Slightly Sweet White Wine Salmon

This is the first meal I ever cooked for Anthony back in my little NYC apartment in early 2007. He's been hooked ever since. Serve with rice and asparagus.

Ingredients:
1 lb salmon
1/3 cup white wine
2 T butter
1 T honey
3 T brown sugar
juice from 1-2 lemon slices

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350. Place salmon in rimmed cooking dish. Salt and pepper both sides. Place rest of ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Pour sauce over salmon and bake in oven for about 15 minutes, or until just opaque inside. Turn oven to broil, place salmon dish on 2nd to top shelf and broil for 3-5 minutes, until slightly browned. Enjoy!

Note: You can make this without the white wine, it's delicious either way.

Avocado Chimichurri Bruschetta

My new favorite appetizer...Chimichurri is an Argentine sauce and it is unbelievably delicious.  I am pretty sure I will be bringing this to every dinner party I ever attend again.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
• ¾ tsp. salt
• dash of red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 6 ½-inch-thick slices whole-grain or ciabatta bread, toasted

Directions:

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, oregano, and black pepper in small bowl. Whisk in oil, then stir in cilantro and parsley. Fold in avocado cubes. Spoon avocado mixture onto toast slices, and serve.

Portobello Burger

This healthy and delicious vegetarian meal is satisfying...don't let the portobellos scare any of you meat-lovers away!  My hubby loves a good burger, he was savoring every bite. I made homemade hamburger buns which made them even tastier. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced 

6 T olive oil 

1/2 t dried thyme 

2 T balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper to taste 

4 large portobello mushroom caps 

4 whole wheat hamburger buns 

1/4 cup low-fat mayonaisse 

1 T capers, drained

tomato, spinach and avocado to top

Directions:

In medium bowl, mix garlic, olive oil, thyme, vinegar, salt & pepper.

Remove stems from mushrooms and place caps bottom side up in a shallow baking dish. Brush the caps with half of the sauce. Broil caps under the broiler for 5 minutes.

Turn the caps, brush with remaining sauce. Broil 4 minutes.

Toast hamburger buns lightly.

In small bowl mix capers and mayonaisse together. Spread mayo mixture on the buns, top with mushroom caps, tomato, spinach and avocado.

Ancho Chile Mushroom Enchiladas

If you have access to ancho chiles (we find ours at the local Mexican market), you have to have to have to try this dish. I got my inspiration from the ancho chile enchiladas at Z Tejas, one of my favorite restaurants. They are so delicious and pretty easy to make. You can make the sauce ahead of time too, and freeze any extra for future uses. I make these enchiladas about once a week (and don't get sick of them), they make for excellent leftovers. Anth takes the leftovers to school the following days (where his fellow classmates drool over them).

serves about 5 or 6
Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 2 dried ancho chiles
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1-2 T. mole sauce (optional)
  
• 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 12 ounces fresh wild mushrooms (such as oyster and/or stemmed and sliced shiitake and portobello)
• 5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (you could also use queso fresco)
  
• 6 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded, chopped
• 1 small avocado, pitted, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 8-12 6-inch-diameter corn tortillas

Preparation:

Bring 2 cups water to boil in small saucepan. Remove saucepan from heat, add chilies and soak 30 minutes. Drain chilies, reserving 6 tablespoons soaking liquid. Cut stems off chilies. Cut chilies open. Scrape out seeds and discard. Combine chilies, 6 tablespoons reserved soaking liquid and garlic in blender and puree until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine whipping cream, sour cream, & chili puree in heavy large skillet. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 3 minutes. Whisk in lime juice and mole sauce (optional). Season with salt. (Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

Melt butter in another heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and mushrooms and sauté until onion is translucent and mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Add cheese, cilantro, tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of the cream sauce. Simmer until just heated through, about 4 minutes. Stir in avocado. Season filling with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Dip tortillas individually into warm sauce & transfer to baking dish. Spoon generous 1/3 cup filling down center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, enclosing filling completely. Arrange seam side down in baking dish. Cover enchiladas with foil.

Bake enchiladas until heated through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plates. Spoon some sauce atop each. Serve, passing any remaining sauce separately.

Notes: The corn tortillas crumble really easily. Since we eat them with a fork anyway and don't really care about presentation, it's not a problem. But, if you are worried about presentation, it might help to fry the tortillas briefly in some hot oil before dipping them in the sauce and filling them. It should help keep them from crumbling. I have tried microwaving them for 30 seconds, and although it helps they still seem to crumble. Another solution would be to use flour tortillas. They rarely crumble and taste heavenly too.

Delicious Angel Hair Pasta

Ingredients:

1/2 pound angel hair pasta
1/4 c. olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
8 oz. mushrooms
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
2-3 fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
fresh basil leaves, cut into pieces
salt & pepper

Boil pasta according to package instructions. Drain pasta and place in serving bowl. While pasta is boiling, saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat until lightly browned. Add mushrooms and cook for about 4 minutes. Pour over warm pasta and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss. Add half of the Parmesan cheese. Toss again. Let noodles cool slightly. Right before serving, add diced tomatoes and basil and rest of Parmesan cheese. Lightly toss and serve. This makes a great light dinner!