To my dear sister Elizabeth,
I apologize for not mentioning in my last post that you are just as corny as me. You too like to make Gouda jokes. They had me smiling while I talked to you as I looked for the cheese. I must say, you did a very Gouda job of helping me understand what Gouda was and where I should be looking for it. If it weren't for you, I might have never found it. I can always count on you to lend your support in a Gouda (or bad-a) crisis!
With Love,
Erica
3.02.2011
It's not just Gouda... it's great-a!
Ok... I am sorry... I apologize in advance... but I am corny and just cannot resist the Gouda jokes! So if you find them highly annoying, you might just want to stop reading.
So Todd and I have had a tradition for a while now of Italian Tuesday. It came about because we have small group on Tuesdays, and Italian food is often very quick and easy to make (and by "make" I mean microwaving some frozen meatballs and boiling some pasta). So as you can see from yesterday's post, I have decided to keep Italian Tuesday alive... now with just more challenging (and less microwavable) dishes.
Well, now thanks to Heather's inspiration, I have also added Meatless Monday as a tradition. I refuse to go the route of tofu, but I am going to try to make a vegetarian dish each week... hence the gnocci.
So today as I got out some salmon to defrost I though, "wouldn't it be nice to start a fish night, too?" And of course, being corny and all, my first thought was FISH FRIDAY! But, Fridays tend to turn into leftover or going out night, so I have decided to call it Seafood Wednesday... not creative, but functional.
Tonight's endeavor... Glenn's Blowing Rock Salmon from www.allrecipes.com. I must admit, I am not a huge fan of salmon, but since it is very heart healthy I figured I should try to eat more of it.
And this recipe was GREAT! I had quite the time finding the Gouda in Martin's (it's in the specialty cheese section, and I just happened to start in the wrong direction when it was RIGHT beside me... plus I was distracted by being on the phone with Elizabeth). But, alas, I found the Gouda section... but then I had to pick which Gouda to go with. I had only written Gouda on my list, not smoked Gouda. However, as luck would have it, the only Martin's brand (and there for cheapest) was smoked Gouda, so I went with it (Gouda call)!
I had never really experience Gouda before... but as the title says, it's great-a! It has a very nice smokey flavor.
The recipe was very easy to follow. I used frozen salmon fillets, and still it ended up very tasty. I, of course, did not juice my own lemons, I just used lemon juice. Also, upon filling the fillets with the crab and Gouda and closing them, I plopped the remaining crab and some shredded Gouda on top. Despite grand reviews, I didn't really like the sound of the sour cream/lemon sauce... so I just skipped it. Even without it, the dish was delicious!
I paired the salmon with some oven roasted asparagus (simply drizzle asparagus with olive oil and some seasoning and bake alongside the fish) and some couscous with green onions. This made a wonderful, fancy (but not complicated) dinner... and I think it should still be ok for Todd to take the leftovers for dinner tomorrow.
BTW... while I was cooking, I accidentally dropped about a tablespoon of butter out of the refrigerator... and Frosty ate it... WRAPPER AND ALL! Yikes... hope that doesn't hurt her belly! Crazy dog...
I'm undecided what's up next... but stay tuned... it might be Gouda!
So Todd and I have had a tradition for a while now of Italian Tuesday. It came about because we have small group on Tuesdays, and Italian food is often very quick and easy to make (and by "make" I mean microwaving some frozen meatballs and boiling some pasta). So as you can see from yesterday's post, I have decided to keep Italian Tuesday alive... now with just more challenging (and less microwavable) dishes.
Well, now thanks to Heather's inspiration, I have also added Meatless Monday as a tradition. I refuse to go the route of tofu, but I am going to try to make a vegetarian dish each week... hence the gnocci.
So today as I got out some salmon to defrost I though, "wouldn't it be nice to start a fish night, too?" And of course, being corny and all, my first thought was FISH FRIDAY! But, Fridays tend to turn into leftover or going out night, so I have decided to call it Seafood Wednesday... not creative, but functional.
Tonight's endeavor... Glenn's Blowing Rock Salmon from www.allrecipes.com. I must admit, I am not a huge fan of salmon, but since it is very heart healthy I figured I should try to eat more of it.
And this recipe was GREAT! I had quite the time finding the Gouda in Martin's (it's in the specialty cheese section, and I just happened to start in the wrong direction when it was RIGHT beside me... plus I was distracted by being on the phone with Elizabeth). But, alas, I found the Gouda section... but then I had to pick which Gouda to go with. I had only written Gouda on my list, not smoked Gouda. However, as luck would have it, the only Martin's brand (and there for cheapest) was smoked Gouda, so I went with it (Gouda call)!
I had never really experience Gouda before... but as the title says, it's great-a! It has a very nice smokey flavor.
The recipe was very easy to follow. I used frozen salmon fillets, and still it ended up very tasty. I, of course, did not juice my own lemons, I just used lemon juice. Also, upon filling the fillets with the crab and Gouda and closing them, I plopped the remaining crab and some shredded Gouda on top. Despite grand reviews, I didn't really like the sound of the sour cream/lemon sauce... so I just skipped it. Even without it, the dish was delicious!
I paired the salmon with some oven roasted asparagus (simply drizzle asparagus with olive oil and some seasoning and bake alongside the fish) and some couscous with green onions. This made a wonderful, fancy (but not complicated) dinner... and I think it should still be ok for Todd to take the leftovers for dinner tomorrow.
BTW... while I was cooking, I accidentally dropped about a tablespoon of butter out of the refrigerator... and Frosty ate it... WRAPPER AND ALL! Yikes... hope that doesn't hurt her belly! Crazy dog...
I'm undecided what's up next... but stay tuned... it might be Gouda!
3.01.2011
Redemption is Sweet...
Well... Chicken Marsala went MUCH better than gnocchi! :)
Tonight's culinary exploit was pretty easy and tasty. It actually tasted pretty close to what you get in a restaurant with less creaminess because it was a "lighter" version.
The recipe had a great mix of mushrooms, shallots, and peas... plus a bit of asparagus that I added.
The only real trouble I had was getting my sauce to reduce. Even though I simmered it the appropriate amount of time, it didn't seem to want to reduce. Therefore, when I added the butter and half and half to thicken it slightly it was still quite runny. This made it hard to eat over the pasta. But, like I said, still tasty.
All in all, I was very pleased with the endeavor and hope to continue on this upward track.
For the full recipe, check out http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000549748.
My only recommendation would be to add some cheese on top... but that doesn't really contribute to the "lighter" version, now does it?
Next up... A salmon dish with gouda cheese... Sounds gouda, huh? (sorry I couldn't resist!)
Tonight's culinary exploit was pretty easy and tasty. It actually tasted pretty close to what you get in a restaurant with less creaminess because it was a "lighter" version.
The recipe had a great mix of mushrooms, shallots, and peas... plus a bit of asparagus that I added.
The only real trouble I had was getting my sauce to reduce. Even though I simmered it the appropriate amount of time, it didn't seem to want to reduce. Therefore, when I added the butter and half and half to thicken it slightly it was still quite runny. This made it hard to eat over the pasta. But, like I said, still tasty.
All in all, I was very pleased with the endeavor and hope to continue on this upward track.
For the full recipe, check out http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000549748.
My only recommendation would be to add some cheese on top... but that doesn't really contribute to the "lighter" version, now does it?
Next up... A salmon dish with gouda cheese... Sounds gouda, huh? (sorry I couldn't resist!)
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