lot. Three to five evenings a week I would venture out of my tiny apartment around nine p.m. and head out to a local bar, restaurant or club to the designated ‘Swing Night’, usually returning well after one a.m. with my clothes damp from sweat and that feeling of calm after a good workout.

In between dances we would sit at a table, catch up on the day’s happenings and enjoy a drink. Gin and Tonic for him, Corona with a lime for me. The conversations were all over the place. Cooking, movies, our families, and dance steps were weekly topics. I was not par­ticularly attracted to Mystery Man and neither him to me. We were friends, dance partners, nothing more.

Valentine’s Day, February 2000. I was at my retail job on the closing shift and there was no swing dancing to be had that evening. That was fine with me, I was going home to crash since I had the tendency to burn the candle at both ends. I had no Valentine to speak of and had enough of the dating thing for a while. Besides, Valentine’s Day had never really been my thing, even as a kid I thought it was a pretty silly holiday.

The store was slow and I had sent most of the staff home. Shopping for educational toys on this holiday was not my clientele’s top priority. I was counting down to the end of my shift by fiddling with the cash register area. Straightening this, organizing that. The equivalent of cleaning your closet on a rainy day.

I felt a presence of someone entering the store and approaching. I looked up with my ‘can I help you’ look on my face and stared directly into Mystery Man’s eyes. On the counter sat a bouquet of sugar cookies. Wrapped in cellophane with sticks baked in, they were iced to resemble various flowers. Alongside the cookies was a small collection of heavy full-fat milk in three flavors. My favorite kind. He handed me a card, said “Happy Valentine’s Day”, and promptly left.

Shocked and a little flushed, I opened that card. It was a ‘friend’ card. No mention of love, not a hint of romance. Just a straight up, platonic, card. The redness in my face faded, and I tore into those cookies and milk to keep me energized through our closing routine, all the while trying earnestly to curb a little flutter in my stomach.

Since that day, every year on the fourteenth of February, Mystery Man visits that specialty cookie shop and brings me full fat, heavy milk. To be honest, the cookies have gone downhill since that first gift. Or maybe it is just the sweet memories that make me believe they were tasty. But in any case, I still eat them, then soon after that I get a hankering for my Aunt Helen’s sugar cookies.

I hope you make these for someone special, platonic or not.

Sugar Cookies Three Pics

Aunt Helen’s Sugar Cookies (pictured with Decorator’s Icing, recipe coming soon…)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups sifted flour, plus more for rolling and cutting.

Preparation:

  • Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter. (about 1-2 minutes)
  • Add the eggs, one at a time and combine on medium speed for about twenty seconds in between additions.
  • Add in the sour cream and vanilla, mixing until uniform on medium speed. Stop and scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula two times.
  • In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and soda and add to the mixture to the mixer (on low speed) about 1 cup at a time. After all flour is added, mix until no streaks of flour.
  • Using about a baseball-worth of dough at a time, dust your work surface, dough ball, and rolling pin with flour. Roll out to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes and transfer to lined baking sheet (parchment paper or Silpat).
  • Cookies will spread a little, so don’t crowd them on the sheet pan too close together.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for five minutes before transferring to wire rack.
  • Repeat with remaining dough.

NOTES:

  • Dough can be refrigerated for up to two days prior to use. Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before rolling and cutting shapes.
  • The cookies pictured were decorated by: Put icing in a Zip-Lock bag and squeeze out all the air before sealing. Snip off one corner of the bag and pipe icing onto cookies as desired. (If the icing will not stick to the cookie, use a spritz bottle of water and lightly wet the surface of the cookie prior to icing.) Press cookies – icing side down – into bowls of colored sugar, sprinkles, or any other decorative items you desire.

Baked Potato Soup (Naturally Gluten Free)

Posted in Soup by

Baked Potato Soup

This week little furry things came out of hibernation for a test of the weather. What was the verdict? Punxsutawney Phil ‘declared’ six more weeks of winter, however, Jimmy the Groundhog in Wisconsin predicted an early spring after taking a little taste test of the Mayor’s ear.

While I have never made life plans around a marmot’s shadow, there is always a glimmer of hope when the second of February rolls around. It is the same anticipation I feel when our local baseball team starts up their spring training. A smile washes over my face when I walk into stores and suddenly the clothing is bright and fun, and tulips are arriving in the floral shops.

Then I walk to my car and freeze my buns off. It’s still February, after all, and whether it is six weeks away or not, spring can not arrive soon enough. So in the interim I’ll embrace the frigid temperatures, because five months from now we are going to be cursing the heat and there is no way I will be putting soup on the table.

Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients:
8 Ounces bacon, chopped
3 Pounds russet potatoes, washed (Idaho works, too. Do not use Yellow or Red)
1 Large Onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cup)
2 Garlic cloves, pressed or grated over a micro plane
4 Cups chicken stock (Or one 32 ounce carton)
1 Cup heavy cream
1 Cup chopped ham
4 Cups, (plus 1 cup for garnish) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1-2 Cups instant mashed potato flakes
1 Cup sour cream (for garnish)
1 bundle green onions (chives) chopped (for garnish)

Preparation:

The faster way…
• Bake the potatoes in the microwave until soft all the way through.

The tastier way…
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle to low position. Nest a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet and place the potatoes on the rack. Spear each potato with a fork (about 1/8″ deep) once on two sides. Brush olive oil all over each potato and sprinkle salt on all sides. Bake for about one hour, depending on the size of the potatoes, checking them with a fork after 45 minutes. Let cool completely.
• In a large dutch oven or heavy pot over Medium-High heat, cook bacon until crispy.
• Meanwhile, use a vegetable peeler or sharp kitchen knife to remove the skins from the (cooled) baked potatoes, removing wide strips. Reserve the skins. Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces and set aside. (Keep a close eye on the bacon, as to not allow it to burn).
• With a slotted spoon remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate leaving the grease in the pot.
• Add potato skins to hot bacon grease and fry until crispy, about 5-8 minutes.
• With a slotted spoon remove potato skins to the bacon plate to drain. (These will be used for garnish later)
• Add onion to remaining fat and cook until soft and golden brown, stir in Garlic and continue
to cook for 1 minute. If the bottom of the pot begins to brown too much during the potato frying or onion cooking, turn down your burner and add olive oil one tablespoon at a time until it is resolved – no more then four tablespoons)
• After the onions have softened, gradually stir in chicken stock, cream and potatoes and bring to a boil.
• Turn heat down to simmer (very low!) and cook for thirty minutes stirring occasionally.
• Remove two cups of soup and blend in food processor or blender. Return to pot.
• Add 4 cups shredded cheese and melt into soup. Add ham.
• Adjust thickness of soup with desired amount of instant mashed potatoes.
• Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with reserved bacon and potato skin garnishes, and any other desired garnish.
Suggested Garnishes: Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, Chives, Bacon, Potato Skins