By Rachel, Jess & of course...the monkey
Jess really challenges my creativity when it comes to cooking because while I tend to rely on cheese and meat to make things really hit the spot, she is lactose intolerant and a vegetarian! You would think this would ruin a meal for me, but honestly, I am shocked at how delicious our meals always are when we cook together...
The menu for New Year's Eve was Maple Glazed Salmon accompanied by Local Fixin's (which is her new project of bringing local Illinois farm products to the people of Chicago - it consists of black beans, wheat berries and an incredible seasoning mixture) sided with mixed greens tossed in a dijon vinaigrette. If the picture doesn't cut it (mine never seem to) do yourself a favor and trust me on this one and make this for yourself sometime...DELICIOUS!
Once those suckers were good and soaked, we rinsed them off and put them into a 6 quart pot with 3.5 cups of water. Jess was super smart in creating this little goodie jar because the mason jar has measurement lines on it and doubles as your measuring cup - how convenient!
Maple Salmon Marinade:1/2 cup balsamic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup (thank you Miranda for my New Hampshire Maple Syrup!!)
Dramatic drizzle of olive oil over top everything
S&P
Dijon Vinaigrette:
Two heavy squirts of Dijon mustard
A large splash of apple cider vinegar
Double the amount of vinegar with olive oil
Season with S&P
Add a dash of maple syrup
After a few more laughs and a wine refill, we set the oven to broil and took our salmon out of the fridge. We put the salmon skin side up in a baking dish with about a 1/4 inch of the marinade in the bottom of the pan and broiled for about 10 minutes. Then we flipped it over and broiled until the salmon turned from shiny orange to matte peach, about 10 more minutes, depending on the size of your salmon pieces. The top gets a little candied and is delicious!
One Jar Local Fixin's (black beans, wheat berries and seasoning)
Carrots, cut real thin for easy eating
Edamame, steamed and removed from pods
Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Sun-dried tomatoes, just a couple, chopped
Red onion, just a touch, finely chopped
A heavy sprinkle of feta cheese for on top
One bottle of wine and lot of good laughs later...everything is ready, monkey man is happy, and we are ready to dig in!