This lemon butter sauce added an extra little zest to the fish, and the lemon pepper was a great choice, too.  My lemon pepper came from a local spice company (Good Spice) I found at the Milestone farmers market.  Coincidentally, the summer season for the Milestone Farmers Market kicks off Sunday the 18th at 4531 McKinney Avenue in Dallas from 11-3.  Last time I went I was the only one there, which was kind of eerie, but they did have local eggs and local butter and other cool stuff.

Roasted Salmon

(serves 3)

3/4  lb. Wild Coho Salmon

grapeseed oil

Lemon Pepper

Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 375.  Place rinsed and dried coho in a glass pan.  Drizzle with a small amount of grapeseed oil, then sprinkle liberally with lemon pepper and kosher salt.  Roast for about 15 minutes.  To test for doneness, gently poke center of fish with a metal fork, fish should flake and fork will feel just slightly warm when removed.

Lemon Caper Butter Sauce

(Serves 3-4)

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp white wine

1 and 1/2 tbsp capers

fresh ground pepper

In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter.  Add lemon juice, wine, capers and stir with a wooden spatula.  Dust surface with fresh ground pepper.  Stir and let continue cooking for 2 minutes then serve.

Recently I’ve been asked by a couple of long time readers, “So Lane, are you cooking less or just posting less?”  I’ll admit.  In the beginning it was easy, since I’d never written about anything I’d made before.  116 posts later, sometimes, I have to make things again.  And really, there’s only so much food we can eat around here.  So the answer is, I’m cooking more than ever, but some of it is repeats, and some of it frankly doesn’t feel (or look!) good enough to write about.  And after reviewing my analytics, I’m shocked and awed by the number of you dear readers that come back day after day.  The support is beyond my wildest dreams.  Thank you for joining me and welcome to my heart.  If you’re craving something, please send me a note!  I’m available at lane@dinnerandconversation.com and love to research, plan, and create an item on request.  Just don’t ask for fennel.  I’m anti-fennel.

This week I hosted my annual soup swap.  I invite a bunch of people, encourage them to whip out 6 quarts of homemade soup, then bribe them with wine and snacks, and ask them to swap soups with my friends.  I’ve had great participation over the years, and the experience fills our freezers with soup-love.  I made my tortilla soup and my lemon chili chicken with rice soup.  My sister keeps telling me I need to get more creative in my naming schemes for menu items.  Perhaps she’s just more creative and that’s why I can adjust programming code to my liking and she can create a snappy name for a new product.  Or perhaps, it’s just something I should work on for 2010.

The head picture is the salmon we had for dinner.  Salmon remains on of my most Frequently Asked Questions.  How is it so crunchy, what type to buy, how should I cook it, what to serve with it, etc?  I don’t usually win accolades for easy recipes, but the absolute EASIEST way to cook salmon is on a Lean Mean Grilling Machine, yep the George Foreman variety.  Who would have guessed?  Over time I’ve frequently received questions about how I make my salmon crispy.  I used to attribute it to the Lean Mean, but I don’t have it anymore.  In retrospect, I think the benefit comes from the amount of salmon touching the pan surface and the weight of the top griddle.  So tonight for an experiment, I skipped the grill pan and used my non-stick oval fish skillet.  Everywhere the skin touched, I had crispy salmon.  (Cooked at about 2.5 or one half of the way between medium and medium high on my stove top.)  So here’s how I think it will be best.  If you have a bacon press, use that to weigh down your salmon when you’re cooking skin side up.  If not and you have a brick, you can wrap it in aluminum foil and weigh down your salmon that way.  Or just use a heavy skillet on top of the fish.  However you do it, just ensure the salmon is touching the skillet in the most area possible.  Also with fish, always buy fresh and cook same day of purchase if you can.  And with any fish with skin on one side, start skin side down, cook until fish is opaque 1/3 of the way through, then flip.  Cook until opaque 1/3 of the way through on opposite side, then flip back to skin side down.  Happy fishing!

So buttermilk cornbread it was.  I bought the buttermilk for a remake of the biscuits found here.  I had altered the original recipe – which turned out well on the initial run.  While in Florida, I found the Lily White flour biscuit people are always raving about so I brought some home.  In a non-scientific method experiment, I not only used the different flour, but also used the original recipe’s cream of tartar.  The result was dismal.  Edible, but so not worth the effort.  These results are frustrating as well as tiresome to a home chef.  So I decided possibly the buttermilk was the culprit – that perhaps my homemade buttermilk wasn’t enough to over take the cream of tartar flavor.  When I saw the 95 cent buttermilk at the strange Kroger, I hopped on it.

As for the salmon, I’ve mentioned before, but if you own a Lean Mean Grilling Machine – by all means cook your salmon on that!  Or spend the 30 dollars to get one.  If not, it still works, but it’s loads easier on the Lean Mean.  I’ve currently lost mine, but it’s somewhere in this house, and I vow to find it again.

Brianna’s Salmon

1 c. Brianna’s French Vinaigrette

1.25 lb Coho Salmon

kosher salt

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  In a glass dish, place salmon skin side down.  Sprinkle with Kosher Salt, then pour French Vinaigrette over the top.  Marinate for 15 minutes – no more – marinades cook salmon!  Heat a grill pan on medium high heat.  Brush grill pan with olive oil, then place fish flesh side down, cooking until opaque 30 percent of the thickness.  Flip to skin side.  Cook in oven until opaque throughout.  About 10 minutes total for 3/4 inch fillets.

Buttermilk Cornbread

(note I have a very large cast iron skillet.  If yours is 9 inches or smaller – half this recipe)

6 tbsp canola oil

4 c. white self-rising cornmeal

1 tsp. baking soda

3 c. buttermilk

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425.  Add canola oil to a large cast iron skillet and place in the oven for 3 minutes.  Combine cornmeal and baking soda, then mix with buttermilk and eggs.  Pour hot oil into mixture, stir then pour back into hot cast iron skillet.  Bake for 22 minutes – or until edges are gently brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Serve with real butter.

One of the many perks of living so close to family, aside from the numerous hours of uber-granni care, is that we get to reap the spoils of their bounty.  When my MIL has a fabulous bottle of Cabernet, she always shares with me.  This newest bounty, her freezer full of 50 lbs of fresh caught Coho Salmon is enough to send us over the moon!  This wild caught Alaskan Salmon is amongst our best choices for sustainable fishing.  And to have it caught and brought home by a friend, priceless.  So during our happy dance in honor of this harvest, I’ve been expanding thoughts on my current salmon cooking repertoire.  I love salmon croquettes, broiled salmon, salmon cakes or patties, and even salmon on the Lean Mean Grilling Machine coated in nothing but Brianna’s French Vinaigrette.  But I needed a sauce option.

The result was gratifying, though if you’re a cream fan, you’ll probably find this lacking and want to add 1/2 a cup of cream and cook a little longer for optimal flavor melding.  I’m a citrus girl myself, and here’s the thing in experimental cooking and recipes.  It takes a lot of tasting, a lot of adjusting, and then you arrive at the ah hah moment, the moment of pure realization and clarity and just plain satisfaction in your results.  So in the basis of a good sauce for a light main course, I find citrus, capers, and fresh parsley to be hard to beat.  White wine is tricky, sometimes it adds a ton – like in Bob’s Chicken, but in brothy sauces can turn acidic on you very quickly with a hard recovery.  My general rule is to stay away from wines unless I’m adding fat – be that from cream, butter, or a higher fat content main course.  I’m not saying it can’t be done well without the fat, just that I have a hard time producing it.

Here’s the part where you should look away, Mom.  Just keep ordering fish at restaurants and stay far away from the seafood world in home cooking.  Should you fear fish parts – these things might disgust you.  But then you couldn’t arrive at your own homemade lobster bisque.  I choose to set aside my ick factor and go for flavor.  Besides, my FIL loves salmon skin.  Better than the salmon itself.  How’s that for weird?  So en route to this sauce, I based it with a chicken broth, but used a typical deglazing/reduction technique in my skillet used to cook the salmon.  If I’d used more oil, and was a bit more patient, I would have wound up with much less salmon skin attached to my skillet.  So I chunked the large pieces and let the rest flavor the broth.  After the addition of the lemon, I was left with a still pretty fishy broth.  Lots of people like fish, few like foods described as “fishy” tasting.  In a burst of inspiration, the lime juice saved the day!  Broth became balanced, yin met with yang… and the result was quite attractive by my personal standards.  I do think sauteing the fish with the capers added a depth to the salmon which would have been lacking  if I’d simply added the capers to the broth.

Coho Salmon with Citrus Caper Broth

1.5 Coho Salmon – recently caught from Sitka, AK if you have the means or are lucky enough to profit from those who do

olive oil

Krazy Jane’s Mixed Up Salt

fresh ground pepper

3 tbsp capers

1 large shallot, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 and 1/2 c. chicken broth

juice from 2 small lemons

juice from 1 lime

2 and 1/2 tbsps butter

3 tbsp fresh parsley

In a skillet just slightly over medium heat, warm enough olive oil to barely glaze the surface.  I mean barely.  Drizzle gently dethawed or fresh fish with a small amount of olive oil.  Season surface of both sides with Krazy Jane’s and pepper.  Sauté salmon in oil for 6 minutes on skin side, then flip.  Actual time depends on thickness of your fillets.  Watch for the color change to reach opaque 25-30% of the way through the fish, then flip and look for total opacity on the second side.  Remove fish to plate.

Scrape up any large bits of skin left, but allow the small pieces to remain.  If your skillet looks dry, sprinkle with no more than a teaspoon of additional olive oil.  Saute shallots 1 minute, add garlic, saute another minute.  Pour in chicken broth, then bring to a boil, gently scraping the bottom and cooking for 3 minutes past boil.  Add lemon juice, then lime juice, then butter one tablespoon at a time, continuously stirring.  Add parsley just before serving, cooking no more than 30 seconds.  Plate fish, spoon broth over fish allowing fish to rest on a bed of broth.  Enjoy!

Anyhow, I’m the fool who roasts a full turkey in the summer, but my in-laws are not.  And they live on the third floor, so I can’t really call them to town.  So – hence all the grilling.  I’m beginning to feel a bit like a Bobby Flay wannabe.  But things are going well, and you just can not beat the picturesque setting or the weather.  While jogging today, I was recalling the definition of the word bucolic from 8th grade vocab.  When you live in the Midwest, in a pseudo-city, the word bucolic is looked at with a sneer, as people think of it as the definition of boring farm country.  Trust me, here, bucolic makes you just want to roll over and die in bliss due to the unbelievable setting. 

Switching notes, my step-mom-in-law (how’s that for a description – from here on out, Susan or S-MIL) made me watch Waitress tonight, with Keri Russell.  “Made” is way to strong of a word, encouraged is more appropriate or technically “really wanted me to watch so we could discuss” might be more suited.  I’m not a big TV/Movie person, I’m more of a conversation person, and generally, if someone recommends us watching a movie together, I either A) Avoid by making said party stay up too late drinking to start a movie or B) plainly state I’ve no interest in the subject matter for reasons 1, 2, and 3.  I have very strong aversions to certain subjects; I’m grossly opinionated and don’t enjoy watching dramatizations of  other peoples hardships.  For instance Titanic.  Seriously, the whole experience is so god damned sad in itself, why do we need to make up a fictious tragic love story to make me feel worse about the whole bit of it.  So, if you don’t know me and you’re recommending a movie, I don’t do A) INFIDELITY, B) UNWANTED CHILDREN OR PREGNANCIES, C) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE or D) TRAGIC FAMILY ABUSE.  I just don’t watch movies with these underlying themes.  I know these experiences exist and I’d be more than happy to volunteer for your campaign to exterminate them, but for the love of GOD a movie is supposed to be enertainment and a romanitic comedy encapsulating one of these four themes is just not a good way to spend my time.  It makes me sad, lonely and depressed. 

This is all coming off way too harsh.  Especially for a cooking blog.  The point being.  I totally remember why I didn’t want to watch the movie in the first place.  That said, Thank you, S-MIL!  Because, the way Jenna describes her creations of pie, makes me want to be a better person.  And the techniques I gathered from the recipes contained within were enough to inspire me to whip out a few pies of my own.  I could do without the drama, but I learned a lot.  And could tell that the late writer and director must have loved food and cooking every single bit as much as I do. 

God rest her soul. 

P.S. The recipe’s called Naked, cause there is barely anything on it.   

Naked Grilled Sockey Salmon, Eggplant, Zucchini, Onions, Asparagus and Portabellas

(Serves 4)

Just over 2 lbs Wild Sockeye Salmon

1 eggplant

2 large zucchini

1 white onion

3/4 a bunch or about 25 stalks skinny asparugus

4 portabella caps

olive oil

kosher salt or a flake salt

fresh ground pepper

a lemon, halved

Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic 

** Notes – sockeye came from Whole foods – skin on one side fillets.  Grilling pan came from Bed Bath and Beyond – seen here.  Really, Really coat your eggplant in olive oil.  Always buy more mushrooms than you think humanly possible to consume.  They shrink, and they’re just good. 

Rub both skin side and flesh side of salmon generously with olive oil.  Season flesh side with salt, pepper and Seafood Magic.  Cut eggplant into disks, squeeze with lemon juice.  Cut zucchini into half moons, by slicing lengthwise in half, then horizontally in 1/2 inch segments.  Cut onions into rings and leave intact.  Break asparagus to trim ends, and slice portabellas.  Brush all veggies with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. 

Preheat grill to 350 or medium heat.  Brush grill pan with olive oil and place veggies in sections, leaving off the asparagus and eggplant.  Add salmon and grill pan with veggies to grill.  Place eggplant directly on grill.  Cook 25 minutes at 300 stirring veggies occasionally or 15 minutes at 350.  Either way check occasionally to prevent scorching and brush with olive oil.  If you like your veggies really crisp and don’t mind charring go with the higher temp.  If you like your veggies gently browned, go with the lower temp.  Turn eggplant halfway and shuffle veggies on grill pan.  Add asparagus to grill pan in the last 8 minutes of chosen grilling time. 

Remove all to platter and serve immediately with Drizzling Balsamic Vinaigrette seen below. 

Drizzling Balsamic Vinaigrette

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

3/8 c. balsamic vinegar

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. water

large pinch kosher salt

sprinkling of fresh ground pepper

1/8 tsp. ground mustard

Whisk all ingredients together, then serve from cruet or small pitcher.

My family has been heavy users of Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt my whole life. It’s a wonderful quick way to spice up food.

Salmon Croquettes

18 oz. wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon
olive oil
1/2 a white onion, chopped finely
1/2 a green bell pepper, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
2 eggs
2 heaping tbsps panko
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt
cornmeal
Canola Oil
lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub salmon with olive oil and sprinkle with Jane’s Salt, kosher salt, and pepper. Cook on a grill pan for 15 minutes, then let cool on grill pan.

Remove skin from salmon and add to a large bowl. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, eggs, panko, 1 tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper. Mix together and form croquette shape. Roll in cornmeal.

Add 1/2 inch of canola oil to a saute pan and heat to 375 degrees. Place croquettes in hot oil two at a time and turn to gently brown all edges.