A Household First

Well last night we did something crazy.  We ate fish in our own house.  That’s never happened before.  We eat seafood when Tyler’s dad makes it, or sometimes if we’re feeling wild and crazy at a nice restaurant (had some great fish in Maine last summer!), but we’d never purchased or cooked seafood ourselves.  I knew I wanted to tackle salmon first.  I’m mildly allergic to some fish (though that doesn’t always stop me from eating it) but have never had a bad reaction to salmon.  I found a recipe in my new Cooking Light cookbook (can you tell I love this cookbook yet?!) and picked up some salmon filets at the grocery store and away we go!  Tyler actually did all the work, I just supervised and then ate it   I’m glad we’ve given seafood a try, I think we’ll be trying seafood recipes more often now that I’m not so intimidated!

Citrus Roasted Salmon (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (6-ounce) can thawed orange juice concentrate
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned (1 inch thick)
 Cooking spray
 Orange wedges (optional)
 Flat-leaf parsley sprigs (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine first 9 ingredients in a bowl; brush both sides of fish with the orange mixture. Reserve remaining orange mixture. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Place remaining orange mixture in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 2 minutes). Serve with fish, and garnish with orange wedges and parsley, if desired.

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simple side dish

I’ve had a box of whole wheat couscous sitting in the pantry for a few months now. We needed a simple side dish to go along with our salmon and since I’m not a big fan of rice (mine always turns out crunchy or mushy) I whipped up the couscous instead. I had bookmarked a fellow blogger’s recipe for spicing up boxed couscous and I’m so happy I remembered to pull it up last night. What a great simple recipe, the kind where it’s likely we’ll always have all the ingredients laying around so it may become a new household favorite! Thanks for the inspiration Bella! There were no leftovers!

“Weeknight Couscous” (original recipe from Bella Lately)

1 garlic clove, finely minced or pressed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup couscous
1 1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 – 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Heat garlic in sauce pan with olive oil.  Stir and cook until fragrant. Add couscous, toss until couscous is coated.

Add broth, bring to a boil, place lid on saucepan, set to the side for 5 minutes. When 5 minutes is up, fluff with a fork and throw in Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

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