Orange-Basil Butter Salmon

I adore this orange-infused sauce—a quick saute of shallots, sliced garlic and orange zest flavored with some fresh orange juice and white wine, all cooked in a pat of butter.  Freshly chopped basil pairs so nicely with both the orange flavor of the sauce, but if you prefer, tarragon would work nicely as well.  You can either pan-sear or bake the skin-on salmon fillets, but I recommend baking the fillets and serving with the warm sauce for a more hands-off cooking technique.

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

‘Maple-Bacon-Tarragon Dressing’

Recipe Courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine

 In a back issue of Cooking Light magazine I saw a page of homemade dressing ideas that would work on a number of proteins as well as salads. This specific dressing made with bacon, tarragon, maple syrup, vinegar and mustard really caught my eye.  Similar in taste to a warm bacon vinaigrette you might find on a spinach salad with sliced mushrooms, this savory dressing works beautifully on pork chops, roasted chicken breasts, your favorite grilled fish– or as mentioned, a lovely spinach salad topper.

Collard Greens Agrodolce

When you see the phrase agrodolce in a recipe, it refers to the Italian words ‘agro’ for sour, and ‘dolce’ for sweet.  So basically you know whatever is involved is going to have sweet yet sour flavor components. Most often times a combination of vinegar and sugar, I have taken this idea and applied it to hearty collard greens for an Italian-inspired side dish.

Shredded collard greens are cooked down with an anchovy fillet, sliced garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and a touch of both sherry vinegar and cane sugar.  For added sweetness, I like to finished a dish like this off with plump raisins and for crunch, some sliced almonds.  Collard greens work very well here, but feel free to use chard, kale, spinach or even turnip greens.

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Crispy Chicken Marsala with Tomatoes

Traditional Chicken Marsala is an Italian dish of pan-seared chicken cutlets served in a flavorful sauce made with dry Marsala wine from Sicily, sliced mushrooms, and fresh herbs. Delicioso indeed.

But this version mixes things up a bit with crispy chicken cutlets that are served in a tomato-based sauce flavored with the sliced mushrooms, herbs and Marsala wine. The wine gives a distinct depth of flavor to the tasty tomato sauce and each-and-every bite of the crispy chicken dipped in that rich sauce is simply remarkable.  Serve this over a simple bowl of olive oil and Parmesan-coated short pasta and a small green salad.

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

‘Halibut with Meyer Lemon Relish’

Recipe Courtesy of COOK Real Food Every Day, Premiere Issue

Cooking proteins en papillote is a sure fire way to ensure that they stay perfectly moist.  And what does this French phrase mean exactly?  It translates to in parchment and is a method of cooking where food is cooked in a parchment parcel in the oven. This way it steams with whatever other aromatics, vegetables or spices are in the parchment parcel, making a very healthy dish time and time again.

This lovely halibut dish is cooked this way, and is finished off with a fresh relish made with the season’s juiciest Meyer lemons. The zest and juice of the lemons are combined with green olives, shallots, red onion, green onions and toasted walnuts. A unique relish that would work with just about any fish fillet you like.  I chose to cook grouper en papillote for this recipe, but halibut, snapper, salmon or even shrimp would work beautifully as well.

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

Watercress & Fennel Salad with Dried Cherries, Pecans and Feta Cheese

Did you know that watercress, a cousin of beloved kale, is considered to be one of 41 powerhouse fruits and veggies? A superfood to the max, these peppery leaves are considered some of the healthiest greens you can consume, and have even been proven to prevent chronic diseases according to the CDC.  For these reasons and because I adore their versatility and peppery flavor, I use them all the time in my kitchen.  Stirred into a soup, raw in salads like this one, tossed into a pan of scrambled eggs or as the highlight of a quiche or omelet, and even as the green addition to a sandwich at lunch.

This salad combines lovely watercress leaves with sliced, fresh fennel, sweet dried cherries, crunchy pecans and creamy feta cheese. A light lemon vinaigrette drizzled over top makes for, in my opinion, a top-notch salad idea. A lovely side salad indeed, but this salad would also be wonderful when topped with a grilled chicken breast or even a grilled salmon fillet.

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

‘Smoky Salmon-&-Potato Stew’

Recipe Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Recipe Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Simple in its ingredients, this lovely stew is super satisfying and warming to all of your senses.  It starts with a base of sautéed fennel, celery and garlic and gets its smoky flavor from the addition of paprika. Yellow potatoes and cubes of tender salmon give the stew its heartiness, and the lovely flavor of clam juice and diced tomatoes rounds out this cold weather seafood stew.  You can substitute in your favorite seafood stock for the clam juice if you like–either way, the briny taste of shellfish and seafood as the base for this stew is just fabulous.

(To view this recipe, click on the following link: https://www.marthastewart.com/1165238/smoky-salmon-and-potato-stew )

Pan-Seared Duck Breasts with Orange & Black Olives

Based on a pan-seared chicken breast recipe from Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food, this duck breast recipe is super impressive and incredibly elegant, but magically comes together in no time at all.  A seared duck breast on its own is a culinary delight, but after the duck is cooked, you continue on with the recipe to make a simple stock, orange and black olive sauce.  The sauce is garnished with fresh parsley and fresh thyme for a bright finish; I recommend serving this dish with either egg noodles or mashed potatoes—both which help sop up the delicious sauce.

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

‘Carrot-Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting’

Recipe Courtesy of Joanne Chang’s Baking With Less Sugar

Each and every Fall when the temperatures begin to drop and the humidity magically wanes, I crave baking a dessert that helps usher in the new season.  A dessert that is comforting and that fills the kitchen with smells of ground cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of nutmeg. Some years it is a homemade apple pie, others it might be pumpkin bread; but this year, I settled in on baking a homemade carrot cake.  Not just any carrot cake, but a carrot-pineapple cake with a decadent cream cheese frosting.

The cake itself has all of those aforementioned warming spices, plus grated carrots, chopped pineapple, nuts, and raisins;  the frosting is a mixture of organic cream cheese, vanilla and heavy whipping cream.  But magically, both the cake and frosting do not contain any white granulated sugar. I know that seems like pure magic to bake a cake without granulated sugar, but no joke, the cake and frosting are sweetened with apple juice concentrate and the pineapple juice from the canned pineapple.  And the results are a perfectly sweet cake that will please any carrot cake lover. I recommend this unique recipe, and all of the other recipes found in Joanne Chang’s (of Boston and Cambridge’s Flour Bakeries) fabulous cookbook: Baking with Less Sugar.

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‘Pumpkin-Chai Muffins’

Recipe Courtesy of Food & Wine Magazine

Recipe Courtesy of Food & Wine Magazine

The first two ingredients I can’t wait to use each fall are local apples and pumpkin purée.  When these two items become part of my cooking repertoire each year, the cooler morning temperatures and the anticipation of Fall colors are very near.  This lovely recipe for spiced muffins are very moist, and filled with the warm flavors of the season.

The base of the muffins are simply melted butter, flour, sugar and baking soda with the addition of rich pumpkin purée and a special spicy ingredient: crushed chai tea.  Adding crushed chai tea adds a fragrance and warm spicy taste to the muffins that is subtle but unique. The pumpkin purée adds a perfect moist crumb into the mix and the crunchy top comes from buttery walnuts. What a delectable breakfast-time treat to help usher in the new season.

(To view this recipe, click on the following link: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pumpkin-chai-muffins)