Salmon over Turnip Greens

I served the greens and salmon over mashed potatoes. Yesterday Joel wasn’t feel well and I hadn’t planned anything for dinner. So I just took the leftover greens and broth, warmed it in a pan and tossed with with some past and parm. It was quite good.



Normally, I am not a fan of cooking vegetables too much. This is a bit different. I cook them until they a totally soft and limp…almost soupy. Also I use a micro planer to grate my garlic. I like it better than a garlic press but you could to that as well but you might want to add an extra clove.

Turnip Greens

3tb olive oil
4 cloves garlic grated
1 lb turnip green cleaned and chopped
1tsp sugar
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine
Salt and pepper to taste


Sautee the garlic in the oil for 2 minutes. Add ½ the turnip greens a bit at a time and turn to coat. Add chicken stock and wine. Add the rest of turnip greens. Add sugar and cook until very soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

1 lb salmon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ tsp lemon rind


Cut the salmon into 4 pieces. Coat each piece with a touch of olive oil. Salt an pepper each piece. In skillet heat about 2 tbs olive oil and get it hot. Add salmon and turn heat down to medium. Cook on first side for 2 minutes. Flip and cook another minute to two. Remove from pan.

Plate about 1/3 cup of mashed potatoes. Put turnip green on top with several tablespoons of the liquid from the pan and place salmon on top. Finish with a couple of passes on the zester of fresh lemon rind.

Mahi Mahi with Israeli Cous Cous

The other night I had in mind that I wanted to coat some mahi mahi with some panko and rosemary and then fry it up. I wanted to lay that over some Israeli cous cous that was set in a Bouillabaisse like broth. In my mind it would be a soupy, rich, oily tomato based sauce. Something went wrong. Mind you, it did come out well… it really did. It just did not come out they way I had it in my mind. Perhaps I should have read some bouillabaisse recipes. Perhaps you can’t cheat 3 different kinds of fish, with some clam juice and fish bullions? The problem with the end product was that it really just tasted like a red sauce. It was a good red sauce, definitely Stromboli dipping worthy, but just a red sauce. Any suggestions are welcome.

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 tbs of shallot or red onion finely chopped
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
1 can crushed tomato
1 bottle of clam juice
3tbs fish sauce (if you have, I use it to add richness and salt)
1 c. red wine
2 fish bullion
1 c. water
Pinch of sugar
2 tbs Italian seasoning

Heat oil and butter together. Add onion/shallot and garlic. Sautee for 2 minutes. Add Italian seasoning. Sautee for another 2 minutes. Add tomato, clam juice, fish sauce, wine, bullion, water and sugar. Let simmer for 20 minutes.

I then made the cous cous to the package instructions, cut the mahi mahi into small pieces and coated and fried. I put some sauce on the bottom of the dish, the cous cous went on top and the fish on top of the cous cous. I finished with just a bit more sauce. Again it was good, but it lacked richness and depth. I am open for help here.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

1.5 lb split chicken breast
¼ c. lemon juice
¼ olive or lemon infuse olive oil
1 tsp lemon rind
1tbs chopped rosemary
¼ greek yogurt (or sour cream or regular plain yogurt)
2 tsp general purpose seasoning (greek, lemon pepper)

Heat oven to 375. Heavily salt and pepper chicken and bake covered for 35 minutes. Meanwhile whisk together lemon juice, rind, oil, rosemary, yogurt, and general seasoning. After 30 minutes increase temperature to 400. Cover chicken with marinade and put chicken uncovered back in to bake. Bake for 15-20 more minutes or until done.

This would be great with pork or fish.

Green Tomato Pasta

Tis that time of year again. Green tomato season! So here is another attempt at using up those green tomatoes. Not bad!
1/2 lb pasta
5 medium green tomatoes chopped
1 small onion diced
¼ lb chopped pancetta (you can get this at Trader Joes!!)
1 c. marinated artichoke heats
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs lemon zest
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of red pepper

Sauté tomatoes, onions and pancetta in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile boil the pasta. When pasta is almost done, take one ladle full of the water and add it to sauce. Add artichokes and seasoning. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until sauce thickened a bit. Add lemons zest and cook one more minute. Drain pasta, toss immediately and serve.

That’s Amore

Let me start with just a neat little trick I have learned. In the recipe I call for using fish sauce (if you are used to using anchovies or anchovies paste use that). Fish Sauce is typically used in Asian cooking. It and soy sauce are great if you want to salt a dish and also add richness. Soy you have to be a little careful with because it has such a strong flavor. Next time you are making chili or a red sauce try it. It will give a richness to the dish.
1 large can petit diced
1/3 pound pancetta
3 tomatoes
½ red onion or 2 shallots
15 kalamatas
2 TBS fish sauce
1 TBS garlic
1 TBS Italian Seasoning
1 cup white wine (preferable not chardonnay)
1 pound pasta
Olive oil
2 tbs finely chopped fresh basil
This is easy to make but requires a few steps. It is also a dish I strongly suggest tasting before you add even a pinch of salt. Almost all the ingredients in themselves are salty. In fact, you could even forgot salting the tomatoes before drying them. I didn’t, but it wouldn’t hurt. Also if you like a little spice add some crushed red pepper.
Take the fresh tomatoes and slice, salt and pepper and drizzl with olive oil and put on baking sheets in the oven at 250 for about an hour. You don’t want them dried out and chewy, just the flavor concentrated. Set them aside
I like chunks of pancetta not slivers. So I went to the deli and got my pieces in inch slices and cubed them up. I then put them on a baking sheet in the oven and put them under the broiler for 3 minutes, stirred them and put back in for another two. I was just trying to crisp it up a little. Careful not to burn it. Set them aside.
The hard part is done. Cut up onions, add olive oil to pan and sauté on low for 5 minutes. Add wine, and cook until wine is reduced in half. Add pancetta, dried tomatoes (cut up), olives, can of tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning and fish sauce. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, add basil, and stir to incorporate. Toss with pasta.

Limey Salmon

1 salmon filet
½ c. Lime sour cream recipe (under pork taco)


Smear salmon with sour cream and bake 350% for 20 minutes uncovered.
This I think would make a really good “taco” meat or of course good on a salad.

Cellophane Salad

1 package of cellophane noodles or vermicelli
2 sliced carrots
1 sliced summer squash
½ sliced onion
½ bunch cilantro diced
1 can water chestnuts

Dressing
1/3 c soy sauce
2 TBS sesame oil
Juice of one lime
Mix salad together toss with dressing and serve cold. This would be good with any vegetables you like, snow peas, cabbage, broccoli.

Summer Squash and Herbs

There is nothing like West Virginia cuisine. Really. It is so good, down home and hearty. I enjoyed my pork tenderloin biscuit in the mornings so very much. However, after a few days of biscuits and hot dogs this dish was long overdue.

2 squash
2 zucchini
½ large onion
4 mint leaves
2 TBS parsley
1 TBS oregano
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS rice wine vinegar
Sautee the onion, squash and zucchini in oil, just until done or still a bit firm. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Add herbs that have been chopped well. Add vinegar and let cool to room temperature. I am certain this would be good cool too.