Lets Hash This Out....

Menu for 6/1:

• Salmon Hash

I apologize, I should just change it to me writing about the menu to Wednesdays. *sigh* Anyway, today I am going to try a recipe that I got from Food Network®. I receive daily emails with recipes, and this is the first that has really sparked my interest enough for me to try it out. It appears to be pretty straight forward; the recipe even called for 'frozen hash potatoes", so I am not to worried about it taking a ton of time. I am also doing a little creative substitutions, well just one substitution really. The recipe called for fresh salmon, but I am going to use canned. I think that the consistency will go better in a hash format than fresh salmon would. That and it is less expensive. There will be a Dijon dressing and an arugula salad as well. This should be good!

Not Haggis! 1/26

Menu for 1/26:

• Salad
• Shepard's Pie

Salad:

Baby spinach, arugula, carrots, tomatoes, Parmesan, sesame soy ginger dressing.

I am fairly certain that we have gone through this salad thing before. This one is a little bit different but nothing too extravagant. The Parmesan is is iffy though; I might not put it in. I don't know yet.

Shepard's Pie:

Garlic mashed potatoes, ground bison, hodge podge veggies, mirepoix, roux.

It has been years and years since I have made a Shepard's pie. I used to make them when my little sister and brother were young and I lived at home, neither of which has been the case for a long time. I am predicting this to be rather simple; brown the meat, cook the veggies, mix with roux, cook potatoes, layer, cook the whole thing. I will let you know if there is anything that makes it more difficult. If you are wondering about the bison it is merely because I could and none of the beef looked good enough. Also if you are paying attention and noticed in the last two posts that I mentioned that I am something of a vegetarian and are wondering how I am going to eat this I will tell you. I have 'fake meat' and I plan on making my own little Shepard's pie with that. I'll take a picture so that you can see.

Prep for January 5th

Menu for January 5th:

• Salad with homemade vinaigrette
• Homemade rice pilaf
• Roasted salmon with green herbs

Salad:

Mesclun mix, shredded carrots, thinly sliced red onions, Trader Joe's® "stuffing mix".

This is a pretty standard salad in my eyes, but I am keeping in mind the fact that my darling is (in this way at least) a rather stereotypical male and dislikes at least 90% of all veggies and is turned of by "frou-frou" stuff in his salads. I personally love veggies and nuts and fruits and especially cheese and the inclusion of all in a salad would only better said salad in my opinion. The boy is picky however so I have to keep it safe. The Trader Joe's® stuffing mix contains celery, onions, fennel, rosemary, parsley, and a few other herbs all chopped up and mixed together.

Vinaigrette:

Olive oil, honey, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

This is a recipe that I pulled out of my head. Vinaigrette's have to be one of the easiest things to make and I was supremely lucky to have a legitimate chef as a roommate in my early twenties who taught me how to make them. Once you learn the technique you can implement nearly any ingredients that you can think of. He once made one with tequila and avocados that was amazing; now that I am thinking of it I may have to replicate it later on in this experiment.

Rice Pilaf:

Medium grain white rice, orzo, vegetable stock, fresh chopped green onions, fresh minced curly parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

The recipe that I am going to use on for this pilaf  is a variation of one used by the boy's mom. Pilaf is one of his favorite side dishes so when we were out in the mid-west for the holidays she showed me how to make it. I have kept the bones of her recipe but I am going to add a little bit of me into it to make it mine. This will be the first time that I am trying this recipe so I hope all goes well.

Roasted Salmon with Green Herbs:

Salmon fillet, olive oil, lemon juice, minced scallions (both green and white parts), fresh minced dill, fresh minced curly parsley, dry white wine.

This dish is found in the Barefoot Contessa "How easy is that?" cookbook, copyright 2010, published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York. There, I do not want to get in any copyright infringement issues. I love Ina Garten, I want to be her when I grow up. My darling knows this and bought me one of her cookbooks for Christmas. This will be the first time that I am trying one of her recipes from a book and I think that I will have to fudge it a little considering the fact that it calls for a skinless salmon fillet and I could only obtain a skin on fillet.

I have decided to not post the recipes unless they are asked for. Alright here I go!