Preheat Oven to 350. Brush a baking dish with olive oil, brush salmon with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and minced fresh dill, then squeeze fresh lemon over the fish . Bake approximately 12 -15 minutes or until done. Baking time will vary with amount and thickness of the fish so keep an eye on it.
Dill Yogurt Sauce:
Do a fine mince on about a quarter to a third of the cucumber (adjust according to how much sauce you are making), a fine mince on a quarter to half of the red onion, and cut into moons the green onion. (Cut the ends off the green onion first, you can use the green onion up until you hit the leafy top). Chop up a lot of fresh dill. Once everything is minced you have some options*:
1) With regular plain yogurt, you can strain the yogurt by putting it on a clean dish towel or cheesecloth and letting the water drain through into the sink or over a container. This makes the yogurt thicker and will create a thicker sauce.
2) Greek yogurt is already thick, you don't necessarily need to drain it but can try if you want to.
3) You can choose to not strain the yogurt and have a thinner sauce. Whatever works for you.
Mix the red onion, cucumber, fresh dill, and green onion with about half a container of yogurt. (adjust the yogurt amount according to how many people you are feeding and their passion for sauce consumption) Squeeze the lemon in. A handy but painful trick with lemons is to squeeze them over your partially opened fingers. This way you catch any seeds while discovering every imperceptible cut on your hand. Add in about 2 tbsps of olive oil and then kosher salt and pepper to taste. Mix all ingredients together. For a smoother sauce you can take half of the mixture and run it through a blender then add it back in.
Cucumber Salad:
So now you've got 1/2 to 3/4 of a cucumber and red onion left. Rather than let it go to waste in the back of your fridge we're going to make a very simple summery salad that goes well with the salmon.
Thinly slice the cucumber and red onion. You can mince the red onion if you want. Chop up some fresh parsley. Mix cucumber, red onion, fresh parsley, some olive oil, red wine vinegar, and (you guessed it) kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Both the cucumber salad and the dill yogurt sauce taste better if you make them the day before and let the ingredients come together overnight.
Enjoy!
Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
(This coconut cream pie is crazier than the guys we date!)
Ingredients:
Garnish with whipped cream and toasted coconut as desired!
This recipe is simple and healthy. It was featured in the second LSC. Some of my recipes are my own invention but many others have been hijacked from my mother (Hedley), Top Chef, and expensive restaurants who make the mistake of putting their menus online thinking they will lure us in. What actually happens is me executing amateur renditions of their menu items at a fraction of the price for the LSC’s enjoyment. This one in particular is a Hedley-knockoff. For those of you who don’t know Hedley then turn around slowly and apologize, because she might be standing behind you. Trust me, you don’t want to make her mad.
Until this blog, most of my recipes have been stored precariously in my brain right next to a bizarre amount of facts about the diving habits of whales (I read an article once and it was pretty unforgettable). There’s not much measuring, and a lot of eyeballing in them.
Three suggestions for practical eyeballing:
1) It’s easier to add more seasoning than take extra seasoning out (and by easier, I mean it’s basically impossible to do the latter). So go lightly at first, taste test, add more if necessary, give the seasoning a few minutes to finish hitting on the object of its flavorful affections, and repeat cycle.
2)Never, ever free pour - unless rinsing salt off of semi-cooked food is one of your favorite hobbies.
3) Don’t let his girlfriend see you (bah-dum tssshh). All recipes are written to serve the number of members in the LSC (That’s four for those of you who ignored our "About Us" section). However, especially when it comes to desserts, LSC portions are usually super-sized.
Tilapia:
Preheat Oven to 350. Coat fish with olive oil and season with a bit of salt, pepper, and paprika. Remember, a bit of olive oil goes a long way and supplement by spraying the bottom of the pan with PAM to make sure the fish doesn’t stick. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through. Remember, we’re eyeballing so you can test with a fork in the thickest portion of the fish. I’ve noticed when the fish is done gets splits where you can see that it’s cooked through.
In this dish we’re using paprika to add a bit of color to the fish and not really for added flavor. Consider it the fake tanner of seasonings so sprinkle lightly – it will give it a nice browning effect when it’s cooked, unlike when people use fake tanner and turn orange.
From those of us who embrace our natural skin color to those of you who don’t – we aren’t kidding, you’re orange. (*Melissa does not endorse this opinion, as she occasionally self-tans, and is still as pale as can be).
Tomato, Red Onion, Parsley Topping:
Mix the above ingredients together. You may not need to use an entire red onion – try chopping half of it first and mixing it with the other ingredients. Ideally you can make this before the fish (even the day before) and give the ingredient flavors times to come together. It also tastes better at room temperature. If you choose to add vinegar then balsamic can also be substituted. A suggestion is to let the first six ingredients come together without the vinegar and taste test to see if you really needed that added flavor. This is one of the good things about free-cooking; you can change things as you go along and in doing so you accidentally created another new dish.
Once the fish is cooked just spoon the tomato mixture on top and enjoy! The tomato mixture is also delicious on a good toasted bread.
Berry/Rhubarb (or Chard) Filling
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and prepare pie crust.
2. Stir together: sugar, cornstarch, fruit filling and pour into pie crust.
3. Cover with top crust (lattice or traditional) and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until juices are bubbling.
*If using Rhubarb, be sure to use only the chopped up stalks and not the leaves – which are extremely toxic!
Oil Pie Crust
The LSC ladies are extremely conscious of their health. We swear. Oil-based pie crusts have less trans fats and taste just as good as their butter/shortening filled counterparts.
