Wild Salmon, Asparagus, and Shiitakes in Parchment Recipe

Wild Salmon, Asparagus, and Shiitakes

Apparently my son thinks I'm awesome because I make him bacon. That's right bacon. It all traces back to last week and the homemade Mother's Day gift that my son made at school. He came home so excited from school on Friday and immediately gave me the gift that he had made. It featured a picture of me frying bacon and a story about what makes me so great. The story emphasized that I do crafts and fry bacon. Of all the things that I do, bacon has the biggest impact on my kids. I don't know if I should be flattered or worried. According to my son all the other kids put things like their mother was pretty, funny etc. He was very proud that I make great bacon. Maybe I should stop trying to dress up and look nice for my husband as well. Bacon seems to have magical qualities for the males in my family. Since having bacon everyday is not healthy I make other foods that the males in my family love. Two of their favorites are salmon and mushrooms. Tonight I tried a new recipe for Wild Salmon, Asparagus and Shiitakes in Parchment from Martha Stewart Living magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First since the shiitakes at the store I shop at only come in 5 ounce containers, I bought two and used 10 ounces total in the recipe. Secondly, I realized that I had forgotten to toss the vegetables with olive oil, so instead I drizzled the top of the salmon and vegetables. This method ended up working very well since it kept the salmon moist while cooking. I found that my cooking time was much longer than the 9 minutes suggested by the recipe. This was probably due to the fact that my fillets were much larger and had skin.

Since everything is baked in parchment this is a very easy dish to prep and cook. The clean-up just involves throwing away the used parchment, which is great for a weeknight meal. Both of my sons love salmon and this dish was popular. The sliced lemon wedges are an important component, it helps to bring out the flavor of the vegetables and enhance the flavor of the salmon.

For the recipe go to Wild Salmon, Asparagus, and Shiitakes in Parchment.

Gluten Free Asparagus Pesto

Gluten Free Asparagus Pesto

Pork is king in my household. As I've discussed before the males in my house are huge pork fans. Especially bacon, lots and lots of bacon. Growing-up I was a little different. I was a vegetarian beginning freshman year of high-school. Luckily my parents were very supportive and I lived in the Pacific NW so there were numerous places to purchase great vegetarian food. I stayed a vegetarian until I moved to West Virginia. Between graduate school and anemia I decided that adding meat back in would be a  good idea. Then I met my husband who thought vegetables were a garnish for meat. Over the years I have slowly reformed him into eating meat as an ingredient and we eat one to two vegetarian dinners a week. This week we tried a new recipe for Asparagus Pesto from the April 2013 issue of Food and Wine magazine.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes, all of which is active and makes enough for a pound of pasta. I did make a few changes. Since I eat gluten free I substituted gluten free ziti for spaghetti. I found that the pesto need a significant amount of salt for the flavor not to be bland, don't be afraid to add salt.

The basil flavor in this recipe comes through more than the asparagus. This recipe would be great for someone that wasn't a fan of asparagus, but still wanted the health benefits. Crumbled bacon would be a great addition to this dish as a topping. Overall, a great way to add spring flavor and even my youngest son loved it.

For the recipe go to Asparagus Pesto.

Skillet Gnocchi with Shrimp and Asparagus

It was very hot here this weekend. Almost 95 degrees with high humidity; all I can say is yuck. Thanks to all the very warm weather like it does every summer my kitchen has started its fast decent into a sauna. I try to minimize the amount of time I run my oven during the middle of the day and instead rely on my stove and crockpot to do the majority of my cooking. Additionally, I try to lighten up my menu. I use less heavy sauces and thick stews and more seafood and fresh vegetables. I learned this from my mom who insisted that the foods that you eat have a direct correlation to how hot you feel. I also vividly remember being given hot coffee when the weather was sweltering to cool me down. At the time I thought it was somewhat crazy, but I realized this weekend when I was drinking my hot coffee in the middle of the day, my mother seems to be ingrained in even the little slightly strange things that we now do alike. One of the other things that my mom and I had in common was our love of shrimp. Shrimp is one of my favorite things to prepare in the summer and I was drawn to a recipe in a recent issue of Eating Well magazine for Skillet Gnocchi with Shrimp and Asparagus, which looked light and perfect for the hot summer months ahead.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. As I always do with seafood I had to go to the nicer grocery store in town to purchase non-farm raised shrimp. This to me is a deal breaker. I went to school with people who worked in the fisheries dept and the studies that they worked on with mercury levels and farm raised fish and seafood are disturbing. I have two young boys that don't need to be exposed to high mercury levels. Since the major super store in my area does not agree with my ideas I always have to go to the nicer suburban chain grocery store to buy seafood. I always seem to take forever to prep shrimp, so my prep time was longer than the recipe suggested. A pound of shrimp normally takes me approximately 15-20 minutes to peel and de-vein. I have been very pleased that I am now able to buy shallots by the pound. Previously 3 ounces cost 1.99 and now a whole pound is only 3.99, that is a substantial price difference. So I am very happy for this new bulk option. As I always do I made my own chicken stock, I don't salt my stock in order that I can control the amount of sodium in my family's diet. I was very happy to find great locally grown asparagus, I prefer to buy local as much as possible. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Both my husband and I were surprised that the gnocchi was the real winner in this recipe. Most of the time in shrimp dishes the shrimp is always the star. However, in this dish the shrimp was a little lacking in flavor, but the gnocchi was delicious. I think that the shrimp would have been better if it was seasoned more before going in with the other ingredients or even marinated before cooking. The asparagus was delicious and honestly this dish would be just as good (and a lot cheaper) if you left out the shrimp and made it vegetarian. My kids loved the recipe, so it was very family friendly.

For the recipe go to Skillet Gnocchi with Shrimp and Asparagus.

Redbook Tagliatelle with Pesto, Asparagus, and Shrimp

Growing up I was always the kid asking for seconds of asparagus at the Easter table. I love asparagus and have passed on the feelings to my two boys. In the spring when the prices on asparagus go down and they are readily available I buy them at least once a week. For a number of years I made steamed asparagus and added various sauces. Then about 5 years ago I discovered that asparagus is delicious when cooked in pasta dishes or roasted. The great flavor remains without the outside becoming slimy and unappetizing. Recently, Redbook magazine had a recipe for Tagliatelle with Pesto, Asparagus, and Shrimp which looked easy with only 6 ingredients and full of one of my favorite vegetables asparagus.

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 5 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking and makes 4 servings. I used fresh fettuccine since it is the only fresh pasta that was available. To save time during dinner prep I shelled and de-veined the shrimp in the morning. Additionally, I cut the asparagus in the morning, so my dinner prep was minimal. I did notice that the cooking time for the pasta in the recipe is off. My pasta only took a total time of 3 minutes so I added the asparagus at the same time since it needed to be cooked 2-3 minutes. Finally, it took a little longer than the suggested 3 minutes for the wine to reduce. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I made this dish after a very long day visiting family over the weekend. I was able to make everything in 15 minutes, which was great! My two boys loved the shrimp and ate their servings quickly. Using fresh pasta saves a lot of time, especially when making dinner at the last minute. Best of all the recipe has 46 grams of protein. Overall, a very quick recipe using fresh vegetables and child friendly.

For the recipe go to Tagliatelle with Pesto, Asparagus, and Shrimp.