Dinner Party Menu: Anna & Jeff (Sesame Soy Salmon)

To help break in my kitchen and get me back into entertaining mode, we had our dearest and closest family friends over - Anna & Jeff. I've known Anna since we were toddlers and Jeff since my freshman year in high school... and our friendship has spanned all these years. They recently set a date for their long awaited wedding and we wanted to celebrate that along with so many other blessings we had to share. For dinner, I prepared the following menu:

Cheese, Olive & Salami Platter
with crackers

Sesame Soy Salmon
with steamed brown rice & roasted asparagus

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake
to celebrate Anna's belated birthday

Here is the recipe I used for the salmon, which I doubled to serve 4:

Sesame Soy Salmon
from MyRecipes.com

1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons chopped fresh scallions

Combine brown sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar. Brush half of soy mixture over salmon, and let sit 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat oils in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté salmon 3 to 4 minutes, turn, and brush with remaining soy mixture. Cook 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chives.

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Salmon Pesto Pasta with Asparagus & Pepper

I always have salmon on hand being that its one of my favorite fish. Another love of mine is pesto... even moreso now that I have a brand new 12 cup food processor to make a large batch effortlessly! Combining both salmon and pesto is a great flavor combination but instead of just tossing pesto with pasta and topping with salmon, I wanted something more.

Thanks to Bridget, she had a dish I was looking for, which was also featured in other fellow blogs including Lisa's, Annie's and Erin's. This Salmon Pesto Pasta captured all the flavors I love from the salmon and pesto, all binded with a creamy sauce. Bridget's recipe was adapted from the Pillsbury Complete Cookbook. I made further adaptations including broiling the salmon with lemon slices, using a basil and dill pesto with a hint of lemon zest and adding a diced mini sweet red bell pepper and asparagus.

Salmon Pesto Pasta with Asparagus & Pepper
recipe slightly adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles
Serves 2

8 ounces pasta
12 ounces skinless salmon
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
5 ounces evaporated milk
½ cup basil & dill pesto (or your own recipe or Bridget's)
1/2 bunch asparagus, cut on a bias 1" long
1 mini sweet red bell pepper, diced
freshly grated parmesan, for serving
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When water is boiling, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; stir to separate pasta. Cook pasta until al dente; drain. Pour evaporated milk into empty pot and simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to ¼ cup. Add cooked pasta to pot and stir to combine.
2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat broiler. Line a baking sheet or pan with aluminum foil. Place lemon slices on the lined baking sheet along with cut asparagus. Season one side of the salmon liberally with salt and pepper, sprinkle with zest, then rub with olive oil. Broil until salmon is no longer translucent and is firm when pressed, about 10 minutes. Remove from broiler and sprinkle with lemon juice. Use fork to flake into bite-sized pieces. Skin will stick to foil and can be discarded.

3. Add salmon and diced pepper to pasta mixture and stir over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

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Chilled Wine Poached Salmon Steaks

The following recipe was made for my Picnic Wine event. You can read more about it and get additional recipes HERE.

Chilled Wine Poached Salmon Steaks
shared at the event by Howard
recipe HERE

4 salmon steaks
1/2 c. dry white wine
4 tbsp. chopped celery leaves
1 onion, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
8 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. salt

Green Mayonnaise Topping:
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. sour cream
3 tsp. each chopped parsley, capers, & horseradish
1/2 c. cooked spinach, finely chopped & squeezed dry
Salt
2 lemons, halved & scooped out

SALMON: Place salmon steaks side by side in large skillet or pot. Add white wine and water just to cover steaks. Add celery leaves, onion, lemon, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt. Cover and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer 20 minutes. Cool. Chill in liquid.
MAYONNAISE: Combine ingredients in bowl and season with salt. Chill.
TO SERVE: Carefully remove salmon from liquid with spatula and drain. Place on serving plate. Fill halved lemons with mayonnaise and serve next to steaks. Serves 4. (You may also serve mayonnaise directly on salmon steaks, but it is prettier in lemon halves.)

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Salmon w/Ginger Balsamic Glaze

The follow recipe was shared at my Balsamic Vinegar Tasting Event. You can read and view links to other recipes that were featured HERE.

Salmon w/Ginger Balsamic Glaze
shared at the event by Semeena
recipe adapted from Recipezaar

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed plus
1 teaspoon brown sugar, packed
4 salmon fillets, skin on (center cut)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil

Stir together balsamic vinegar, water, lemon juice, ginger and brown sugar in a small bowl.

Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat, not smoking. Increase heat to high, add salmon skin side up, and sear until well browned, about 4 minutes. Turn fish over and sear until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer salmon to plates and carefully add vinegar mixture to skillet (liquid will bubble vigorously and steam). Simmer, stirring, until thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 2 minutes. Spoon glaze over salmon. Serve and enjoy!

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My Flashback Lunch With Salmon

I failed to blog about the amazing birthday dinner my husband took me to a couple weeks ago. He took me to Roy's Restaurant, which was focused on Hawaiian fusion cuisine. It was a wonderful restaurant that impressed me with their various preparation of fish. We indulged in:

• Two appetizers including Coconut Crusted Tiger Shrimp with hawaiian pineapple sweet chili sauce and the Maine Lobster Dim Sum white truffle emulsion & lobster cream sauce



• My main entree: Roy's Classic Roasted Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi with marine lobster butter sauce



• My husband's main entree: Roy's Classic Trio which included hibachi grilled salmon, Roy's original blackened island ahi & hawaiian style misoyaki butterfish citrus ponzu sauce, spicy soy mustard butter, wasabi ginger cilantro



• My cocktail: The Original Hawaiian Martini nothing says martini like shaken, not stirred, and Roy's put this delectable creation on the map. in classic Hawaiian fashion, our Maui pineapples are infused in Skyy vodka, Stoli vanil vodka and Malibu coconut rum. shaken and served with fresh pineapple



• For dessert: the Molten Chocolate Lava cake and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake... both amazing!

But I digress. Today's post is really about the lunch I prepared today that reminded me of that fabulous dinner at Roy's. I found this recipe for Maple Soy Glazed Salmon in the 2005 America's Test Kitchen Live! cookbook (pages 152 - 155) and it was perfection. The original recipe is for the grill, but I adapted it by cooking it indoors on a grill pan.What we wanted: To avoid the burnt, stuck to the grill crust and flavorless interior that plague most glazed salmon. We also hoped to create a sweet, crisp and flavorful salmon dish.

What we learned: Marinate the flesh side of the fish in a mixture of soy sauce and maple syrup. Grill the fish, flesh-side down, then flip, glaze twice, and flip again. When the fish comes off the grill, glaze it again. Needless to say, a well-oiled grill is a must...

I opted not to glaze quite as often as the recipe calls for since I was preparing my salmon on a grill pan. Perhaps if I did use an outdoor grill, I would have glazed more often to ensure the flavors are locked in. Either way, the glaze was a perfect balance of sweet and salty, with a wonderful consistency. Here is my adapted recipe for Maple Soy Glazed Salmon (indoor on grill pan):

1/3 cup good quality soy sauce
1/3 cup real maple syrup
4 salmon fillets (about 8 oz each), each about 1 1/2 inches at the thickest part
Ground black pepper
Vegetable or olive oil
Sesame seeds for garnish

1. Whisk the soy sauce and maple syrup in a baking dish until combined. Carefully place the fillets flesh-side down in a single layer in the marinade (do not coat the salmon skin with the marinade). Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

2. Heat the oil in your grill pan over medium high heat until hot. Remove the salmon from the marinade and sprinkle the flesh liberally with freshly ground pepper. Place the fillets flesh-side down on the hot grill pan and cook until grill-marked, a deeply browned crust has formed and the salmon is opaque. Using tongs, flip the fillets skin-side down. Cook until skin is nicely browned, careful to not overcook the salmon. Remove from heat and allow salmon to rest.

3. In a small non-stick pan, place remaining marinade and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Brush the salmon with the glaze and use to dress plate.

I served the salmon over a bed of steamed brown rice with a bit of sliced scallions. For a nice side, I also steamed some sugar snap peas that I lightly tossed in 1/2 tablespoon of butter. To garnish, I sprinkled some sesame seeds over the dish.

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Salmon w/lemon & herbs

This recipe was made for my 2007 Holiday Party featuring an Italian inspired menu. You can read about it and view the additional recipes I made for this event HERE.

Salmon w/lemon & herbs

3 whole salmon fillet

2 lemons, sliced thin

1 teaspoon italian seasoning

1 clove minced garlic

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place your salmon on baking sheet and season with salt & pepper to taste.

Sprinkle the minced garlic and italian seasoning over the salmon.

Lay the lemon slices over the salmon.

Cover salmon with foil.
Bake salmon for 15-20 minutes or until done (depending on thickness).

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