Sunday Dinner

I was just talking to a friend and we were discussing her coming over for dinner. She made the comment, "but you have to cook for us" since she's heard that I cook well. I thought about it for a moment and realized that aside from picking up some side dishes (like pickles, cabbage, etc...) at the russian store, I cook 99% of the time when people come over.

If it's a last minute thing, I can order chinese food, etc... but when I invite people over, I cook. To me - that's a big part of the enjoyment.

On Sunday, the husband and I made dinner for ourselves and the monkeys. We didn't use and recipes. We made:

Salmon - the husband used salt, pepper, olive oil and covered the salmon filet in bay leaves and dill weed. Grill on a plank or salt tablet (which is what we used) and then discard the bay leaves and dill.




Heirloom tomatoes - I sliced them, added some salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Green/Yellow Beans - saute with a tiny bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, lawrys and lemon juice.

Spinach - saute fresh baby greens with a tiny bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, lawrys and lemon juice.




My secret to the vegetables - only cook them for about 3-5 minutes. They get warmed though but keep their crunch and flavor!

Quick, simple dinner with friends

After working today, I invited two of my friends over for a light dinner. One brought these really YUMMY shrimp pinwheel appetizers from Costco, and another brought some amazing desserts from Porto's.

I bought some cheese 's from Trader Joe's and opened some Sprats (similar to smoked anchovies).



I found this AMAZING recipe for marinade and dressing from The Pioneer Woman. Her recipe was for Ginger Steak Salad. I made mine with Salmon instead.

Ginger Salmon Salad
Marinade:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sherry
2 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 lb Salmon
2 tablespoons olive oil

Salad Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 generous tablespoon fresh ginger, minced I used 1 tsp. powdered ginger because it was what I had
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced I OMITTED

8 ounces salad greens: baby lettuces, endive, radicchio, etc.
I added: Raw Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, Garbanzo Beans

Combine steak marinade ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Mix and place steak into bag. Marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Combine salad dressing ingredients. Slice green onion.

When salmon is finished marinating, add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a hot skillet. Cook salmon about 1 1/2 minutes per side, or until medium rare. Remove from skillet and keep on a plate, allowing to cool slightly. Toss salad greens in 3/4 of the salad dressing. Place salmon on cutting board and slice thinly, then pour juices from the plate over the top. Mound tossed salad on a platter, then place sliced salmon on top of salad. Pour remaining salad dressing over the top. Sprinkle green onions over the salad, and add cherry tomatoes if that makes your skirt fly up. I also added raw mushrooms and garbanzo beans.

Sorry for the crappy quality of the picture. I used my cell phone.

Dinner was wonderful and so was the company. Sadly, at about 10:30pm I started feeling horribly sick and it has lasted through today (upon re-reading this I thought I would add that it is a cold not food poisoning;)). Hopefully tomorrow I'll be better.