Spice-encrusted Salmon with Yellow Mole, Summer Squash Noodles, and Quinoa

The menu:
-Spice-encrusted Salmon with Yellow Mole [PC]
-Summer squash noodles [PC]
-Quinoa [JG]
Dessert: (because Jake always has to make one regardless of whether or not we still have 2 left over)
-Baklava [JG/AB/PB]

Another adventure into the Professional Chef cookbook tonight and very satisfying indeed. The salmon was good. The salmon with the mole was great. The following recipes can seem daunting given the list of ingredients but they are really pretty simple. You just throw it all together and then cook it for a few minutes.
One thing to keep in mind when using the Professional Chef: CHECK THE NUMBER OF SERVINGS BEFORE PREPARING!! I failed to take this into account on this outing and we subsequently have quite a bit of spice mix and mole left.
For 10 servings of the salmon you need:
...well, salmon
2 ancho chiles (I happened to have red thai chiles. I'm a big fan of the 'use what you got' philosophy)
1 tbsp/6 g cumin seeds
1 tbsp/6 g fennel seeds
4.5 tsp/7.5 g coriander seeds
1 tbsp/6 g whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp/6 g dried thyme
1 tbsp/6g dried oregano
1.5 oz/43 g salt
1 tbsp/6 g dry mustard (I didn't have so I used mustard seeds. Don't know if that's a proper substitute or not)
45 ml oil or clarified butter (or just butter cause who the hell is going to spend the time to make clarified butter?)
600 ml Yellow Mole (recipe follows...And notice that is 600 ml for 10 servings of fish from the 960 ml mole recipe that I made just for Jake and myself on a tuesday night. Yeah, we've got some freakin mole left over. I'll let you know how well it freezes.)
Now do this:
Remove stems and seeds from chiles and chop. Toast the chiles, cumin, fennel, and coriander seeds in 300F oven for 5 min or until fragrant. Remove and chill to RT.
If you've got a spice grinder that's great. Combine the toasted spices with the peppercorns, thyme, and oregano. Grind to a coarse powder. We used a combo of food processor and mortar and pestle.
Stir in the salt and dry mustard.
Coat each portion of salmon with the mixture.
Saute spice side down on med-high heat for ~2 minutes, til spices brown.
Reduce heat to medium and flip salmon. Cook until done ~6-8 min depending on thickness.
Serve with mole.

Yellow Mole
32 oz/960 ml (you do the math)
You need:
1 oz/30 ml olive oil
340 g sliced onions
3 g sliced garlic
1 lb yellow peppers seeded and chopped
142 g chopped fennel
1 2in cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp/0.5 g ground allspice
1.5 tsp/3 g dried epazote (this is a mexican leaf with very distinct flavor which means you can't really substitute anything for it if you, like I, don't have it. It's good without it. Interesting note, epazote is toxic at high concentrations)
21 g sugar
85 g tomatillos, quatered (about 2 medium sized ones)
1 oz/30 ml lime juice
salt

Do it like this, son:
Heat oil in heavy-bottomed pot over med-high heat. Add onions and garlic til translucent.
Add peppers, fennel, cinnamon, allspice, epazote, sugar, and water.
Cover and simmer on low heat til peppers are soft, ~20-25 min.
Transfer mixture to blender and puree with tomatillos til smooth. Strain through a large-holed strainer.
Season with lime juice and salt.

Summer Squash Noodles:
This recipe was less than spectacular. I mean, it was good, but not that much different from sauteing up some squash and zucchini.
Once again, for 10 servings you need:
1 lb yellow squash, long julienne
1 lb zucchini, long julienne
4 oz/113 g leeks, long julienne
1.5 oz/43 g butter (yeah, I used oil. It's good for you. Check my HDLs, baby.)
s/p to taste
minced herbs (tarragon, basil, cilantro)

Saute the squash, zucchini, and leeks on medium heat for ~5 min.
Season with s/p.
Add the chopped herbs and serve.

Quinoa:
Put it in a pot. Add some water. Boil it. Add a little salt. Maybe some honey?
eat it. I like quinoa.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, quinoa is a grain. Very popular in Peruvian dishes. As a matter of fact, that's how Jake and I were introduced to it. It's very different from rice but you can think of it that way in terms of how you cook it and what you can do with it. It has a very nice flavor to it and, I believe, more nutritional content than rice. I'm sure you'll run into a more dazzling quinoa recipe on this blog at some point. It was freakin tuesday. We do have school work, you know.

Jake's two cents:
Baklava [JG/AB/PB]

History:

I love baklava. Love it. And after we made the snake for the first time this is all I have wanted to make. As I have said, like most of the food here we read a few recipes and then work our magic. So this is a baklava recipe that is mine [that's copy righted material.......] but I took some ideas from AB and PB and went with it. I should have used more nuts to fillo in this one. the books varied from 3-9 sheets.... but more on that here: [And yes I know I have been just free forming my recipes, not doing the traditional list of ingredients, numbered steps, yet I envision our few readers to read and get ideas, and maybe cook along with.]

Recipe:

Get 1:1 of almonds and walnuts.... maybe 1.5-2 cups each. Toss in a gallon bag with sugar [1/2 cup?], cinnamon [you shouldn't need me to tell you how much], allspice [a lot less then cinnamon]. I also happened to have some crushed pecans that I added. Do pistachios if you have some. Take out frustration on the bag with rolling pin. You don't need dust, but kinda crumby. I did not seal the bag either. So be careful. Preheat oven to 350. Get you some fillo dough. 9x13 dish. Now talking first. The dough will be bigger then the dish. Two options either cut to fit or fold in. I went with fold in, but I rotated the dish 180 degrees each time to even out. I had the dough be flush on the lower left corner, and would fold in the top and right side. So, bottom of the pan paint with butter. Fillo then paint x 7. This number is approximate. Go anywhere from 5-10. Spread nut mixture out [about 1/3]. Fillo paint x 7. Nut. Fillo paint x 7. Nut [rest], and finish with fillo and paint. What I did and what I would do here is different. I just baked for 30 then cut and baked more. Scratch that. Chill [to harden butter], then cut, then bake. Do those cute little triangles. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Pull out to cool. As cooling combine 1:1:1 of sugar: water: honey. Bring to a boil with 1-2 cinnamon sticks. Keep boiling until when you spoon the syrup it drops in drops not a stream. Pour over baklava, and finishing cooling. Share with a teacher to try and get a good grade.