Food Week: Final 3 Fav's from the J-M Kitchen

Mustard-Maple Salmon

This recipe is from a Cooking Light magazine a few years back. I serve it with rice and a veggie or salad.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
cooking spray

Directions:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; add salmon. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 20 minutes. Prepare grill or broiler. Remove salmon from bag, reserving the marinade. Place salmon on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray, and cook for 6 minutes on each side or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork; baste salmon occasionally with the reserved marinade.
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My Sister Stina's Awesome Quiche

We love quiche around here. And although this one is kinda on the high-fat side, it is worth every bite because it is just that good. I make it either with sausage --or-- with broccoli. Either way, it is fantastic! I always make two and freeze one of them. And this is my definite go-to dish if I'm going to a pot-luck brunch.

Ingredients:

• 3 sweet sausages, grilled and crumbled --or-- 1 large bunch of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces and steamed until just barely tender
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (whatever kind of cheese you like, or any kind of cheese blend; Stina and I use one of the bags of Sargento pre-grated five cheese blends)
• 1 pie shell (I buy the Pillsbury ready-made easy roll-out pie crust)
• 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg, beaten together
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cream (heavy or light, of course heavy cream makes it taste better but it is just fine with light cream too)
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• chopped fresh oregano (as much as you wish)

Preparation:

• Place pie shell in pie dish and shape along edges
• Put sausage-or-broccoli into bottom of pie shell, layer cheese on top
• Mix the last 5 ingredients together and beat until smooth and airy, pour into pie shell
• Place tomato slices 'floating' on top
• Sprinkle with salt, pepper
• Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, and then reduce to 300 and cook another 40 minutes or so

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The Best Shrimp Scampi Ever

Ina Garten is my favorite celebrity chef. I love her Barefoot Contessa cookbooks and own (and actually use) every single one of them. This recipe for "Linguine with Shrimp Scampi" is from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook. For several years I worked to perfect my own Shrimp Scampi recipe... and then I discovered this one. I gave up on my old versions and now I will only ever make this. It is the best. Braydon LOVES it. Owen and Kyle each get a serving and then inevitably "trade" halfway through dinner so that Owen ends up eating all shrimp and Kyle ends up eating all pasta.

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• kosher salt
• 1 1/2 pounds linguine (I use 2 containers of fresh linguine pasta from the refrigerated section)
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 5 tablespoons good olive oil
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
• 2 pounds large shrimp (about 32 shrimp), peeled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
• 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
• 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions:

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7-10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Add the shrimp, 1 tablespoon of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve (with lots of freshly grated parmesan!).