Honey Soy Glazed Salmon

I had some salmon sitting in the fridge and needed something quick to do with it. This recipe from Eating Well was just what I was looking for. It got a thumbs up from both of us!






Honey Soy Broiled Salmon
Adapted from Eating Well

2 pieces of salmon (I would guess ours were 6-8 oz)
1 1/2 Tbsp chives
2 Tbsp reduced- sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp dried ginger
1 tsp sesame seeds

Combine chives, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, and ginger in a bowl until honey is dissolved. Place salmon in a sealable plastic bag and add 2/3 of the marinade. Toss to coat and place in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Set aside the remaining marinade.

Preheat broiler. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray.

Transfer salmon to the pan and broil 4-6 inches from heat source until cooked through, 6-10 minutes.* Garnish with sesame seeds and drizzle with remaining marinade.

*I ended up broiling ours for 5 minutes and then turning the heat down to about 450 for another 3-4 minutes. They were cooked perfectly.

Sourdough Bread

As a child, I remember my mom "feeding" some white goop that was "alive" in a mason jar in the fridge. I'm fairly certain I was pretty grossed out by it (but sure loved the bread!). Icky childhood memories of something alive in the fridge aside, I decided that I wanted to try making breads with a sourdough starter. I began looking at recipes for making my own starter. Unfortunately, I'm impatient. Fortunately, King Arthur Flour sells a lovely starter.

It arrived this week, and I spent the first day following the provided feeding instructions very carefully. I made my first loaf today, and it did not disappoint. I don't love super-sour sourdough - this has just enough tang to be more interesting than a regular french loaf. We all loved it.

The recipe made way more than we can eat before it gets stale, so I'll probably make some sort of croutons from the second loaf.

Rustic Sourdough Bread
Adapted from King Arthur Flour


1 cup (8 1/2 ounces) "fed" sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) lukewarm water
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
5 cups (21 1/4 ounces) unbleached flour

Combine all of the ingredients, kneaing to form a smooth, soft dough, adding a bit of additional flour if needed. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 90 minutes. Alternatively, combine all ingredients in a bread machine and run on the dough cycle.


Turn dough out onto greased surface, and divide in half. Shape into two oval loaves. Place on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 60 minutes.

Slash the tops, and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack before slicing (good luck with that).

Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom-Red Wine Sauce

Dear Cooking Light: I love you.

I've always loved the magazine, but this recipe was fantastic. And easy. And fast. (I actually cooked it up on our usual "scrounge" dinner night.) There was nothing fancy or difficult about this dish - we've all had variations of it at steakhouses and other restaurants at one time or another. But it was so flavorful and satisfying, and now that I've gotten over being freaked out about cooking rare to medium rare beef at home, it was delish.

Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Red Wine Sauce

Adapted from Cooking Light January 2011

8 oz beef tenderloin steak

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1/4 tsp black pepper, divided

1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup minced shallots

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 Tbsp chicken glace

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle steaks with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Add steak to pan and cook on each side for 5-7 minutes, or longer, until desired level of doneness. Remove steak from pan and keep warm.

Add mushrooms and shallots to pan and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add wine, scraping browned bits from bottom of pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 4 minutes, then add chicken glace and remaining salt and pepper. Cook for one minute or until blended into sauce.

Slice meat and serve with sauce and mushrooms.

Sorry for the spectacularly bad picture. It was late. There was no natural light to speak of.

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm finally back in my kitchen, and so happy to be there. We haven't eaten dinner out hardly at all the last couple of weeks, and I'm thrilled about it. This afternoon, the kidlet and I decided we wanted some chocolate chip cookies. It's been so long since I last made cookies, I had to search out a recipe.

And, this one didn't fail me. King Arthur Flour always has wonderful recipes, and I liked that this one used wheat flour. (Almost cancels out the butter, oil, sugar, and chocolate chips. Almost.) I like crunchy cookies (I know - the horror!), so this was right up my alley.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cider vinegar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugars, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add in vinegar, egg, baking powder, and baking soda and beat until combined. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips until combined.

Drop the dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto the baking sheet. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the cookies are an even golden brown. When done, remove from oven, and let sit for 5 minutes before removing to racks to cool.

Busy, Busy

Well, it's Fall around here, and that means we're crazy busy. I won't even admit to what my child has been eating for the last month because of the insanity. Let's just hope that his body doesn't go into some sort of shock the next time he actually gets a fruit or vegetable. Between going back to work, renovating the house, and being heavily involved in a major volunteer project, I see my house long enough to sleep - no time for cooking anything.

But - life calms down in about a week. The renovation will still be going strong, but I'll have my evenings back to be at home with the fam. I'm so ready for that. And, once the renovation is complete, this bad boy will be living in my kitchen:

I'm trying to decide what to make in it for the first meal. Any suggestions? I'm so looking forward to being in the kitchen again, and with the holidays right around the corner, it's the perfect timing!

Wheat Rolls

Things at our house have been crazy - we've been traveling to and fro quite a bit, but thankfully, we're home for a while now. I haven't had much time to be in the kitchen at all lately, and since the heat index has been 100 or higher for the last couple of weeks, I haven't wanted to cook anything.

After one of our farmer's market trips a couple of Saturdays ago, I decided to try a new wheat roll recipe with some of the fresh flour I'd bought. They were great alongside our veggie dinner, and I'll probably make them often.

Wheat Rolls

adapted from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking

1 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup orange juice

4 Tbps unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

3 Tbsp honey

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached AP flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

Heaping 1/2 cup dried potato flakes

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

2-3 Tbps unsalted butter, melted (for topping)

Combine all dough ingredients, and mix and knead them (by hand, mixer, or bread machine) until you have a medium-soft, smooth dough. Cover and allow to rise until quite puffy (not necessarily doubled), 1-2 hours.

Lightly grease a 9x13, 11-inch square, 12-inch round, or similar sized pan.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide into 16 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Place the balls into the prepared pan, spacing evenly; they won't touch one another. Cover the pan lightly with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. They'll become very puffy and reach out to touch one another. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Uncover and bake the rolls until they're a mahogany-brown on top, but lighter colored on the sides, 18-20 minutes (book recommends 23-25 minutes, but that was too long). Remove from oven, and after 2-3 minutes, carefully remove to rack. Brush the hot rolls with melted butter. Serve warm or at room temp.

Strawberry Muffins

This week's IHCC theme is potluck. I really had no clue what I was going to make until a trip to the Farmer's Market this morning. We picked up some fabulous strawberries, as well as some freshly ground wheat flour. Muffins sounded like a good way to put them both to use.

I followed Bittman's basic muffin recipe, and added the extra sugar and cinnamon he suggests for blueberry muffins. I also substituted half of the AP flour with wheat flour, and it worked well. We really enjoyed these muffins.

Strawberry Muffins

Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

3 Tbsp melted butter or canola or other neutral cooking oil, plus some for greasing the tins.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk, plus more if needed

1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a standard 12-compartment muffin tin.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, and butter or oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating, and stopping as soon as the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but quite moist. Add a little more milk or other liquid if necessary. Fold in the strawberries gently.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about two-thirds full and handling the batter as little as possible. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until the muffins are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of them comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before removing from tin. Serve warm.