Lemon “Caesar” Salad with Homemade Croutons
Posted: August 1, 2012 Filed under: sides recipes | Tags: caesar salad, croutons, food, lemon, lemon caesar salad with homemade croutons, Recipe, Salad, sides 2 Comments »
lemon caesar salad with homemade croutons
Meet the faux Caesar.
Just as yummy as the original and equally delicious and sans anchovies! This has quite possibly become my new favorite citrus based salad dressing. It’s all lemony goodness, so if you love lemons then this is the dressing for you! And the croutons…OMG why didn’t I make an extra batch to munch on??!
This is such a great, quick, and easy way to make homemade croutons without touching the oven!
And look how crisp and golden they turned out just from a few minutes on a hot skillet!
Only 4 ingredients for the dressing…Dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic, and fresh cracked black pepper! I omitted the Parmesan cheese to keep the extra unwanted calories at bay :)
Do you have any favorite salads for me to try? Feel free to link to it in the comments below :)
Hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday!
xoxo, kat
Lemon Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons (via Spoon)
- 1 bag of Caesar salad mix
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- juice from half a lemon
- freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil, plus more for croutons
Directions:
to make croutons…
- To make the croutons, add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan and heat over a medium flame. Tear or chop the stale bread into inch pieces and toss into the pan.
- Toast until golden, tossing occasionally, about 3-4 minutes. Let cool on a paper towel, and toss lightly with salt. Store in an airtight container once cooled for future use.
to make dressing…
- In a small bowl, combine the Dijon mustard, pressed garlic, lemon juice, and freshly cracked pepper.
- While stirring continuously, drizzle the olive oil in until the dressing is emulsified and is tasty, about 3-4 tablespoons of oil.
- Add more pepper, and a bit of salt if desired. Don’t worry if the dressing breaks (oil separates.) Simply whisk it back together and add a dash more mustard or lemon juice however, chances are no one will notice a broken dressing. Store leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for future use.
Battle of the Salmon Steaks & Ginger Jasmine Rice
Posted: May 14, 2012 Filed under: food from the sea recipes, sides recipes | Tags: Butter, cajun, food, ginger jasmine rice, jasmine rice, menu, Rice, salmon, seafood, sides 9 Comments »
NOTE: Eeep, I was going through my drafts and just realized that this was never published! Oh what a night that was! Definitely do give the ginger jasmine right a try, so good! Hope you all enjoy reading our fun date night! Have a wonderful day, xoxo!
We had a large filet of salmon so we decided to do a cook-off challenge, appropriately dubbed “Battle of the Salmon Steaks”.
The challengers: Kat vs. Boyfriend
The boyfriend made his specialty,baked salmon à la mon ami…
baked salmon à la mon ami
I remade an old favorite, but this time with salmon…
blackened cajun salmon
It’s really hard to say who the winner is because both salmon dishes taste delish in its own right! His is packed with buttery goodness, whereas mine is crisp and spicy.
I made ginger jasmine rice as a side dish for these salmons. The rice is packed full of gingery flavor, and who knew ginger and garlic would go so well together? I just love simple rice dishes like these! Let me know if you have other rice dishes I should try!
Do you do cook-off competitions at home?
xoxo, kat
Blackened Cajun Salmon
- salmon filet
- cajun/creole spice mix
- olive oil
Directions:
- Rinse and pat the salmon fillet dry. Completely coat both sides of the fillet with the cajun mix, and shaking off any excess.
- Heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, and pour some olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the pan is hot and sizzling, and cook until blackened, about 4-5 minutes. Then flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes until blackened.
Baked Salmon À La Mon Ami
- salmon
- roasted garlic herb compound butter (or butter)
- olive oil
- dried herbs (oregano, rosemary)
- salt/pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Rinse the filet of salmon with cold water and pat the salmon dry.
- Rub both sides of the salmon with olive oil.
- Season with salt, pepper and any dried herbs according to your taste preferences.
- Coat the top of the salmon with a compound butter.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon.
- Serve immediately.
Ginger Jasmine Rice (adapted from Food.com)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
- 1/2 cup jasmine rice
- 1 cup water
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Heat butter or oil in pan over medium to low heat. Saute garlic, ginger & salt for about a minute at most or until fragrant. Add rice and stir well.
- Add liquid. Bring to a boil.
- Cover, reduce heat, simmer about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice tender.
Baked Cilantro Fries
Posted: February 28, 2012 Filed under: sides recipes | Tags: baked cilantro fries, baked fries, cilantro, food, fries, menu, sides 8 Comments »
baked cilantro fries
I finally found a quick, easy, and equally yummy alternative to those greasy french fries that we all know and love! Just because it’s baked, it doesn’t mean that it taste bad… It actually taste a million times better! Trust me, I have a very satisfied boyfriend to prove it :). When I left the room for a few minutes, that bowl of fries you see above was all gone!!
Like most of my recipes, simplicity is key!
First, gather you’re potatoes! You can use however many you want but if you’re like me, more the better! Oh ps, my potatoes have deformed a bit but they’re still usable haha!
If you plan on leaving the skin on for the your fries, then just rinse them. But if you prefer skin-on fries, then definitely clean and scrub them well!
Cut the potatoes into skinny french fry-sized pieces… Bigger chunkier fries will take longer to crisp up.
Now soak into a bowl of cold water for a few minutes to remove some of the starch. I left it soaking until the oven was done pre-heating :)
Take the potatoes out of its water bath, and dry the potatoes really well with paper towels. Less water on the potatoes at this stage leads to crispier fries in the end!
Once the potatoes are dry, put them back in a bowl with some grapeseed oil, Lawry’s seasoning salt and fresh ground black pepper and give it a good tossing.
Line a baking sheet with a piece of aluminium foil for easy clean-up and place a wire rack on top of the baking sheet. Lay the fries on the wire rack in a single layer and bake in a 425° oven for 25-35 minutes.
While the fries are baking, finely chop some fresh cilantro. Only use the leafy parts! If you don’t have cilantro, some fresh parsley would also be good!
Keep an eye on the fries after the 30-minute mark. At this point, they are done but you can cook them a bit longer for a few minutes until you’ve reach you’re desired browness and crispyness. Let them cool for a bit before tossing the fries with the fresh cilantro.
Yummy and delicious baked fries!
xoxo, kat
Baked Cilantro Fries
- 3-4 medium russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 2 1/2 teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (if not available, regular sea salt)
- fresh ground black pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil with a rack on top.
- Wash the potatoes and pat dry. Cut the potatoes into thin fries.
- Place the fries into a bowl of cold water for a few minutes. Drain the water, and pat the fries dry with paper towels.
- Toss the dried fries into a bowl with the grapeseed oil, Lawry’s and pepper. Toss well to evenly coat the fries.
- Lay the fries on the rack in a single layer.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until desired browness and crispness. Let the fries cool for a few minutes and toss with cilantro.
- Eat immediately!
