Honey Seared Salmon July 14

Donna Milnes came over for dinner and Nino decided he needed to fulfill is salmon craving. I didn't take much to convince me since King Salmon is in season right now.

I stopped at Whole Foods and got a great looking piece of fish ($10.99/lb). Nino followed a super easy, incredibly tasty recipe from Donna Hay's "Off the Shelf". He cut the salmon into 3/4 inch slivers, soaked the fish in honey and black pepper for a few minutes and then seared the fish about 1 minute each side on high with just a little but of oil. This was so tasty - sweet from the honey and then a little spicy from the pepper.

As side dishes we had steamed asparagus, Chipotle Mashed Potatoes with Mango Salsa and some spinach salad with Cobb Dressing. I've been wanting to find a good Cobb dressing recipe since I sometimes get Cobb salad for lunch and the dressing is so good. I found a super easy, really easy recipe and the secret ingredient is .... Worchestire sauce. I'll post the recipe for it another day.

Dinner was excellent - the salsa was a great pairing with the potatoes, and Donna brought a Kendall Jackson chardonnay that went quite well with all the spice.

Chipotle Mashed Potatoes
- boil a bunch of potatoes (I used white new potatoes)
- mash when done
- add a tsp or so of adobo sauce from a can of Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and then chop 1/2-1 pepper. Mix in to mash - keep tasting to make sure not too spicy.
- add nonfat plain yogurt to make it creamy
- add minced garlic and salt
- balance the peppers, yogurt, garlic, salt to taste