Panko-Crusted Salmon

September 30, 2011 by · 6 Comments

I have a bunch of really good recipes to share with you. It was a good recipe week – at least on the main dish side of things. I wasn’t sure which one to share first, but being Friday, I thought that the salmon was appropriate.

I have to tell you – this is my favorite salmon recipe and not only that, I think this is one of my favorite dishes that I have made in a long time. First of all, it is pretty healthy. Second, it was a snap to make so it is a great weeknight option. Third, I felt like I was eating something you would get in a really nice restaurant. There was so much flavor and it all went together so well. I loved this, just loved it!

If you aren’t a big fan of salmon – try this and you will change your mind. For realz:-)

I realized I did a few things different, but not really on purpose. I was in a bit of a hurry (what’s new?) so I was trying to remember what went into the panko and I added a few things that were not really in there. I think it would be excellent either way. I added some dill and a little bit of parm, but other than that I did it just like the recipe says.

This recipe comes from Ina Garten via Annie’s Eats.

Enjoy!

Panko-Crusted Salmon
 
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This salmon is so flavorful and easy to prepare!
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Recipe type: Entree

Ingredients
  • ⅔ cup panko
  • 2 tbsp. finely minced fresh parsley
  • 1 tsp dill
  • 2 tbsp grated parmesan
  • 1 tsp. lemon zest
  • tsp. kosher salt
  • tsp. ground black pepper
  • 3-4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
  • 4 (6-8 oz.) salmon fillets, skin on
  • 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425˚ F.
  2. Combine the panko, parm, dill, parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.
  3. Place the salmon skin side down and brush the top with the Dijon mustand (I use coarse grain, but regular Dijon will work well.) Top the salmon with the panko mixture and press down so that it sticks to the salmon.
  4. Heat the rest of the olive oil in an oven proof skillet and when oil is hot, place the salmon in skin-side down. Give it a good sear for about 4 minutes and then you will transfer the skillet to your preheated oven for 5-7 minutes until the panko is browned and the salmon is almost cooked through. Remove and cover with foil. Let the salmon rest for about 5 minutes.
  5. Serve and enjoy!

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Turkey Roll-Ups with Green Beans

September 28, 2011 by · 4 Comments

This is another recipe in my Easy Weeknight Meals category and I love this one! Talk about an easy comfort dish – this is it:-) My whole family loves this meal and I can probably have the whole thing on the table in about 45 minutes total. Definitely one that I can count on for the days when I have to go into the office. I think this is one that my mom told me about, too. I mean, she literally just told me what to do and I made it – it’s that easy.

I made the stuffing this time but you can certainly make the boxed stuff. I just took some white whole wheat bread and tore up about 7 slices and let them sit out for a few hours. I then sautéed some finely chopped mushrooms, onions and celery in a pan – (maybe about 1/4 cup each) in a little olive oil until everything was softened up. I added about 1 tsp of poultry seasoning to this mixture and sautéed another minute or so. I then added the bread and tossed it around in the veggies and olive oil. Add a cup of broth and continue adding a bit more at a time until the bread is nice and moist, but not drenched. Cook in the pan for a few minutes until the bread has absorbed the broth completely and you have a nice stuffing consistency. This is so yummy and has a lot less sodium than the boxed stuff. Since I used whole wheat bread it also added a bit of fiber.

You could also use real gravy if you have it and you can get low sodium turkey in the deli all the better.

So try this today. You don’t need to wait til Thanksgiving to enjoy some turkey and stuffing:-)

Enjoy!

Turkey Roll-Ups with Green Beans
 
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This is a great easy weeknight meal and the best thing is that everything cooks in one pan – protein, veggie and starch!
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Recipe type: Main

Ingredients
  • 1 lb deli turkey sliced thick
  • 1 box of prepared turkey stuffing (or about 3 cups if you want to make your own)
  • 2 cans of prepared turkey gravy or about 3 cups of your own
  • 2 cans of kitchen cut low salt green beans

Instructions
  1. Put about ¼ cup of dressing onto each turkey slice and roll up. Place each roll seam side down in a single row in a 9X13 pan that has been sprayed with a little PAM.
  2. Drain Green Beans and pour in the other half of the pan.
  3. Pour ⅔ of the gravy over the turkey rolls and the rest over the green beans.
  4. Bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

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Oregano Chicken – or Chex Mix Chicken as I like to call it….

September 15, 2011 by · 10 Comments

This is a recipe that is found in one of my Southern Living Cookbooks – Easy Weeknight Favorites. I just love the flavor in the sauce for this chicken -it actually reminds me of the flavoring that goes on Chex Mix with butter, garlic and Worcestershire sauce among other things. Yum.

One of the areas I really want to focus on with this blog are easy weeknight dishes and meals. I think all parents are looking for easy but relatively healthy dishes to cook for the family on weeknights. I know I always am. I usually serve this chicken with rice and peas. This dish has so much flavor, it is honestly one of our favorite meals and it is one that I repeat often. Funny – this is another dish my mom picked out first and it became my favorite. See a pattern here??

Enjoy, and if you would like to see other easy weeknight dishes on my blog just click on the category in the sidebar!

Oregano Chicken
 
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This is a great chicken recipe for a weeknight from Southern Living. just prepare the sauce, pour over the chicken and bake. The sauce is great over rice or noodles.
Recipe type: Main

Ingredients
  • Ingredients:
  • ¼ cup Butter, melted
  • ¼ cup Lemon Juice
  • 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 2 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder OR 1 Large Clove Garlic, crushed
  • 4 Skinned & Boned Chicken Breast Halves

Instructions
  1. Combine first six ingredients; stir well.
  2. Place chicken in an ungreased 13x9x2 inch baking dish. Pour butter mixture over chicken. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 min. Uncover and bake 10 mins more.
  3. Transfer chicken to a serving platter. Serve chicken and, if desired, juices over rice.

Notes
Sometimes the sauce in the dish is thin, although that goes nicely over the rice. If you want it to be a bit thicker whisk a tablespoon or two of flour into the sauce before baking. The original recipe calls for 6 chicken breasts, but I like more sauce so I pared it down a bit. Also, I have noticed that if I am using fresh lemon juice it is better when I use a little bit less than a quarter cup.

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Blackened Grilled Mahi Mahi

September 7, 2011 by · 9 Comments

When I was in college I spent a summer working down in Key Largo, Florida at an exclusive club.  It was a fun summer, but I worked hard, too.  You can probably imagine I had some great seafood that summer.  Two things I remember fondly are conch fritters and blackened mahi mahi.  While the conch fritters were yummy, the mahi mahi stuck with me for years after that summer and it was probably one of the best things I had ever eaten.  I’m sure it was probably about as fresh as you can get it.

Fast forward about 15 – 18 years and I still love the dish, but now I can make it myself.  Trader Joe’s sells some great frozen mahi mahi (without any solution or additives) for about 5.99 a pound so it’s extremely reasonable.  I was using the bottled blackened seasoning, but it was a little bit too spicy for my girls so I decided to make my own this time around and it was awesome and I had everything in my spice cabinet.

One of the distinct flavors in good blackened seasoning (besides the pepper) is thyme.  I love this herb – especially in this seasoning because it pairs so wonderfully with the spiciness of the cayenne.  I think you will like the recipe for the seasoning and you can certainly use it on chicken or other seafood with great success.  It has some kick so be prepared!

Mahi Mahi, if you have never tried it, is a great fish for people who aren’t seafood fans.  It’s very mild and it holds up really well to grilling.  It only takes a few minutes on each side to cook through so it’s also a good choice if you aren’t used to grilling fish.

Try this today – it does pack some good heat so if you aren’t a fan of really hot dishes just scale back the pepper in the spice mix.  Enjoy!

Blackened Grilled Mahi Mahi
 
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Mahi Mahi tastes wonderful when it is seasoned with a homemade blackened seasoning.
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Ingredients
  • 1 lb fresh or frozen and thawed mahi mahi fillets
  • 2 Tablespoons paprika
  • 1 Tablespoon each, onion powder, garlic powder, dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon each dried basil and dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (More if you want it spicier)
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper

Instructions
  1. Mix the blackened seasoning ingredients in a small bowl – set aside (everything except the mahi mahi.) You may have extra seasoning, but I do like to use a lot of this.
  2. Turn the grill on to a medium high heat (we usually let it get up to about 400 degrees.)
  3. Wash the fish and then pat dry. Coat with a little bit of olive oil and then apply the blackened seasoning liberally and all over the fish – top and bottom. I like to press it in a little bit so I know it sticks.
  4. Put the fish on the grill across the grates so you will get some nice grill marks. When the fish starts to release some of it’s juices and turns kind of white in the middle flip it over. It will probably take a little bit less time on the second side. When it feels firm and looks white and no longer translucent it is done. You will probably have it on the grill for about 10 minutes total
  5. Serve immediately and sprinkle with some lemon juice.

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Asian Tuna Patties

September 2, 2011 by · 5 Comments

This is a great weeknight meal for a couple of reasons.  First of all, you use canned tuna, so there is a good chance you have most of the ingredients in your pantry/fridge already.  Secondly, you can put the patties together in the AM and let them sit in the fridge all day and then just fry them up before dinner.  It’s pretty healthy too.  I used low sodium water packed albacore tuna from Trader Joe’s.  The end result has a ton of flavor and you can definitely taste the Asian flavors.  I drizzle some Gyoza Sauce (Trader Joe’s) over top to finish them off and they are SOOOOOO good!

I just wanted to take a moment to point out the components of this plate.  This is my new philosophy in easy/healthy for weeknight meals.  On any given night only one component of my meal requires any sort of a recipe.  So with this meal, the Tuna Patties were my recipe component and required some “putting together” and then I cut up some veggies and I used Trader Joe’s Potstickers which takes virtually no effort (by the way if you have a TJ’s near you, then you MUST try their potstickers and gyoza sauce – they rock!!)  If I were doing a potato recipe for an evening and it required some extra effort, I might serve it with some grilled chicken with a super simple marinade and some grilled veggies.  If the veggies were the star I might just slice up some whole wheat bread and pour some olive oil for dipping.  I  found that I was often trying to put together three different recipes some evenings and it got crazy and then mean mommy came out.  So now my rule is one recipe and two simple sides…you get the picture.  That is how I get through a weeknight meal. I have been doing raw veggies as the side a lot lately and my kids actually love them (with a little ranch dip of course.)

So definitely try these tuna patties. You will NOT be dissappointed…actually, you will be very pleasantly surprised.  You may find that they crumble a little bit when you are forming them into patties.  I have contemplated adding another egg or more breadcrumbs, but I always find that in the end once you get them fried up they hold together quite nicely – just be gentle.  You can probably also play around with the ingredients a bit.  If you don’t have everything you could probably just add a little bit more Teriyaki sauce.  If you don’t have the green onions you could probably add some chopped whole onions or chives (although I do think that the green onions are key in this recipe.)  Definitely try to have cornmeal when you make this, too, as it gives the patties a nice texture and crispy crust when you fry them.

**Do you have any tips for making weeknight meals easier??**

Asian Tuna Patties

Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 6oz cans of tuna, drained and flaked (try to get the best tuna you can and low-sodium if you can find it)
1 egg beaten
3/4 c panko bread crumbs
3 green onions, minced
1 clove garlic peeled and minced
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

Combine the tuna, egg, panko, green onions and garlic.  In another bowl mix the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, ketchup, sesame oil and pepper.  Blend into the tuna mixture.  You can form about 6 patties with this mixture.  Sprinkle each patty with the cornmeal making sure to coat all over.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Fry each patty about 5 minutes on each side until you get a nice golden crust.

Enjoy!

Hey! Fun Fridays will be back tomorrow and we have an AWESOME drink recipe lined up!

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