Grilled Salmon with Pesto Dill Butter, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli

Everyone needs a "go to" meal they can put together for guests or special occasions and mine is grilled salmon with pesto dill butter served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli. In this post I'm just going to give the ingredients and preparation for the grilled salmon, but at the bottom of the posting I'll give links to my roasted garlic mashed potatoes and restaurant style steamed broccoli and carrots. 

 

Ingredients:

Salmon filets with skin on

Olive oil

4 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon pesto sauce. I used Classico brand Basil Pasto Sauce

Fresh dill

Salt and pepper

Chopped Italian parsley

 

  

Preparation:

To make the pesto dill butter, start by taking about 4 tablespoon of butter and place into a small microwave proof bowl. Add a teaspoon of pesto and  a dash chopped fresh dill. Heat in the microwave until the butter is soft, not melted. Stir the butter, pesto and dill and place into the freezer. After 5 or so minutes the pesto dill butter will harden up. Take a small spoon and shape the pesto butter into small pats and place on some wax paper and place into the refrigerator until you're ready to serve.

  

Preheat a stove top grill pan to medium high. I use the stove top grill pan from Scanpan. Brush some olive oil on each piece of salmon, season with salt and pepper and cook skin side up on the grill for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, rotate the salmon 90 degrees. This will give the salmon the nice cross hatched grill marks. Cook the salmon for another 4 minutes.

 

After a total of 8 minutes turn the salmon over so the skin side is down and finish cooking, about 8 minutes more. When cooking is complete, remove the salmon from the grill pan leaving the cooked skin behind.

 

To serve, place the salmon on a serving plate. Place a sprig of dill on the salmon and then your pesto dill butter. Add a scoop of roasted garlic mashed potatoes, some steamed broccoli and garnish with chopped Italian parsley. 

 

 

Here's the link to: Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Here's the link to: Restaurant Style Broccoli and Carrots

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Skewers

I love this combination of chicken, zucchini and red onion. They key to this dish is to cut the zucchini large enough so that it cooks about the same tie as the chicken. This is a great meal for a hot summer evening and serves up great with rice or pasta.

 

Ingredients:

Metal or wood skewers

1 large or 2 medium chicken breasts

2 zucchini
1 red onion
Olive oil spay
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
Rinse the chicken in cold water, dry using paper towels and cut into 1' x 1' pieces. Cut the zucchini into 1-1/2" pieces. Cut the onion into quarters and then separate into individual pieces.

If you're using wood skewers, soak them in water for a half hour so they don't burn up on the grill.

Place the chicken, zucchini and red onion on the skewers in the order you prefer. Season with salt and pepper and spay on a little olive oil. Cook on a medium hot grill for about 3-4 minutes and then give a 1/4 turn and repeat until all 4 sides are cooked and enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese

This is fairly quick and simple preparation, but so good. I think the key to the dish is cutting the cauliflower into small florets and roasting at 450 degrees. The outside of the cauliflower is kind of crispy, but the inside creamy smooth. Though you can't really see in the picture, there is a topping of grated parmesan cheese which has melted right in for super deliciousness.

 

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste  

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut the cauliflower into small florets and place into a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper to the cauliflower and toss. Add the cauliflower to a shallow roasting pan and roast in the oven for about 10 - 12 minutes. Inspect and stir often so the cauliflower browns on all sides.

 

To serve, place the roasted cauliflower on a serving plate and top with parmesan cheese, a grind of salt and pepper and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Moroccan Spiced Honey Tagine Chicken

I wanted to cook a chicken dish where I could use a tagine. While shopping at Safeway, I run across the a new product called Moroccan Spiced Honey Tagine, so I had to go for that. This was very easy to put together and the flavors were exceptional. There are other simmer sauce flavors available from this company which is called Passage Foods and I'll be trying those real soon.

 

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 cup chicken broth

1 package Moroccan spiced honey simmer sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Rinse the chicken thighs in cold water and set on paper towels to dry.

 

Take your tagine and add the olive oil. Use a basting brush spread the olive oil so it covers entire bottom and sides.

 

Place the dry chicken thighs in the tagine, add the chicken stock and simmer sauce and lightly mix.

 

Place into the oven for 90 minutes and you're done.

 

To serve, place a portion of couscous on a serving plate, top with 2 chicken thighs and garnish with chopped Italian parsley. 

Linguine with Garlic, Olive Oil and Red Pepper Flakes

Linguine Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncin also know as Linguine with Garlic, Olive Oil and Red Pepper Flakes is one of my favorite pasta's. In this dish the Linguine is the star of the meal and really needs to be properly cooked to al dente which means firm to the bite. The key to this preparation is to very lightly cook the garlic and red pepper flake in the olive. Secondly, adding some pasta water in the final toss brings an almost creamy finish to the pasta.  

 

Ingredients:

1 package Barilla Linguine

3 - 4 garlic cloves run through a garlic press

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1/2 cup reserved pasta water

Salt and pepper

 

Preparation:

Take a large stock pot and fill with water. Add 2 tablespoon salt and bring to boil. Cook the linguine according to directions, which is usually 9 - 10 minutes to al dente, which is firm to the bite. Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of pasta water. 

 

Take your 12" sauté pan and heat to medium. Add the olive oil, crushed garlic, red pepper flakes and a grind of salt and pepper. Cook until the olive oil starts to bubble, about 1 minute. Add the linguine to the sauté pan and toss. Add 1/2 cup reserved pasta water toss and you're done.

 

To serve, place a portion of linguine on a serving plate. Top the pasta with fresh grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Grilled Chicken Panini Sandwich

We received a Panini grill for Christmas and it's awesome. I think I've used it 20 times to make sandwiches for lunch. But, here I used some grilled chicken slices, tomato, spinach and provolone cheese for a wonderful dinner meal served with a simple arugula and balsamic salad.

 

Ingredients:

Udi's non gluten bread, but any bread will suffice
2 slice provolone cheese
Grilled chicken breast slices
Sliced beef steak tomato
Fresh spinach leaves
Spay olive oil

Preparation:
Pre heat the Panini grill while you make the sandwich.

Prepare you sandwich by laying out a slices of bread. Add a slice of cheese, sliced chicken breast, 2 slices of tomato, about 10 spinach leaves and another slice of cheese. Place a piece of bread on top to complete the sandwich.

Spray a thin coat of olive oil  on the outside of the top and bottom of the sandwich. Place the sandwich on the Panini grill and cook for about 5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

To serve, remove the sandwich from the Panini grill. Cut in half and place on a serving plate with a simple salad.

Bucatini in Light Tomato Sauce with Onion, Garlic, Red Pepper Flakes, Basil and Bacon

I like to try different pasta shapes and this ones called Bucatini. Bucatini is sometimes referred to as hose shaped pasta because it's like oversize spaghetti that's hollow. 

 

Ingredients:

1 pound Barilla Bucatini
4 strips bacon
1/2 diced yellow onion
4 sliced garlic cloves
2 cups basic tomato sauce
Chopped basil
Red pepper flakes to taste
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Take a 12" sauté pan and cook the bacon till crispy. When done, place the bacon on a plate with paper towels to drain. When cool, chop the bacon into crumbles.

 

Remove all but about a tablespoon of the bacon fat from the sauté pan. On medium low heat, add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Next, add the garlic and cook a couple of minutes. Lastly add the tomato sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.

 

Take a large stock pot and fill with water. Add 1 to 2 tablespoon salt and bring to boil. Cook the pasta according to directions, which is usually 10 minutes to al dente which is firm to the bite. Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Add to the pasta to the sauté pan.

 

Reserve a little bacon and basil for garnishing your plate. Add the bacon, basil and red pepper flakes to the pasta and toss. At this point you may want to add the pasta water if you think the pasta needs a little more moisture. I find that I almost always add 1 cup of pasta water before the final toss and serve, it just makes the dish better. Check the seasoning, add salt and pepper if necessary and you're done.

 

To serve, place a portion of pasta on a serving plate or shallow bowl. Garnish the pasta with bacon crumbles, chopped basil, red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese and a drizzle a olive oil   

Roasted Cod with Tropical Salsa

It pretty darn hot out this week, which makes me feel like something light, but still super tasty of course. My wife picked up some fresh tropical salsa that's made by Mary's. You may not find Mary's salsa at your local store, but I'm sure they'll will have something similar. I think this would be great on chicken, but I chose cod and it turned out amazing. This dish is definitely making it into the summer dinner rotation every couple weeks, it's that good.

 

Ingredients:

Costco Wild Alaska Pacific Cod fillets

Paprika

Tropical or Mango salsa

Diced green onions

Chopped Italian parsley

 

I've got to give props to Costco because this is an excellent product. Each fillet is center cut, trimmed to perfection and individually vacuum wrapped.

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the top rack being about 6 inches from the top. While the oven is heating up, take a broiler pan and spray on some cooking oil. Place the cod fillets on the pan and sprinkle on a little paprika. The paprika gives the fillets a nice color when cooked. Place the pan into the oven, turn off the oven and turn on the broiler. Cook the fillets for 7 - 9 minutes depending on thickness.

 

To serve, place the cod on a serving plate and spoon on some tropical salsa. Garnish the dish with diced green onions and chopped Italian parsley.