What's for dinner, hunny?

I get that question a lot ever since I started my housewife venture over a year ago. Dinner is almost always ready when my husband steps foot in the apartment. I feel like he's gotten it down to the last few minutes when I'm either reheating the food or plating them, just in time for him to put his briefcase down and change into something comfortable. Some would say, spoiled much? ;)

On the menu tonight: pan seared salmon over a bed of sautéed spinach and a side of cauliflower gratin. Oh, and pea soup. I love to see colors on the plate. It just makes the dish a little more fun to eat.

I always keep a bag of frozen peas in the freezer because it is such a versatile ingredient and can be used in soups, risottos or salads. This time, I decided to make pea soup with some leftover frozen pearl onions that I had from my beef bourguignon dinner a couple weeks ago. You only need a handful of ingredients in this soup - garlic, beef broth, frozen pearl onions, bacon and of course, peas!

I cooked the bacon directly in the pot - that will help render some fat without adding any more oil. Then, I added the rest of the ingredients and brought it to a boil. When all the vegetables are cooked, I pureed the soup with my handy dandy immersion blender. You can also use a food blender but if you love pureed soups like I do, I would suggest that you invest in an immersion blender. With a hand held immersion blender, you can puree the soup directly in the pot, without having to clean another kitchen equipment. In the past, I had always used a food blender. The problem with that is you have to wait till the soup cools  before you can blend it.  I got burned once because I didn't wait for it to cool down and the steam from the hot soup pushed the lid off the blender and I got hot soup all over me. It was not fun. So, personally, an immersion blender is the way to go. My husband got me the hand held Kitchen Aid immersion blender for Christmas a couple years ago. The blending attachment can be easily removed and clean. I find it very useful when making soups and sauces. Of course, you can also use it for smoothies and other stuff that you need to blend.

Before

After

I added some croutons to the soup. Croutons (cubed and toasted bread)

Moving on to the main dish - pan seared salmon with sautéed spinach. With fish, you always want to make sure that you don't overcook it or the meat will become really tough and difficult to eat. Therefore, I always cook it last so that, I don't have to reheat them in the microwave and I can serve immediately. If you have to reheat it in the microwave and the microwave smells fishy after that, simply cut a lemon in half and heat the lemon in the microwave for 10 seconds. That's a trick that I've learned and should get the fishy smell away. 

I sautéed some baby spinach with garlic and olive oil. When the spinach is almost ready, I season it with salt and pepper and added some lemon juice. I learned to cook salmon from my mom. There is no marinade necessary, simply fresh salmon, salt and pepper, lemon and good olive oil. I season the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides, and rub them with olive oil. I used a dry non-stick skillet over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, I lay the salmon skin side down. The heat from the hot pan will give you a nice sear on the skin. When I first learned to cook, I tend to move whatever meat I am making around, thinking that I will burn the meat if I don't. That's so not true. You want to let the meat sear, so it has a nice crusty brown layer on the top. The sear will also help keep the juices in the meat. I sear the salmon for about 3 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of the salmon). When the salmon is almost ready, I squeeze in some lemon juice. I also made some gremolata to top this dish. Gremolata is, according to Wikipedia, a chopped herb condiment. It's a combination of garlic, lemon zest and parsley. Sounds fancy, but it's really just made out of these three ingredients. 

Fresh Salmon from Whole Foods Market

Our little side of cauliflower gratin. Typically, cauliflower gratin is made with béchamel sauce topped with several types of cheeses (gruyere, parmesan or cheddar). My version is slightly lighter and you can make it all in a baking dish. No other pots required. I also decided to use purple cauliflower instead of the typical white ones to give this dish some color. 

I add cauliflower florets (from one head of cauliflower seasoned with salt and pepper and olive oil) to a baking dish and roasted them for about 10 minutes at 380F. For my gratin "sauce", I added 2 cloves of chopped garlic to 1/2 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, you can use heavy cream) and together, covered the roasted florets with some grated parmesan. I continued baking the dish for another 10 minutes until the florets are fully cooked through and the cheese is melted. The finished dish adds a nice purple hue to the meal. 

Enjoy...