Roasted Salmon with Shallot Grapefruit Sauce

This was delicious!!! Truly a unique twist to fish! Try it out and let me know what you think!

• 4 skinless salmon fillets, 5 to 6 ounces each
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 2 ruby red grapefruits
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 1/2 teaspoons honey
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Season the salmon with 1/4 teaspoon salt, place in a baking dish and roast until cooked through, about 18 minutes.

While the salmon is cooking prepare the sauce. Cut 1 of the grapefruits into sections by cutting off the top and bottom of the fruit, then standing it on 1 end, cut down the skin to remove the pith and peel. Then, with a paring knife, remove each segment of fruit from its casing and cut the segments in half. Set the segment pieces aside. Juice the other grapefruit and set the juice aside.

In a medium skillet, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the shallot and saute until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the ginger, grapefruit juice, honey, and cayenne pepper and bring to simmer. Cook until sauce is reduced by about half about, 10 minutes. Add lemon juice and season with salt, to taste. Right before serving, toss the grapefruit pieces and basil into the sauce. Put the salmon onto a serving dish. Spoon sauce over the salmon and serve.

Basque-Style Mussels with Couscous

Are you familiar with the Basque region? When I was living in Bordeaux, I dined in a Basque influenced restaurant that gave Spanish cuisine a "French-twist." Interestingly enough, us Alabamians can feast on these incredible flavors at Do Di Yo's where they offer a Basque-Style Mussels dish! My good friend, Barrow, and I absolutely love it (and the bread it comes with)! Rather than a buttery-cream broth that mussels are traditionally swimming in, Do Di Yo's creates a light and citrus flavored broth. Let's just say, if you're not a seafood fan, you're about be and if you already love "fuits de mer" ... hold on to your hat!

I now give you "Basque-Style Mussels" w/couscous! 

Just don't forget to add the mussels -- the star of this show is the broth!

Squeezing orange juice into broth. Hand model: Barrow.

Ingredients:

• 1 large jar of red roasted peppers
• 1 green bell pepper
• About 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic 
• 1 cup chopped onion 
• 2 cups chicken broth
• juice of one orange (then slice)
• juice of half lemon
• 2 teaspoons Tabasco Sauce 
• 6 dozen mussels (about 3 in. each), beards pulled off, scrubbed 
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Salt 
• box of couscous (go ahead and cook this)

1. Place red and green peppers in a 10- by 15-inch pan. Broil until pepper skins are charred and blistered all over, turning as needed, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Pull off and discard skins, stems, and seeds. Chop red and green peppers separately.

2. In a food processor or blender, purée 3/4 of the red peppers until smooth.

3. In a 6- to 8-quart pan over high heat, combine 1 teaspoon olive oil and the garlic. Stir often until garlic is limp, about 1 minute. Add onion, Tabasco sauce, red pepper purée and juice of one orange and half lemon. Cover and bring to a boil.

4. Add mussels to pan, cover, and cook until shells pop open, 5 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer mussels to wide bowls. (then add your orange slices to broth)

5. Add chopped green and red peppers to broth; bring to a boil. Add parsley and season mixture to taste with salt. Ladle over mussels.

*Place couscous in bowl then add mussels and spoon over the yummy broth with all the flavorful nuggets. Don't forget a spoon!

Frugal French

My favorite two channels to watch these days are Food Network and the Cooking Channel. I start watching and hours later (after viewing every type of cuisine available) I'm inspired and convinced that I, too, can create the most amazing dish imaginable ... on my own show, much less! :)

Recently I saw an episode on Ten Dollar Dinners which was titled, "Frugal French." The dinner included:

• French Onion Soup
• Easy Breadsticks

I've heard that making french onion soup is a challenge but Melissa d'Arabian made it look so simple! So I gave it a try! I also made the "easy bread sticks" which were delicious! I took a few pictures of the soup while I was cooking.

yellow onions ready to cook for 1.5 hours

After 1.5 hours of onions cooking, red wine, chicken and beef broth along with spices were added

Perfection.

I'll keep you posted on the new show starring a young Francophile! It's airing on The Cooking Channel and is supposedly going to be a HIT!!

 

One can dream ...

Dave's Surprise Birthday Party!

It's official, Dave is 30!! 

To celebrate this very momentous occasion, Dave thought we were going to dinner with our good friends, Matt and Caroline. Little did he know all of his friends and family were awaiting his arrival at home!!

SURPRISE!!!

 The newly engaged couple, Jamie and John!!

 Hiliary, me, Lauren and John

 Dad and George

 Matt, Dustin and Jonathon (who few from Denver!)

 Sidney and Barrow

 Tracy and me

Brittney and Sarah

The boys -- Jonathon, Matt, David, Dave, Kris and Ricky!!

 Andrew and Tracy

 It was an amazing night with everyone!!

Happy Birthday Dave!!

Vegas!

This year my family went to Vegas where Dave, my two brothers and Dad competed in a national pool tournament. It was a "hot" trip to say the least with temperatures ranging from 108-110 with ZERO humidity. We had a fun time spending time with each other, dining at some great restaurants and people watching. Also, the boys played really well in the tournament!! The best part of the entire trip was when John proposed Jamie! He took her on a helicopter ride of the Grand Canyon and popped the question!!


Here a few pictures of the trip and the special couple! :) More pictures to come...

Mom and Dad at the Wynn

 

 Jamie and John - directly after the fountain show


Celebrating Jamie and John's engagement in Patrick's Suite (look how beautiful Jamie's hair is)

Me and Dave, not sure what face Dave is making...

The pool...very hot day.