I know, I know, I’m a bit behind.  I still have 3 videos to edit and last week’s recipe to post.  The good news is it’s been a good kind of busy as in finding work here and there (mainly photography, but some writing as well).  The bad news is this blog has suffered.   But not the intent!!  I still need to cook and I still am fairly clueless about creating recipes!  Thank you to my loyal followers for hanging in there with me, I appreciate it!

This week’s challenge is going to be wide open, almost.  For those not in the Pacific Northwest you might not know of the fabled Copper River Salmon.  It is an especially scrumptious salmon from the chilly waters in Alaska that has a really nice fat content.  Most of this fat is in the form of oils that rival other ‘ordinary’ Alaskan salmon.  Personally, it’s my favorite fish.  It rarely needs much sprucing up as the flavor is that good.

But, I need something new.  I tend to throw the fish on an alder plank and throw it in the oven until the oils come through.  I’m looking for either a new way of cooking it that preserves the wonderful flavor or a good recipe to compliment the fish.  Your recipe and credit WILL be posted, I promise!!   I’ll be cooking the fish on Thursday night and will see if I can con Sabrina into helping me film (she loves salmon as well).  The fillet I have is about 2 lbs and just begging for your magical creation!!

This is the first week I’ve been faced with not one, but TWO great, easy recipes to choose from!  After a couple of weeks of no entries, it was nice to have a couple entries.  In the end I went with Dawn’s suggestion as Patty and Erik had already done a great job of cooking theirs and photographing the results!  Their recipe can be found at their Family Diners blog.  Take a moment to check them out, they have some other great recipes on there as well.

Dawn’s recipe got a thumbs up from Sabrina although we edited it a little.  We didn’t add the pepper to the salmon (Sabrina’s not a fan) and we substituted lemonade for lemon juice (a chef’s gotta do, what a chef’s gotta do).  Eeek! I just realized we left out the cheese topping too.  That would have been good.  At any rate, the video will be ‘coming soon’.  Until then, here’s the recipe as Dawn wrote it.

Penne Pasta with Asparagus & Salmon

Prep Time: not much, 10 minutes?

Cook time: maybe 20 minutes depending on fish

Post Cooking Prep Time: 10 minutes if the fish is boney

Ingredients:

• Pear (slice & serve with pasta dish)
• Penne pasta (rice based in this case)
• Asparagus
• Wild salmon
• Garlic
• Parsley
• salt & pepper
• Old Bay seasoning
• Olive oil
• 1- 2 tsp Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed if possible)
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Put the asparagus in a baking pan (or cookie sheet with sides) and pour a little olive oil over it. Crush a clove of garlic on top and add few grinds of pepper and a little salt. Roll the asparagus around in the pan so that everything gets well coated.

Place the de-boned salmon in another baking pan (with skin side down if it still has some on it). Crush a clove of garlic on top, a little salt & pepper, Old Bay and a splash of olive oil. Coat & rub it all in a little. Bake both asparagus & salmon at 425 degrees until the asparagus is tender and the salmon is just cooked through. (The asparagus will take about 15-20 minutes to get tender; the salmon should take about 10-15.) Meanwhile, cook the pasta.

When the asparagus is done, cut it into one to two inch pieces. Break the salmon up into bite size pieces with fork.
Once the pasta is cooked & drained add olive oil until well coated, then add the lemon juice, parsley (and any extra garlic) to make a light sauce. Combine the pasta and asparagus in a large bowl and toss well. Then add the salmon and toss gently so that the hunks of salmon stay relatively intact; finish off with sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Serve with sliced pears and enjoy!

This week’s challenge should be fairly easy, I hope.  I rooted around in the freezer and found some fish, so fish it is!

Take the following ingredients and post a yummy dish of your own making:

• Wild Salmon filets
• Pear
• Brown Rice Penne Pasta
• Asparagus
• Up to two ingredients of your choice!

If you haven’t played along before, check out How This Works above. Basically, post a recipe here or on your site and let us know about it!  I’ll then cook up the meal and give it a whirl!

A quick recap.  Week #8’s challenge was to take the following ingredients and make a yummy recipe.

• Line and Hook Caught Wild Alaskan Salmon
• Ginger Root
• Brussels Sprouts
• Red Potatoes

The winning recipe was sent in from Kitchen Gadget Girl.  I’m still amazed at not only the support I’ve received for my crazy, wacky idea of a website, but the resources from those like Kitchen Gadget Girl’s website and tweets on Twitter. Thank You, Thank You!

I followed her plan almost to the letter.  I let salmon sit with some wheat-free soy sauce and fresh grated ginger.  I’d say go sparingly on the ginger as it was a bit much for my liking.   Her times in the oven were close enough for me.  I added about 15 minutes to the fish because of thickness and that ended up giving the sprouts a nice roasted flavor on top.  here’s what she sent in:

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Ok, I am thinking some sort of ginger soy marinade for the salmon, then roasting all together in the oven.

I would start the potatoes first, cutting them into similarly sized pieces as the Brussels sprouts (definitely in half, but if the potatoes are larger, then cutting them into quarters). Toss in olive oil and salt, then roast for about 20 minutes at 375-400F.  [NOTE: I also added rosemary and dried cilantro]

Add in the Brussels sprouts and push the potatoes and veggies to the outside of the pan. Put the salmon in the middle and continue roasting the whole thing for 15-20 more minutes, until the fish is cooked through.

Timing and temperature are uncertain, depends on your ovens characteristics….

The only entries for this week’s challenge didn’t quite fit the bill (didn’t use all ingredients and seemed, well, tough!) so I ended up winging the recipe this week.  Here’s my best bet at what I did, followed by the video.  And in the video, my seven year old daughter took over the camera action and added in her own commentary, at one point telling me what I was mixing looked like poop.  Wow.  I know I’m not artful, but poop?  Cummon!   She ended up loving what I made so it wasn’t THAT bad.

Ingredients:

• King Salmon Steaks
• Asparagus
• Brown Rice
• Red, Yellow and Green Peppers
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• Mustard Powder
• Old Bay Seasoning
• Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Cut Salmon into steaks and lay in 13×9 baking dish.  Mix together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard powder (to your liking) and Old Bay.  Sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning on the salmon cakes and the then coat with sauce.  Cover with cut peppers and sprinkle with more olive oil. 

Place asparagus on aluminum foil covered cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and Dijon mustard and mix to coat.

Cook rice per instructions.

Place salmon in 375F oven for 15 minutes.  When 15 minutes are up, place asparagus on top rack and switch to broil, but with door closed, for 10 minutes.  If you have  convection feature, turn it on now too.

After that 25 minutes, all should be done!  Place salmon, asparagus and peppers over bed of rice and serve!