Pecan Panco Encrusted Salmon

My husband and I are getting ready for a trip to Hawaii in June. We are trying (big word) to eat healthy whenever we can; so the other night I decided to make salmon for dinner with a side salad.

I get nervous when cooking fish mainly because of the inconsistency in my results. There are a few rules that I always try and remember. 1) Fish can absorb a flavor quickly so be careful when seasoning/marinating your fish. 2) Let it marinate in lemon, lime or another acidic substance and you will get ceviche (cooking fish without cooking). 3) a little lemon goes a long way - I like to add a squeeze of lemon after I have already flipped my fish once. 4) be sure not to over cook or under cook your fish. If cooking in a skillet on your range top, the fish will slowly start changing color from the bottom up to the middle. When the color has almost reached the middle, flip your fish and repeat on the other side allowing the color to almost reach the middle again but not quite. The fish will continue to cook a little after removing it from the heat source. 5) just because one piece is finished, it does not mean that the other piece is. Be aware of the difference in thicknesses. 6) Fish is great to cook because you only need to flip it once allowing you plenty of time to prepare your side dishes.

Pretty simple rules to remember, until you get excited about how your fish is going to taste and pull it off the heat to soon which is exactly what I did this particular night. LOL All in all, minus the uncooked middle section of the salmon, the new recipe that I tried out was really tasty.

Pecan panco encrusted salmon. I was trying to think of how I was going to cook the fish without possibly ruining it. Lemon came to mind and quickly left when I looked down and saw the tub of pecan panco breadcrumbs. I was immediately inspired. It was so easy!! I removed the skin from the salmon, covered the fish with the breadcrumbs and threw it in a semi-hot oiled pan over medium heat (adjusting as needed). I did not have to add any seasoning because it was already in the breadcrumbs that I had purchased from the store.

While the salmon was cooking I made a great side salad to go with our dinner. Let's call it, red grapefruit vinaigrette salad with encrusted goat cheese. I used red grapefruit because it is typically easier on the palate (especially when you are not a fan of grapefruit). In a bowl, whisk together 3 tsp. of the red-grapefruit juice, 1 to 2 tsp apricot preserves, a squeeze of honey, salt and pepper to taste. Continue to whisk the mixture while adding extra virgin olive oil (at least a 1/4 of a cup). If the vinaigrette is to bitter because of the grapefruit juice, try adding a little more honey or apricot preserves (jam, jelly, what ever they call it where you live). For the goat cheese, take your favorite goat cheese roll (plain, honey, etc.) and cut in to 1/2 inch wheels. Take the cheese wheels and cover with your pecan panco breadcrumbs (regular breadcrumbs will work just fine). Place the cheese wheels in to a pre-heated skillet over medium heat and let brown on first side before flipping. Be careful, the cheese may fall apart on you. After tossing your salad (LOL) with the vinaigrette, place the warm encrusted goat cheese on top and serve.

Simple additions to your salad: sunflower seeds, candied or caramelized pecans or walnuts, pear or apple slices, roasted beets, or any of your favorite toppings.

A simple dinner that takes maybe 10 to 15 minutes to make and a few more to enjoy!

BBQ rolls

I love BBQ and I love rolls, so when I saw BBQ rolls (rolls stuffed with BBQ) on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate...BBQ" the other night, I had to try making them. I mean why not. I have a terrific yeast roll recipe given to me by a good family friend, Nancy Goodson and the great book How to Grill by Steven Raichlen. What did I have to lose?

Mr. Raichlen’s recipes have never failed me – of course sometimes I fail the recipe. I used the Basic Barbecue Rub (I have it pre-made and waiting for my every beckon call in my spice cupboard) for my Boston Butt. Rubbed the spices all over the piece of meat and let it dry marinate in the refrigerator over night.

This morning I did my normal prep work– browned it on all sides and placed it in my small roaster, fat side up, shoved it in the oven at 275˚ and left for the day. I was concerned with being gone all day and not being able to add a sauce or mop the meat to keep it moist.

When I took the meat out of the oven, it looked terrific. I let it rest for 10 minutes while I prepped the dough. When I picked the meat up with my tongs and the meat gave –it gave a lot - a horrible picture flashed through my head, the turkey carving scene from “Christmas Vacation”. Remember? Chevy Chase pokes the knife into the turkey and a puff a smoke comes out?

Luckily for me, I had not recreated the scene. The meat gave because the fat had rendered resulting in some of the most delicious, moist pulled pork I have ever made.

Add this glorious meat to the sweet yeast rolls and you’ll be doing the happy food dance like I was during dinner. My husband was laughing at me and asked me if I needed some time to myself. LOL

Here are both recipes. I highly suggest that if you like to make BBQ or want to but don’t think you can, that you get Mr. Raichlen’s book(s) and use them.

Pulled Pork
1 Boston Butt (I did not use the bone-in)
Dry rub with “Basic Barbecue Rub” http://www.barbecuebible.com/featured/howtogrill/basic_barbecue_rub.php
Your favorite barbecue sauce

Brown meat on all sides including the ends and place in small roaster, fat-side up in a 275˚ oven. Let the meat cook for 6 to 8 hours.

When you take the meat out of the oven or off of the grill and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Pull the meat apart and let it cool a little. Add a light coating of your favorite BBQ sauce to the meat before stuffing in to the yeast rolls.

Yeast Rolls
By Nancy Goodson
1 c. milk
½ c. sugar
1 tsp salt
½ c. butter or marg.
1 pkg. dry yeast
¼ c. warm water
1 beaten egg
4 c. flour
Melted honey butter

Scald the milk. Add sugar, salt & butter to the milk. Stir until melted & sugar is dissolved, let cool but don’t let the butter set on you. Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add beaten egg. Add cooled milk mixture. Add 2 c. flour & mix until smooth. Add rest of flour and mix well. Cover and chill for several hours – up to 3 days in frig. Divide dough and roll in to balls. Hollow out the dough ball and stuff some of the pulled pork in to the dough. Pinch the dough closed over the meat. Allow rolls to rise until doubled. Baste with melted honey butter.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 425˚ or until rolls are fully baked.

TIPS: Use your hands to toss the pulled pork in the BBQ sauce. Do not mix the meat a lot otherwise the texture becomes something that you probably will not enjoy.

Let the dough sit in the refrigerator at minimum 3 hours.

If your rolls are not doubling in size, place them in your oven on the lowest temperature setting possible – mine goes as low as 150˚. Keep an eye on them; you are not baking them at this point just trying to make them a little fluffier.

Flour you hands when working with the dough.

Your dough balls should be no larger than a pool table ball.

Enjoy!!

Grandma's Chocolate Chip recipe

The other day on Facebook, I commented that my daughter and I had made Snickerdoodles using my Grandma Wood's recipe. Almost immediately, a few cousins sent me a message wanting the recipe and any others that I had from her - most importantly her chocolate chip recipe.

Grandma Wood had a special talent when baking cookies. As my cousin Eric stated, " I can't seem to keep them from spreading out. Grandma's always seemed fluffy and perfectly baked. I hear Tammy can make them just like she did. She told me she followed the recipe on the Toll House bag, but I'm calling stink on that. Mine have NEVER turned out like hers, but then again she was special and probably had magical powers???????”

I normally have the same problem – flat, crispy cookies – nothing like grandmas!

The recipe I have is called "Tollhouse Cookies" mainly because grandma always used Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips and never substituted (at least not that I can remember). When you compare the two recipes, my recipe looks almost exactly like the recipe that you will find on the back of a Tollhouse package but doubled. There are a few exceptions: the sugar is not doubled nor is the salt.

Below is the recipe with a few tricks that grandma always used and they work. Enjoy!

Cream together: 1 cup butter and 1 cup Crisco
Add to this mixture and cream: 1 cup sugar and 1 cup light brown sugar – blend this mixture until creamy – you want to make sure that the sugar starts to dissolve.
Add 4 eggs and cream (you can beat the eggs first prior to adding them to your mixture)
Sift together 4 ½ cups of flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking soda – sifting was always a must
Add 2 cups of the dry ingredients to your creamed mixture and blend together slowly with your mixer– nothing worse than a white cloud of flour in your kitchen

When the 2 cups of the dry mixture are just incorporated, add the remaining portion of the dry ingredients by hand – literally – use your hands and mix the cookie dough together until just incorporated. Do not over mix the mixture, flour does not like to be played with.

Add a bag of semi-sweet Tollhouse chips and 2 tsp vanilla to your dough mixture again using your hands.

Bake on greased sheet 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

TIPS: Never bake a cookie thoroughly unless you want a crispy cookie. For a fluffy chewy cookie, bake the cookie until the middle is just a little gooey.

Always use Crisco. When Crisco came out with the butter Crisco, grandma started using it. Both the original and butter work well with this recipe.

Sift your dry ingredients together. If you do not have a sifter, use a colander.

Snickerdoodles will be another day.