Tag: dinner

Barefoot Contessa Recipe #32 – Panko Crusted Salmon

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe is from How Easy is That?, page 152

For Friday night dinner, I made my first fish recipe in the Ina cook-through saga. My family usually eats fish about once a week, typically salmon. So, a salmon recipe seemed like the logical choice. We already had the fish and almost all the ingredients to make the panko crust. I think I only had to buy a lemon for the zest.

This recipe is pretty straight forward. But, to be honest, it’s nothing special. The dijon mustard does give the salmon an extra flavor and it plays nicely with the panko crust. The panko prevents the salmon from drying out which, obviously, make it more flavorful. If you’re looking to dress up your run-of-the-mill salmon filet, then definitely try this one. One of the perks is all the ingredients are pretty standard, so it won’t break the bank either. That was a nice reprieve from some other Ina recipes.

To my dish, I decided to throw in some of the pine nuts I used for the gremolata I made a few weeks ago. Those little nuts are expensive and I don’t want them to go to waste!

In addition to this recipe, I made a side dish. That recipe review will be posted later in the week.

See ya then!

Changing it Up a Little

Published on by RJLeave a comment

Hey everyone!

This week, I am thinking of breaking out of the Ina-shell once again. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made a recipe that wasn’t out of one of Ina Garten’s books. If you follow me on Instagram, I teased that I may be cooking something out of the Gourmet Today cookbook. I still have not decided what that will be. But, I’m busy thumbing through the pages, looking for something enticing.

I will surely let you know what recipe I am making Friday morning whether I chose to make one out of Gourmet Today or another cookbook entirely. In addition to my usual Friday-night dinner cooking plans. I will also be making a chocolate cake for a family member’s birthday. However, I will not be making an Ina Garten chocolate cake. She has quiet a few recipes for chocolate cakes. They vary in shape and size, but I just want something a little different.

The cake and frosting recipe I make for the birthday celebration will be out of The Magnolia Bakery Handbook. This is a dedicated baking book and for the price, you get A LOT of recipes and information. If you buy one baking book, I think it should be this one! The recipes are easy to follow and the results are well-worth it.

I’m so excited to share with you photos of the chocolate cake this weekend and whatever recipe or recipes I decide to make for Friday’s dinner.

In other news, I may start doing more than one post a day every now and then. I’ve always wanted this blog to evolve a bit over time. I may have some general life related posts or just little “updates” about things that I am doing that day or that week.

Until the recipes are made….

P.S. The photo at the top of this page is not something I’ve made. (But boy, do I WISH I had the recipe!) I just liked it and felt it went with the theme of this post a little bit.

Recipe #29 Roasted Broccoli with Panko Gremolata

Published on by RJ1 Comment

This recipe can be found in Cook Like a Pro, page 164.

Last Friday I made dinner for the family. The main course consisted of Lemon Chicken Breasts. The vegetable was a beautiful and simple broccoli dish that I think will be a common recipe in my household from now on.

Roasted Broccoli with Panko Gremolata adds a bit of flair to what may otherwise be a boring broccoli dish. The toasted panko crumbs with the lemon and garlic flavor really shines and adds a much needed taste-boost to the broccoli.

Often times, Ina comments on how after she discovered roasting vegetables and the flavor it brings out, she fell in love with preparing them that way. I have to say that I agree. There have been a few recipes on this blog that have the vegetables roasted and I am always impressed with the results.

I will admit that I should have let the gremolata mixture “toast” for a few more minutes prior to serving, but the chicken was already done baking, and people were hungry. Myself included! You live and learn, right?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this photo included both recipes. I wasn’t able to get a separate picture. I was too busy serving…and eating!

Recipe #28 Lemon Chicken Breasts

Published on by RJ2 Comments

This recipe can be found in Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? on page 120.

Last Friday, I took over the dinner duty, as usual. This week I made a lovely chicken dish and a side of vegetables to go along with it.

The main course was Lemon Chicken Breasts. While the recipe calls for boneless chicken breasts with the skin on, I wasn’t able to find that. So I just used the more-common boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The breasts did not develop a beautiful golden-brown color on top like the recipe photograph shows, but they were still tasty nonetheless.

The recipe is heavy on the lemon. Lemon juice and zest is used in the sauce that the breasts bake in, but I don’t feel the use of lemon was overpowering. It adds a wonderful, fresh, citrusy flavor the dish. This was perfect for a cold winter’s night since I often find myself longing for the warmer days of summer.

This dish is easy enough to make for a weeknight since it can be completed in around 40 minutes from start to finish. Although, I do feel that letting the chicken rest after taking it out of the oven is essential to prevent the meat from being too dry. But that aside, this is a fast and easy weeknight dinner, which is unusual for Ina. Long time readers of this blog will recall that I have found some of her recipes time-consuming.

The vegetable dish I served with this will be reviewed tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

You can see from the photo above that the vegetable dish was a broccoli one. I wasn’t able to take a separate photograph.

Weekend Recipes 1/8/2021

Published on by RJLeave a comment

It’s Friday. Finally. This week was long for me. I’m not really sure why. But at least now I can look forward to the weekend ahead and spending some time in the kitchen. Over the last week I’ve taken some organizing and planning steps to help me stay more on track with the blog and cooking/baking. Now it’s time to put them into practice!

Continue reading “Weekend Recipes 1/8/2021” →