Braised Salmon w/ dill, broccoli, and a failed attempt at fried plantains [CL]

Salmon
Equal parts white wine and fresh squeezed orange juice. About a cup each. About a teaspoon of sugar. A few pinches of dill. Fresh would be great. Dried is what I have. A little salt and pepper. I had someone make me this recipe about six years ago and I tried doing it once myself about a year later from memory. That's all I remember there being in the recipe and it was really good. I think the braising technique has a lot to do with the flavor. That and the quality of OJ you use (fresh squeezed will be much better than from a container) and probably the wine you use, too. I use crappy wine, hence the addition of sugar. Otherwise it's a little bitter.
I add the wine to the pan (medium heat) first to cook of some of the alcohol. Then add the oj and sugar, s/p, dill. Add the salmon face down and turn the heat down a little, about med-low. Let the salmon cook for ~5-7 min, then flip and let go til done. Remove from the pan.
Make a smaller quantity of the sauce again to pour over the fish. It adds flavor without adding the fishy taste of your braising liquid.

I love fried plantains. They're extremely easy. Slice them up. Heat some butter in a pan and let them go til they get dark. Just make sure the plantains are ripe before you use them. Otherwise, you'll be posting pics on your blog with an empty space where the plantains were supposed to be.

Crispy Braised Chicken with fennel and olives [TK]

This is a late post from dinner I made this past Saturday. It's my first Thomas Keller recipe and my first time cooking with actual fresh fennel. I've been wanting to ever since I caught the 'fennel challenge' Iron Chef episode. Everything looked so good. And I do like using ground fennel. It was really good but, unfortunately, I only had 1 fennel...stalk? I'm not sure what you call them. I needed 3. I also used split chicken breasts cause that's what I had, as opposed to thighs.
You need:
Chicken thighs, skin on
2-3 fennel stalks/bulbs/whatever
~ 1 cup large green olives
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 strips of lemon zest
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
garlic
1/4 cup white wine
bay leaf
red pepper flake
canola oil
parsley to garnish

You just use the fennel bulb for this recipe, so you can retain the core, stalks, and fronds for later use. To prepare, chop of the stalks and bottom of the bulb. Peel away the outer layers down to the core. Cut the outer layers into ~2X1 cm strips.
Heat the canola oil in an ovenproof pan large enough to fit the chicken in a single layer on the stove on medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin side down, and brown for ~4 min. Turn and brown on the other side for ~1 min. And use tongs or something instead of grabbing it with your hand like I did cause it still kind of hurts 3 days later. Remove chicken and set aside.
Turn the heat down to med-low and add the onion. Fry til translucent, ~4 min. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the fennel and increase heat to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes.
Add white wine and cook for 2 minutes to cook off the alcohol.
Add olives, red pepper flake, thyme, bay leaf, lemon zest, and chicken stock. Season with s/p and bring up to a simmer. Taste the stock and season as necessary.
Add the chicken, skin-side up, in a single layer and place pan in the oven at 375F. cook til chicken is done, ~20-30 min. Turn on broiler for a couple minutes to crisp the skin a little more. Remove pan from oven. Garnish w/ parsley. Let cool. Feast.

Steak and sides [CL/JG]

History:
Joel suggested having a family dinner this weekend. We all said yes. Saturday I went to a local butcher near my parents, today everyone else went and got the rest.

Menu:
Sirloin Steaks
Rib-Eye Steaks
Grilled Vegetables with Melted Onions
Roasted Potatoes, Onions, and Green Peppers
Sauted Spinach with Shallots, golden raisins, and toasted pine nuts



Steaks:
Clark cooked perfectly. Salt, pepper, garlic. Rest at RT. Grill. Rest again. Savor.



Grilled Vegetables:
Large chop zuchinni, yellow squash, turnips, red pepper. Toss in oil, s/p. Grill. Chop into smaller pieces, fold in melted onions [see Southern Cooking]. Top with oregano and Herbs de Provence

Roasted Potatoes:

Chop 1 onion, 1 green pepper, bag of red potatoes. Oil in a pan with s/p, garlic, cumin, onion powder, white pepper, thyme, rosemary. Bake at 375 for about 45-60 minutes. Toss occasionally.

Spinach:

Saute 3 shallots and garlic. Wilt spinach, little white wine, lemon juice, pinch of sugar, golden raisins, and top with toasted pine nuts.

Enjoy a family meal.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies [JG/TK/AB]

History:
Got the question right? Good, you get a cookie. So went the lecture I gave on diabetes. Here we have the recipe for the cookies.... and please use good chocolate. It makes all the difference in the world, especially for Chocolate Lava Cakes.....

This is one of those 'I read a few recipes and this is what I did' recipe.

Recipe:
344 grams AP
3/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 t cinnamon
280 grams chocolate chips
2 sticks butter chopped up
212 grams brown sugar
159 grams white sugar
2 large eggs

Cream sugars and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix. Add dry and mix. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 12ish minutes. Enjoy.

Creme Puffs

History:
Like eclairs, only easier to make in bulk. I am teaching my first class tomorrow, and wanted to bring in treats.... yes I am bribing the students to like me. Everyone gets a creme puff at the beginning.

Recipe:
See Elcairs...

When pipping just make little circles.

Anita's Salmon again. And yes, I made more ice cream!

Anita's salmon recipe is just so damn good. And it's one of the easiest recipes ever. I finally got a pic of it for our original posting. You can check out the recipe on our earlier post "Lots of food". I made cucumber salad with it this time and actually never got around to posting the recipe for that when we originally made it near the start this blog. So here it is now!
Cucumber Salad:
You need:
cucumbers (~2 large ones)
3/4 cup rice vinegar
some sugar
some garlic
tbsp soy sauce
tbsp sesame oil
pepper
toasted sesame seeds

Thinly slice cucumbers and mix all ingredients except seeds in a bowl. Add cucumbers and toss to coat. Chill for ~ 1 hr. Toast the sesame seeds and add to mix. Serve.
I have also seen it with onions, chiles, and red pepper flake added. Do what you will.

And yes, I made more ice cream.

Seared Tuna with Quinoa and Asparagus [JG]

Jake made it. Pretty simple. Slather tuna with korean BBQ sauce. Sear on grill. Boil quinoa w/ a little honey, s/p. Asparagus in olive oil with garlic, s/p. Simple, quick, healthy, delicious.