Salmon Scampi

I've always loved Shrimp Scampi, but my boyfriend doesn't like shrimp---so I decided last night to try out Salmon Scampi. Let's just say, it didn't suck! It was pretty f***ing delicious and while not the most healthy meal in the WORLD, I made a few adjustments from regular scampi recipes (ie. olive oil instead of butter) so it really wasn't that bad.

**This is also a good recipe for those trying to lower triglyceride levels.

Salmon Scampi with Cherry Tomato and Asparagus Spaghetti

Salmon:
1lb Fresh Salmon (locally caught is always better)
LOTS of chopped garlic (we're talking entire bulb)
4-5 tsp of dried basil (or more, go crazy!)
1 1/2 c. dry white wine (I used a Chardonnay--then drank too much of what was left. sigh.)
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 Lemon
1 tbsp. butter
salt & pepper to taste

Spaghetti:
1 Package of Spaghetti
a few pinches of salt
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1 tbsp. olive oil
2 1/2 c. whole cherry tomatos (don't cut them)
1 lb. fresh asparagus (cut the bottoms off then cut the rest into approx. 3 parts)
a few shakes of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
some chopped fresh italian parsley
some fresh basil

Steps:
Note: with this recipe you will be doing a lot of things at once, so multitasking will come in handy! These are the steps, but you should be doing them mostly all at once, not necessarily in the order given, use this as a guide. 
1. Bring large pot of water and salt pinches to boil and add spaghetti (stirring occasionally and checking on firmness, boil for approx. 10 minutes).
2. In a large bowl, soak your Salmon Filets in the white wine for about 10 mintes, while you prep your veggies.

Drunk Salmon.

3. Place all of your chopped garlic, dried basil, olive oil and butter in a large frying pan on medium-low heat. Once butter is melted and garlic begins to smell delicious (about 2-3 minutes) add the white wine from your soaking salmon. Bring to a rumbling boil and let simmer for about 4-6 minutes, you want it to reduce by about half.

Took this photo, then added about another 1/2 cup of garlic.

4. In a separate frying pan, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and add cut aspargus. Let cook, stirring for about 2 minutes (not more). Add whole cherry tomatos. Cook 1 more minute, stirring. Add cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste. (This should be spicier than you think--when mixed with the spaghetti the spiciness will diminish greatly.) Transfer veggies to a clean bowl and set aside.

This photo proves that I am capable of cooking asparagus perfectly. 

5. Once your garlic/wine mixutre has reduced, add salmon and cook on one side for approx. 2 minutes, then flip and cook on the other side for another 2 minutes. It probably won't take any longer than that, but you judge for yourself--overcooked salmon is never good however, so use a fork to check for perfect flakiness!

6. Once Spaghetti is al dente, drain and add veggie mixture, a small handful of fresh chopped italian parsley and toss.

7. Plate your dish by placing filet of salmon on plate, put some spaghetti off to the side and put about 3-4 tablespoonfuls of the garlic/wine sauce over both the salmon and spaghetti, sprinkle a little freshly chopped basil on top of each.

The little white flakes are Parmesan. Duh.

8. Enjoy!

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Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup

So… with the hot weather I’ve been really lazy about making dinners and since turning on the oven or stove is just about the worst idea I can imagine, we’ve been eating out a lot wayyyy too much.

Alas, last night, the wind showed up and the weather cooled, which meant it was the perfect time to use up all my fresh veggies that were close to going bad.

I call it “Fridge Soup,” however, admittedly, its not the most appetizing name, so for aesthetic purposes I’ll call it “Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup.” This recipe has a couple staple ingredients, but the rest is up to you, just use whatever you have in your fridge. It’s low-cal, super filling, and simply amazing with a couple slices of buttered French bread. Enjoy!

Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup

Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup (Or-What-Have-You)

**Note: This recipe made enough for 3 meals for 2 people—I froze what wasn’t eaten, more on that later.

The Staples:

1 box of Chicken or Beef Flavored Rice-A Roni (I actually used the Trader Joes kind)

2 tbls butter

1 Qt. of Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1.5 Qt. of Water

1 Chicken Bullion Cube

Roughly 6-8 cloves of garlic

1 tsp Thyme

Salt & Pepper

4 Bay Leaves

The Optionals:

The rest of the ingredients are totally up to you! I used EVERY veggie I could find, I figured, the more the merrier! Here’s what I used:

1 lb Ground Turkey (Ground Beef is great in this recipe too)

2 Carrots Chopped

½ Red Onion

1 Zucchini Chopped
1 Orange Bell Pepper Chopped
1/2 cup Chopped Green Onions

Some Cauliflower

Some Broccoli

Some Frozen Corn

Some Frozen Peas

A Big handful of Chopped Cabbage

Some more Garlic (because I’m a SUPER fan)

A few dashes of Cayenne Pepper

The Process:

1. In a GIANT pot I browned my ground turkey using a touch of olive oil on the bottom. Once that’s cooked, transfer to a bowl—but keep the pot on the heated stove.

2. Put the butter in the bottom of the pot. Once melted, put the rice contents of the Rice-A-Roni into the Pot and brown (just like it says on the package). Once the vermicelli starts to brown, add your Chicken Broth, Water, Bullion Cube, and Rice-A-Roni Flavor Packet. Stir.

3. Add Thyme, Bay Leaves, Pepper (I advise not adding salt until after it’s close to being done cooking, as there is a lot of salty flavors in the broth, bullion and flavor packet.)

4. Add back your ground meat and throw in any veggies you can find in your fridge. 

5. Bring to Boil. Let mixture boil at a low rumble for about 20-25 minutes, until you can see that the rice is fully cooked.

Soup in zip-lock, on paper towel, on cookie sheet, ready for freezing.

Yay! Frozen Soup!

Freezing:

I love eating this soup fresh, but I think I love it after it’s been frozen even more. The flavors all meld together and rice takes on the broth flavor even more. It’s jut delish! I am generally cooking for 2 people, so I like to use the quart size freezer bags.

With the help of a friend, ladle the soup into the ziplock bag until it’s a little less than half full (see how positive that was?). Then fold over the top to get as much of the air out of the bag as possible without spilling the contents and zip ‘er up.

I like to lay them flat to freeze, so that once frozen, I can stand them up like books and they take up a lot less of my freezer.

Before placing the bags in the freezer I also layer them with paper towels so that if any water/condensation gets on the outside of the bags they don’t freeze together. Note: Putting the bags on a cookie sheet, then taking them to the freezer makes your life a whole heck of a lot easier.

It's just SO Pretty!

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