When life gives you lemons . . .

make a delicious dinner!

Dinner tonight- salmon baked in foil and lemony rice. Yum!

I'm trying to clean out my pantry and freezer, so I've been brainstorming on some recipes that will use up all those staples that seem to multiply while you have them stored. For example, I have about 4 or 5 different types of opened, partially used rice- brown rice, instant rice, texmati rice, risotto, etc. Several months back, we also purchased a huge (3 lb.) bag of salmon fillets from Sam's and I'm pretty sure we have had salmon one time. So that's how this dinner came about! As always, this is really easy to make!

Salmon with Lemon

(I adapted this recipe from Food Network)

2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
2-3 tablespoons cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
several sprigs of dill
4 lemon slices (about 1 lemon)
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/4 cup Marsala wine (or white wine)
2 pieces of aluminum foil

Brush top and bottom of salmon fillets with olive oil and season with salt, pepper. Place each piece of seasoned salmon on a piece of foil large enough to fold over and seal. Top the each piece of salmon with dill, 2 lemon slices, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of wine. Wrap up salmon tightly in the foil packets.


Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Place the foil packets on the hot grill and cook for 10 minutes for a 1-inch thick piece of salmon. Serve in the foil packets.

OR


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 12-17 minutes (depending on size of salmon). I went with this option- it seemed easiest!

Lemony Rice

(original recipe here)

1 cup Uncle Ben's Converted Rice (not instant)
2 T olive oil (or 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil)
1 tsp. salt
3 T lemon juice (or more)
3 C chicken stock
Lemon zest

Use a heavy pan with a tight fitting lid. Saute rice in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add salt and lemon juice and zest and saute 1 minute more. Add chicken stock carefully so it doesn't splash up on you, let it come to a boil, reduce heat to the lowest you can get it and still keep the liquid boiling and cook 30 minutes without peeking at all.

After 30 minutes you are allowed to peek to see if all the liquid is absorbed. If not cook a few more minutes until it has. I find it usually takes 35 minutes, but I can't keep myself from peeking after 30 minutes.

E’s Notes:

• If you don’t have 3 cups of chicken stock, you can use a combo of chicken stock and water- it just has more flavor with more chicken stock.
• When I first started making this rice, I had an issue with the rice getting really brown on the bottom (i.e. burning). Now, as soon as I see the chicken stock/water slightly start bubbling, I turn another burner on low heat and get it warmed up. Then, when it’s boiling, I move it to the burner on low. You probably won’t have this issue if you have a gas stove.

I gave Ivy some of the lemony rice and she loved it! She literally licked the bowl clean!!! Don't you wish that everyone could see you through the eyes of your dog?!?!

There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will. ~Robert Frost

Tonight’s dinner- tilapia with tartar sauce, roasted garlic asparagus, and a side salad. [Nice napkins, right?!?]

I rubbed olive oil on the filets and rubbed in a fish seasoning from the grocery store. I baked 3 tilapia filets at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Not much to do with the fish- the tartar sauce is the real star of this show!

After trimming the woody ends off the asparagus, I cut them into 1 ½- 2 inch pieces. I put them in a large gallon Ziploc bag with 3-4 sliced cloves of garlic and olive oil (and a pinch or two of salt). I let the asparagus marinate for about 45 minutes- you could probably let it marinate for up to 2 hours. I roasted the asparagus at the same time I baked the fish- 400 degrees (about 20 minutes). Actually, I think I would have only put it in for 15 minutes.

I served the fish with a “healthier” version of tartar sauce (see recipe below). We also had a side salad with grape tomatoes and cucumber.

South Beach Friendly Tartar Sauce

(Makes 1 1/4 cups tartar sauce)

2/3 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1/3 cup mayo
1/2 tsp. dill weed (dried dill)
2 T capers, drained and finely minced
3 T dill pickle relish (or use finely chopped dill pickles)

E’s Notes:

• I just eyed everything and I think I ended up using a little more mayo because my mixture was a little too thin.


• I also added some salt and lemon- pepper.


• I used fresh dill because I love it!

Ivy spent the weekend with Billy and Rita and her best dog, Gabby. She was exhausted- she spent most of the day in her crate! And not because, I made her stay inside the crate! Poor little Ivy!

Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.

Well, not exactly. Our neighbor gave us some fish. She had caught it a few days ago and said it's very fresh. Great. So I make a lemon- herb butter to top off the fish when it's out of the oven.

And I get started making the side dishes- baked sweet potato fries and lemon asparagus.

Fish only takes a few minutes to cook, so I get that out last. I call Jeremy and make sure he is on his way. There is almost nothing worse than cold fish. He says he will be leaving in 5 minutes. So I get out the salt and lemon pepper. Take the fish out of the fridge. And that's right- it's 3 whole fish. By whole, I mean entire. Not your average fish fillets!

I immediately call Jeremy and tell him we have a problem with dinner. Of course, he's surprised, since he thought we were having trout. I explain that they are whole and they completely gross me out and I don't know how to fillet a fish and I don't want to learn. So we only have potatoes and asparagus for dinner. Jeremy offered to stop on his way home from work and pick up a rotisserie chicken.

Dinner was saved!
Recipes:

• Asparagus- zest of half a lemon, drizzle olive oil, salt liberally and bake at 350 degrees, 7-8 minutes
• Sweet Potato Fries- cut potatoes into fries, put on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder, bake at 400 degrees for 25- 30 minutes
• Lemon Herb Butter- soften stick of butter, mix with parsley and zest of lemon, put back in fridge before serving
• Rotisserie Chicken- have husband purchase from grocery store immediately before serving!