Steamed Salmon with Soy Lime

As I mentioned from my previous post that I would be doing more steamed recipes, well here is another.  I searched the internet looking for a tasty recipe for salmon but couldn't really find one to suit me.  I instead decided to make a combination of the last recipe and some ideas I got off the internet.

3 cups water
2 limes (take 1 lime and thinly slice, the other cut in half)
3 scallions (2 sliced in large chunks, 1 sliced thin)
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1 - 4 inch section of fresh ginger, peeled and diced
3 - 4 ounce pieces of salmon (this salmon came from www.seabear.com)
In a wok add 3 cups of water, add slices from 1/2 of a lime, add lime juice from the other half of the lime, add half of the diced ginger, scallions that have been cut into large chunks, and garlic.  Bring to a boil.  In a small dish (I used a pie plate) that is able to sit into the bamboo steamer.  Add a couple of lime slices to the bottom of the dish, add a little bit of ginger.  Place salmon on top of each lime slice, add a slice of lime on top of each piece and squeeze half of lime juice over top, remaining ginger and thinly sliced scallions.  Drizzle with a little bit (don't want to use too much) of tamari.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place dish into steamer, place lid on steamer and place basket on top of wok.  Let steam for about 8-10 minutes until cooked.  It may take a little longer depending of the thickness of the salmon.  Serve with lime and juices from dish.

Monday Night Scramble

Tonight I actually had a plan to make meatloaf, changed my mind and made something else instead.

Here are the ingredients:
1 pound grassfed ground beef
1 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 can tomato sauce
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1 can pitted black olives, drained
1/2 box pasta, cooked and drained (I had a partial box of ziti so that is what I used)
Garlic (I used a couple of cloves since they were small)
Oregano
A dried herb mix of sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano, sweet bell pepper, salt
Fresh parsley

Took the onion and pepper and added it to a hot skillet and cooked until tender, added the garlic then the ground beef.  Cooked until the beef was done then added the cans of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, a little oregano and dried herb mix.  Mixed that all together and then added the pasta to the skillet and mixed it all together.  Stirred in some olives and parsley.  Topped with some fresh Parmesan cheese.

We also had a loaf of garlic bread.  There are times where we have something to eat that I didn't actually bake or cook from scratch. I have found a frozen garlic bread (baguette) made by Alexia.  It doesn't contain any ingredients that are bad and actually it contains what I would probably use to make garlic bread.

Pizza

Tonight I had a taste for pizza so instead of ordering out I decided to make our own pizza.  Pizza with a homemade crust really doesn't take that long, all you need is a little planning.


I use a Cuisinart recipe for crust which is super simple.  If you don't have a Cuisinart a mixer will work just fine. It really only takes about an hour to have the crust ready to use and the pizza will only need to cook about 30 minutes with the oven set on 450 degrees.  I use a baking stone and put that in the oven first so that it can get nice and hot.


1 package active dry yeast 
1 teaspoon granulated sugar 
2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115°F.)
1 2/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoons table salt
¾ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil


In a 2-cup liquid measure, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until foamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Insert metal blade in work bowl and add flour and salt. 
With machine running, pour liquid through small feed tube as fast as flour absorbs it. Process until dough cleans sides of work bowl and forms a ball. Then process for 30 seconds to knead dough. Dough may be slightly sticky. Coat dough evenly with olive oil; transfer to a plastic food storage bag and seal the top. Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. 
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and punch down. Roll into desired crust sizes and place on baking pans lightly sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray.


After your pizza dough is done and put into the shape you want just add the sauce and toppings you want.


We buy this really awesome pizza sauce from Williams-Sonoma.  It is an Artichoke Garlic Pizza Sauce.   (ingredients - artichokes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, water, sea salt, thyme, pepper, red chili flakes, herbs, spices).  One jar of it will make at least 2 pizzas.  


On top of the pizza we used the sauce, fresh sliced tomatoes, canned artichokes hearts (well drained), and banana peppers.  I layered it with a cheese mixture of sharp white cheddar, romano, and parmesan. 


As you will see from the picture the pizza is not a perfect round or square shape.  I had a problem with it sticking to the pizza peel (the board used to slide a pizza into the oven).  Even with sprinkling cornmeal on the peel didn't work so good.  That is okay though, it doesn't have to look perfect it just needs to taste good.  At least this is one of my mottos.