Cooking with Jaz

Last week, when Aly’s friend was in town, I made her favorite, my poached salmon with sour cream/dill/cucumber sauce. Since the kids were home, I didn’t cook all the fillets I had, so I had two left – not enough for dinner, but I certainly wasn’t going to throw them away!

So I made a yummy salad for dinner a few nights later. I used baby spinach, the salmon (poached and broken into bits), feta cheese, thinly sliced bermuda onion, and tomato. I made a quick vinaigrette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was very, very yummy, although we decided that next time I need more cheese and more tomato.

Another revised recipe.

Description:
My very yummy potato salad, which tastes a lot like my deviled eggs – but with potatoes!

Ingredients:
12 medium russet potatoes, peeled, quartered and boiled, and cooled
1½ cups mayonnaise
2/3 cup yellow mustard
12 hard-cooked eggs, peeled
1½ tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
3/4 tsp. Hungarian paprika (plus a little more for sprinkling on top)
6 green onions, sliced (optional)

Directions:
In a large bowl, use a butter knife to chop the potatoes into smaller bits – about 1″ or so (don’t worry about getting every single one, and don’t worry that they’re uniform – just run your knife through a bunch of times).

Add mayonnaise and mustard, and start mixing with a big wooden spoon. You’ll mush up some of the potatoes as you go, and that’s good. You want to end up with some potatoes that are still in chunks, and some that are all mushed up.

Add salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika and mix well.

Chop up 8 of the eggs and fold them into the potato salad. Fold the onion in, as well. Slice the other two eggs and arrange them nicely on top. Sprinkle the whole thing with paprika. Chill.

I made the yummiest quick pasta salad last night…

1 pouch of salmon
1 pound of shell noodles, cooked and cooled
1 can of asparagus tips
About 2 tbsp. olive oil
About 4 tbsp. basalmic vinegar
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Spices to taste:
Garlic powder
Rosemary
Dill
Lemon Peel
Salt & Pepper

Mix ingredients in a big bowl. Season to taste. You can eat it right away, but it gets better after sitting for awhile in the fridge.

It’s too hot for hot food!

Here’s the recipe for my pasta salad:

1 pound seashell pasta, cooked, drained and cooled
1 large can albacore tuna, drained
2 ripe Roma tomatoes, diced
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 can asparagus spears
1 can garbanzo beans
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2 good size garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Gently combine the first 8 ingredients. Add oil and vinegar until everything is moist but not wet. Add the spices and mix together.

This is better if you let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours before serving.

I make it up, put it in the fridge, and just grab a scoop when I’m hungry.

from Redbook.

I found this recipe last week, and my friend, Meaux, and I were planning a picnic with smoked salmon, so she made this instead. It was amazingly delicious!!

Prep time: 10 minutes

1 Tbs. grated lime zest
3 Tbs. lime juice
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 cups mesclun salad greens
1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint
1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
8 oz. sliced smoked salmon, cut into thin strips
2 scallions, thinly sliced

1. Whisk together lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Combine 3 Tbs. of hte dressing and the greens, mint basil, parsley, and tomatoes inanother large bowl and toss to coat vegetables.
2. Add salmon to remaining dressing and stir to coat salmon evenly.
3. Divide the greens mixture among 4 salad plates; top with salmon and sprinkle with scallions.
Makes 4 servings.

Each serving: 167 calories, 10 g fat, 13 g protein, 8 g carb.

I’m probably making potato salad to take along to a New Year’s Eve gathering tonight.

I peel and boil some potatoes, and let them cool. Then I cut them into bite size pieces and mix them in a bowl with mayo and mustard to taste. I add onion, garlic, boiled eggs, and salt and pepper. Simple but yummy.

Or if I run out of time, I’ll buy deli.

I’m thinking about bringing my pasta salad to a gathering this weekend. Here’s how I make it…

I cook up a bunch of seashell pasta, drain it, and run some cold water over it. I put it in a really big dish and add a can or two of albacore tuna, some marinated artichoke hearts cut into bite-sized pieces, some asparagus similarly cut, some garbanzo beans, some fresh shredded parmesan cheese, some shredded mozzarella cheese, some chopped up Roma tomatoes, and some minced garlic. Then I add enough Italian dressing to make it moist, and then add some more seasonings to taste. Yum. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

I’m going to Paris on the Platte tonight, it’s a local coffeehouse. I will either order the artichoke heart and spinach pizza (seems like a Boboli-type shell with some garlic on it, and spinach leaves and artichoke hearts, with mozzarella cheese. Yummy!) or the roast beef sandwich (thin sliced roast beef with cheese, carmelized onions and this wonderful cream-horseradish sauce — I get it on sourdough).