Happiness is my latest pie, a dilled salmon potato

Dilled Salmon Potato Pie

28 oz cooked salmon, flaked (I used canned, boneless, skinless, Atlantic, drained)

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, boiled, mashed

2 eggs, beaten 

1/2 stick salted butter

1/4 yellow onion diced

1 T sea salt for the potato water plus 1/2 tsp for seasoning

1 handful fresh dill fronds, chopped

1/2 lemon 

 

1- Set the oven to bake at 425F.

2- Start the water on the boil; peel and quarter the potatoes; boil covered by water salted with 1 T salt, about 20 minutes to fork tender; remove to a bowl and mash with a potato masher, plain, and let cool.

3- Meanwhile, dice the onions; melt the butter in a skillet and gently saute the onions until transparent, and set aside to cool.

4- Drain the salmon and flake it; add salmon to the potatoes, mashing in until thoroughly distributed.

5- Add the butter and sauteed onions to the potatoes and mash. Season with 1/2 tsp salt.

6- Chop the dill and mash it in.

7- Squeeze one half lemon with your hands over the mixture and mash.

8- Add the beaten eggs and mash.

9- Turn out the mixture into a large pie pan, sculpt until level, and bake in the middle of the pre-heated oven 42 minutes until golden brown on the top, because 42 is the answer to everything.

10- Let cool 5-10 minutes, slice and serve on warm plates with a fresh vegetable or a side salad.

 

Makes eight servings.

 

Two slices will stuff you with seven ounces of salmon, which is 40% of the US RDA for protein. You can fiddle with the quantity of salmon down, and the quantity of dill and lemon up, as desired. The last time I made this was with 21 oz of salmon and two slices seemed not quite enough at just over five ounces of salmon, even though it seemed to me that it should have been enough.

 

You could probably make salmon cakes with this, frying them in oil using one less egg and no lemon juice in the mixture to reduce the moisture content, since this is the bones of a Newfoundland cod cake recipe. But at the end of the day, I'd just rather shove it in the oven down here at 42.9704° N latitude.

 

IYKYK. 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Happiness is real lemon, real pepper, Atlantic salmon baked in the oven

 Skip the dry, bottled, lemon-pepper seasoning and do this instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real lemon pepper salmon

 

1 2+lb. Atlantic salmon filet, skinless

canola oil

1-2 fresh lemons, well-washed, sliced thin

ground black pepper

salt

 

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Oil a roasting pan with canola oil

Place the salmon in the pan

Sprinkle, very generously, with ground black pepper

Sprinkle lightly with sea salt or kosher salt, if desired

Arrange the lemon slices all over the top of the salmon

Bake about 25 minutes on the center rack of the oven

Remove and squeeze roasted lemons with a spoon against the pan, if you wish, and spoon over the servings

Serves about four

Happiness is a refreshing glass of vodka lemonade

Vodka lemonade

1 lemon

2 t sugar

1/4 c water

1/4 c vodka

ice

1) Juice the lemon and add juice to a high ball glass

2) Add the water, vodka and sugar

3) Stir vigorously to dissolve sugar

4) Add ice and serve

Happiness is the juice of the lemon in the summertime

 

 

 

 

  The juice of the lemon is more cooling and astringent than that of oranges.

-- John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)

Happiness is an extra fine tea infuser from Yoassi

Fits right in your tea cup, into which you add your preferred amount of loose tea. Pour in the water and cap, and three minutes later you lift it out and have your own nice customized cup of afternoon tea.

I just had one with Twinings Jasmine Green, with some fresh squeezed lemon juice. It is said the lemon juice improves antioxidant absorption by up to 80%.

Happiness is a low-sodium, low-fat supper with rainbow trout fillet from Canada

About 40 mg natural sodium, 1.1 g saturated fat.

Oil the fillet on both the skin side and the flesh side in extra virgin olive. Season the flesh with salt-free lemon pepper. Bake at 450 F in a heavy pan for about 10 minutes. Serve with sautéed brussel sprouts and some basmati rice.

The whole dinner turned out to be just 78 mg sodium and 3.35 g saturated fat, mostly from the added butter and the canola oil used to saute the sprouts.

Happiness at Easter is Grilled Leg of Lamb

We coated one like this with lemon zest and crushed dried rosemary leaves in olive oil after stuffing knife slits in the fat layer with flat garlic slices made from two cloves. The surface of the whole was also salted with Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

The charcoal fire was made in an 18" Weber grill with the coals to each side behind metal banks specially designed for the purpose by Weber, with a drip pan in the center.

The 4.6 pound lamb leg was roasted in the center of the covered grill, between the coal banks, for 1.5 hours, turned every 30 minutes with a righteous carbon steel pig tail.

It was perfect.

Thanks be to God. 

Yogurt Lemon Thyme Marinated Chicken Breasts

Turkey breast meat, without the skin, is "the leanest source of meat protein on the planet," according to Steven Pratt in his SuperFoods HealthStyle. Its rich nutrient profile of selenium, B vitamins and zinc is thought to cut the risk for cancer while contributing to cardiovascular health. One of its other wonderful features is that it has 27 times less saturated fat than fresh ham, and 22 times less than flank steak! Ninety-five percent lean ground beef has 12 times more saturated fat than turkey breast. Even compared with chicken breast without the skin, turkey breast has 4 times less saturated fat. If the genetic cards you've been dealt put you at risk for cancer and cardiovascular disease, which end of that spectrum are you going to get your meat from? Although higher in saturated fat, boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $.99/lb. are hard to pass up.

A delicious way to eat turkey or chicken breast is broiled, but high heat broiling often turns it into rubber. The solution to this problem is to brine the meat, but to save on time, I brine and marinate at the same time, incorporating other superfoods and their sidekicks to add healthfulness and flavor. The last time I made this my family said, "Make it every Sunday!"

Yogurt Lemon Thyme Marinated Chicken Breasts

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

.5 t sugar

.5 t salt

2 T fresh lemon juice

.5 cup plain fat-free yogurt

3 T extra virgin olive oil

1 handful fresh thyme sprigs, washed and dried

Rinse the breasts, dry, and place in a shallow Pyrex baker. Into the bowl of a food processor, strip the thyme leaves off the sprigs. You'll want about two tablespoons full (or substitute one tablespoon dried thyme if you must). Then add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Pour this mixture over the breasts, then lift the breasts a little to coat the undersides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for up to six hours before using, turning after three hours. I've marinated for as little as three hours with good results. Another way to marinate easily is to use a fresh clean freezer bag. Drop the breasts in and pour in the marinade. Seal it up and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

When you're ready to cook, set the broiler to high with a rack in the center of the oven. Into a stainless steel broiler pan place a smaller rack to elevate the meat while broiling. Remove the breasts from the marinade but don't scrape it off, and place them in the broiler pan. Broil 15 minutes on side one, and about 10 minutes on side two, and serve. You won't be disappointed!