By Rachel, Jess & of course...the monkey
My great friend Jess and her husband came to visit and help ring in the new year this past weekend, and when I get to see her I am guaranteed to eat well, talk a LOT, and be left with a sore belly from laughing so hard. I think you will get the picture...needless to say, we had a great time and came up with some great recipes!
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!
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!
Local Fixin's take a bit longer than your average side dish to make, so we started early. We soaked the black beans and wheat berries in water for about 6 hours. This sounds time consuming but it's not at all...just takes some good old memory (or your phone alarm). Seriously though, how hard is it to wake up, cover the dried stuff with water and then not think about it until 2 hours before dinner - piece of cake.
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!
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!
Then we added the contents of the spice pack and stirred. After bringing this mixture to a boil, we lowered the heat and simmered for about two hours, or until all the water was absorbed. Again...cake!
While that simmered we cracked open the bottle of vino that she brought us wrapped up in this hilarious little monkey suit...the monkey got a little tipsy too.
While sipping our monkey wine, we marinated our salmon by combining all the ingredients below and sitting the salmon skin side up in it for about an hour. If you make this, you should marinate for at least 10 minutes but not longer than an hour or so just in case the vinegar breaks down the salmon.
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
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
Now for the mixed greens. We made a simple vinaigrette by mixing up the ingredients below, tasting along the way until it was what we wanted. Tossed with a bunch of mixed greens, this made a light and easy side for our dinner.
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!
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!
While that broiled, we chopped up some fresh ingredients from the fridge to mix with our Local Fixin's. Here is what we used...
Black Bean and Wheat Berries with Veggies:
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!
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!
Cheers to good friends, good food, and monkeys who hide wine bottles!
NOTE: If you aren't able to get your hands on Local Fixin's for yourself, you can try to recreate them by cooking black beans with wheat berries and a combo of dried basil, oregano, marjoram, parsley, dill, mint, onion, black pepper and mustard.
