Salmon a la Yoms

Yoms and Claire were visiting from London. We went to Costco and bought a slab of salmon, which he transformed into this incredible dish.

This is what I call a no-recipe recipe. Take a look at the pics and decide on your proportions. Leftovers are welcome. While I love salmon, my favorite part of this dish is the veggies. If you're anchovy-averse, trust me. You need anchovies in this dish; baking melts them, turning the juices into pure umami.

Salmon a la Yoms
Ingredients

• salmon
• green beans
• fresh basil
• anchovies in olive oil
• grape tomatoes
• black olives
• olive oil

Directions

1. Blanch green beans for one minutes, drain and run cold water over them until they're cool to the touch.
2. Line a baking dish or cookie sheet with foil.
3. Layer your ingredients: first salmon, then anchovies, basil, black olives, green beans and tomatoes.
4. Drizzle with olive oil, cover with foil and and bake at 400 degrees for about half an hour or until the salmon is done.

Easy Peasy Blueberry Waffles

Not much in the house for breakfast this morning, so I improvised and we enjoyed blueberry waffles with frozen blueberries that were hiding in the freezer, topped with jalapeno blueberry jam we got at the Farmer's Market in Haines, Alaska a couple of weeks ago.  Delightful and easy brekkie, noted here so I don't lose the recipe.

Blueberry Waffles

Ingredients

1 T lemon juice

2 c milk plus some

2 eggs

2 T sugar

2 T baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t Mexican vanilla

1/2 t salt

1 c blueberries (fresh or frozen or even dried)

3 T melted butter

Directions

1. Add lemon juice to 2 c milk and set aside. (If you have buttermilk, use it instead of the milk and lemon juice.)
2. Melt butter and let cool.
3. Combine dry ingredients.
4. Beat eggs. Combine with milk, vanilla and butter. 
5. The stir the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, and add more milk if necessary to make a pourable batter. Batter should not be as runny as pancake batter. Don't overmix; a few lumps are just perfectly fine.
6. When the waffle iron is hot, pour in enough batter for the first set of pancakes, then sprinkle the berries on top. I used about a handful of frozen berries for each set of waffles. 
7. Serve warm with melted butter and maple syrup. Or jalapeno blueberry jam. 

This photo is meh and the recipe is nothing to write home about. But making waffles from scratch is easy as...pie. And almost as good.

Quick Chicken Veggie One-Dish Bake

Sometimes it's downright discouraging to come home after a workday, craving a healthy scrumptious home-cooked meal, only to realize I have no leftovers and no inclination to undertake anything too involved.

This recipe for Chicken Stir-Fry Sheet Pan Meal on Kalyn's Kitchen looked tempting and quick to put together. Prep took all of 5 minutes. I made a few changes in the recipe and loved the results. So did the Mister, whose commute generally puts him on the doorstep around 8pm with an appetitie.

Quick Chicken Veggie One-Dish Bake
feeds 3-4
Ingredients
2 lbs. skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
2-3 red bell peppers, sliced lengthwise
1/2 lb. asparagus, stalks cut in half
for the sauce:
1/3 c. Bragg's Liquid Aminos (available at our local natural food store)
1 T maple syrup
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
2 T black sesame seeds (I added some white sesame seeds too)

Directions

1. In a 9" x 13" glass baking dish or something comparable, distribute the chicken thighs.
2. Add the veggies on top.
3. Mix the remainder of the ingredients and pour the sauce over the whole thing. 
4. Bake at  375 degrees, uncovered. Check occasionally to make sure everyting is baking evenly and use your tongs to mix it up so both the meat and the veggies have a chance to simmer in that sauce.
5. Here's the critical part: bake it until the chicken is done and the veggies are al dente. I guesstimate around 30 minutes. I admit, I did not time it. 

I'm still a lousy food photographer, but here's the view of my bowl.