Apricot-cider glazed salmon, crispy roasted potatoes

Dress salmon, or chicken, up with this simple glaze, serve with your favorite veggies and starch and voilà!

Crispy roasted potatoes

~2 lbs easter egg potates, halved or quartered depending on their size

• They’re called easter egg potatoes, because they come in several different colors, but fingerling potatoes would work just as well, or even red potatoes cut in quarters

10-12 small garlic cloves, very rough chopped
couple sprigs of thyme
olive oil
salt and pepper

– Preheat oven to 400 degrees
– Wash and cut potatoes and place in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and add chopped garlic and thyme
– Season liberally with salt and pepper and toss potatoes to make sure they are well coated. Dump potatoes onto a large baking sheet
– Cook potatoes for 20 minutes at 400, then turn heat up to 425, stir potatoes, and continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes till tender when poked with a fork

• you may have to use a spatula to scrape the potatoes off of the baking sheet, but that’s okay, because that’s how you get the crispy brown sides

Apricot-Cider Glazed Salmon

apricot-cider glaze (see recipe below)
4 salmon filets (~6oz each)
olive oil
salt and pepper

– Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until oil begins to “shimmer”, just before it starts smoking

• by “shimmer” I mean that when you tilt the pan from side to side the oil will ripple, making it look shiny. This is when you should add the fish to get a nice sear and make sure your fish doesn’t stick to the pan. If you wait until the oil starts smoking the quality of the oil begins to break down and you’re more likely to start a fire if oil splatters when you add your food

– Season salmon with salt and pepper and add to pan. Cook salmon for 5 minutes before flipping over to other side
– After about 3 minutes drizzle 1/2 of the glaze over salmon fillets and continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes depending on whether you want your salmon medium or well
– Remove salmon from the pan. Add in the rest of the glaze on cook for 1-2 minutes to reduce. Drizzle reduced glaze over salmon and serve

For the glaze: (enough for 4 salmon filets)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp apricot jelly (pineapple and peach would also work)
1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp thyme chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
pepper

– Combine cider vinegar, sugar, jelly, and mustard
– Microwave for 45 seconds to melt jelly and sugar
– Add in remaining ingredients and mix well

• Glaze will keep in the refrigerator for about a week before the thyme starts going bad, but if you use dried thyme, or add the fresh thyme in later, the glaze can probably keep for longer

crispy oven roasted mushrooms

A super easy, delicious side for steak, chicken, fish, or an addition to a salad or a snack on their own!

Roasted Mushrooms
You can use as many, or as few, types of mushrooms as you want. I like using several different types for different textures. And mushrooms cook down a lot! What started out as a full 9″x15″ tray of mushrooms cooked down to 2 servings, so make sure you take that into account when you’re buying your shrooms

1 pkg honshimeiji mushrooms, separated
1 pkg eryngi mushrooms (king, or Ali’i shroom), sliced
1 bunch hiratake (oyster shroom), separated

• Often times, supermarkets will only carry the usual shrooms (shiitake, portabella, cremini) try your local Asian supermarket to find more uncommon varieties (enoki, maitake, and the ones I used listed above)

2 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
olive oil
salt and pepper

– Preheat oven on high broil. Toss mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread onto baking sheet. Sprinkle with pieces of butter
– Broil mushrooms on the bottom rack in the oven until they begin to soften and wilt. Move tray to top rack and broil till mushrooms are brown and crispy. Remove from oven and EAT!

creamed spinach

creamed spinach is a great side dish for steak, chicken, or just eating on its own!

Creamed Spinach (~8-10 servings)

3 lbs fresh spinach (1 large Costco size bag!)
6 large garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, finely chopped
6 tbsp butter
~6 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

• if you’re using whole milk you probably don’t need the cream. I used 2% milk so I wanted a little more richness

nutmeg
salt and pepper

– Melt butter in a pot. Add shallots and garlic and saute until shallots turn translucent
– Turn heat down to medium-low and add flour, forming a roux Cook for about 5 minutes. If the flour forms a film on the bottom of the pot turn the heat down to low

– Slowly add the milk and cream to the roux, stirring to avoid flour lumps. Slowly heat the sauce over medium-high heat until it comes to a boils and thickens. Season with salt pepper and nutmeg. Remove from the heat
– In a large saute pan, over high heat, heat oil and saute the spinach in small batches till just wilted. Set cooked spinach aside in a colander to strain off excess liquid
– Once all of the spinach is cooked, place all of the spinach back into the pan. Pour the sauce over the spinach and heat over medium heat to thicken. Adjust seasonings if necessary