Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Sometimes less is more.  With just 5 ingredients I was able to make a delicious dinner.  To be quite honest with you, I have not been inspired to cook lately.  It may be because of two solid weeks of cooking for a crowd.  But I also think it was because of the weather.  We were blessed with two weeks of near perfect weather for the first half of the month.  But when all of our company left, the skies opened up and rain started to fall for days on end.  When it wasn’t drizzling, it was just plain gloomy.  You can tell by the quality of my last post pictures.  Why bother making blog worthy food when it won’t photograph well. Just goes to show you how sick we food bloggers really are.

Well, the skies cleared yesterday afternoon and I was suddenly in the mood to cook, photograph and eat good food again.  This salmon dish has only three ingredients; salmon, peach preserves and Sriracha hot chili sauce.  The simple rice is enhanced with grilled scallions.  That’s it!  I made it in my grill pan because our gas grill was out of gas.  I’m sure it would be even better cooked outside.

The peach preserves and Sriracha sauce gave a sweet and spicy kick to the salmon.  I will definitely be making this again.  It is nice to have my enthusiasm back.  I think I will make a cherry-almond tart today.

SPICY GLAZED SALMON (Country Living Magazine)

1/3 cup peach preserves
1 1/2 teaspoons chile sauce, preferably Sriracha
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets with skin on
3 green onions
2 cups rice, cooked

Heat grill to medium in one zone and medium-low in another.  To make glaze:  In a heatproof dish, microwave preserves until just warmed, 10 to 15 seconds.  Stir in chile sauce.  Transfer all but 3 tablespoons of mixture to a small dish and set aside to serve at the table.

Season salmon fillets with salt.  Grill fillts, skin side down, on medium heat zone for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, grill green onions on medium-low zone until sear marks appear, about 3 minutes.  Remove onions, chop, and stir into rice; set aside and keep warm.

Brush fillets with some of reserved peach glaze  using a metal spatula, flip each piece.  Continue to grill until flesh is cooked, 2 to 3 more minutes.  Remove and brush with more glaze.  serve salmon over rice and with dish of reserved glaze.

Printable Recipe

I have been in a cooking funk lately.  Nothing I have made has been blog worthy.  I just burned some honey glazed pancetta that was supposed to go on a salad.  Other dishes that I have made were just plain boring.  We are back in Lake Lure.  The weather is cold and windy and the cottage is in need of all kinds of fluffing and repairs.  Squirrels chewed the wires to the steam bath and made themselves a nest under the tub.  David was looking forward to satisfying his Finnish blood with a hot steam bath and was dismayed to discover what the critters had done.  They even feathered their nest with paint brushes from the basement.  I guess they were planning on remodeling.   We are planning on evicting them.  So when dinner time rolled around last night, I was in no mood to get creative with the salmon.  David said “Have you ever blogged about my salmon cooked in parchment paper?”  Needless to say, I was more than happy to turn the kitchen over to him while I snapped the pictures.

Here are the main ingredients.  It is important that the vegetables you use are sliced thinly because the salmon cooks for only 15 minutes.  You can use what you have.  I had carrots, peppers, onions and some cooked baby broccoli from another meal.  You could also use thinly sliced broccoli, scallions, snow peas or asparagus.

David is proud of this fillet knife that he got at an estate sale last year in our hometown of Dowagiac, MI.  It is engraved with the date and Trig Lund’s name.  Trig was an executive with the Heddon Lure Company a maker of fishing lures sold around the world. I wrote a whole post about the estate sale last summer.

We always remove the skin from our salmon before we cook it.

Each piece of salmon is placed on a piece of parchment paper and covered with the vegetables and seasoning.

You can actually see the salmon in this shot.

A little wine for moisture is always a good thing.  Also note that David has brushed the edges of the parchment paper with an egg wash to help seal the packets.

The packets are sealed.

The packets ready to go into the oven.  Notice he has also included pats of butter, along with some lemon juice.

After a brief time in the oven, dinner was served.  Along with the salmon I made a rice pilaf and a salad with that burned pancetta.  It actually wasn’t bad.  I will experiment with it again and give you a recipe when I figure it out.   David had no trouble figuring out a great salmon dish.  Here is his recipe.

SALMON EN PAPILLOTE WITH JULIENNED VEGETABLES

This is a very simple, delicious and fool-proof way to prepare salmon with vegetables. And, it looks fancy and festive, but it is so easy. You can use any combination of vegetables that suits your fancy. Listed below are some of the ones we commonly use, but you can substitute or include others such as, leeks, and snow peas, anything that can be cut into thin pieces so that it cooks rapidly. You can also substitute any other type of fish fillet that you might have on hand or can find, and you also might want to experiment with other herbs and spices.

Here are one possible set of ingredients per packet, i.e. per serving

one 8 oz salmon filet
¼ cup julienned carrots
¼ cup julienned green onions
¼ cup julienned broccolini
¼ cup julienned red or green pepper
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp dry white wine
basil ½ tsp dried or 1 tsp chopped fresh
2 lemon slices
3 pats of butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg beaten-to seal the packets

Place a salmon filet to the right of the center of a 15” square of parchment paper. Salt and pepper the filet to taste. Sprinkle the olive oil, garlic, and basil over the salmon. Arrange the julienned vegetables on top of the filet. Place two lemon slices and three butter pats on top. Sprinkle the wine over the top and add a little more salt and pepper to the top of the vegetables. Use a brush and the egg wash to paint the edge of paper all the way around to help seal the packet. Fold the left side of the paper over the fish and vegetables and start at the top left corner making small overlapping folds all the way around the three open sides. When you get to the final fold, turn it under to help keep it from unfolding. Prepare as many packets as you want servings and place on a baking sheet in a 400 deg oven for about 18-20 minutes. The fish will actually be done in about 15 minutes, but the veggies will benefit from the extra time, and the fish will remain moist and tender from the cooking method. To serve, place a packet on each plate along with whatever starch you are serving, and cut the packets open with a sharp knife so the contents can be removed to the plate.  Enjoy.

Printable recipe

We had a busy holiday season with family and friends.  We traveled to North Carolina to spend time with family in Cary and Jacksonville and then back to Lake Lure to attend to some Winter tasks.  We spent the New Year in Myrtle Beach with old friends, ate well, celebrated joyously and returned to Lake Lure a little heavier and totally worn out.  It is cold and dreary here with constant rain and fog and my cooking has been minimal.  So before we return to Florida this week, I thought that I would reflect back on some of the dishes that were favorites in 2014.  I will begin with January 2014.

I had just discovered Mimi Thorisson’s lovely blog Manger.  One of the first dishes I made from her blog was this Pork Tenderloin with Grapes.  We loved it and my eyes were opened to the possibility of actually cooking grapes.  It was also a pretty dish that tasted heavenly.

February found us in Cary celebrating our Grandson’s third birthday.  My DIL Kristen made this warming Tortilla Soup on a snowy day.  I could use a bowl of it right now.

We enjoyed these Polynesian Meatballs as the weather was improving.

With Spring in the air and fresh asparagus in the market we indulged in this easy Asparagus Tart. 

King Arthur Flour has a wonderful blog called Flourish.  This recipe for Triple Cinnamon Scones sounded so good that I purchased their cinnamon chips and cinnamon filling mix to make them.  I have been making them ever since.  They are the best scones I have ever had.

In June I made this wonderful Blueberry Galette.  The rosemary in the crust was an unusual addition and went so well with the blueberries.  I will be making this often.  The crust also has whole wheat flour in it which I love.

Summer is berry season and I couldn’t resist this lovely Raspberry and Blueberry Tiramisu.  Perfect for the 4th of July.

In August our grill was kept busy.  This Spicy Glazed Salmon was an easy fix with only three ingredients.

September at the lake is usually still warm.  Cool salads are always welcomed.  This Israeli Couscous and Arugula Salad from Ina Garten is delicious.

October is apple season in Western North Carolina.  This Maple Glazed Acorn Squash with Sausage, Apple and Sage is a perfect Fall dish.

In November, this Leek and Artichoke Bread Pudding was on my Thanksgiving table.  The recipe came from Ina Garten’s new book Make it Ahead.

Finally, in honor of family tradition, in December I made my Mother’s delicious Ham Loaf.  It brought back memories of Christmases past.  2014 was a very good year.  I am looking forward to the year ahead and wish all of you a Happy New Year.