Baked Salmon

First off, I have literally brushed my teeth around 5 times tonight and my breath still reeks of garlic. Is there anything such as  garlic poisoning? Because I feel like if I were to be pulled over by the cops they would take me in for public intox of garlic.( ::insert dry pity laugh at that awful joke here::)So it's 4:23 am and I am still awake and pretty exhausted. I just got some money so I ordered some AT&T U-Verse Cable because I can't take the "free" internet that our apartment complex provides. I think when they say "free" they mean "awful internet that only works when you want to procrastinate and be a creep on Facebook but God help you if you want to actually do something that makes a difference in this world because it will NOT work under any circumstances until around 4am", which is why I am posting this so late. But enough about me, this is all about the food right?


Tonight was a pretty weird night when it came to food. Fox insists on putting Glee on at 8pm est and although  I'm not a theater kid, I do have a pretty serious addiction to that show. Also, it was Britney Spears night and I know at least 2 people that would probably come to my house and cut me if I didn't watch it/sing along/ dance my ass off (i.e. Rachel Goldberg and Wynne Strugatch), although I don't even think they watch Glee, but I'm pretty sure Wynne would sacrifice her first born to meet Britney.


I decided to walk to the grocery and pick up some fresh seafood although I spent literally $300 at the grocery store yesterday( yeah..ridiculous I know..but I've eaten nothing but bologna, ramen, and eggs all summer and I've recently come into some money and figured this would be one of my only chances). Well tonight I bought some fresh wild caught Alaskan Salmon because I had a random abundance of dill but David absolutely DESPISES salmon(he can't even be in the same room with the smell), therefore I needed to come up with some kind of dinner product for him and he was quite adamant about making my famous homemade chicken noodle soup.


The salmon was absolutely fabulous! This was my first time trying it with anything other than a marinade that pretty much obliterates the natural taste of the salmon like orange juice, brown sugar, soy sauce etc. . Here's the recipe I used, although I'm going to use to the term "recipe" loosely because it's definitely a recipe that is all about personal preference and taste pallettes.


Baked Lemon Salmon with Dill Whipped Cream 


Before Baking:

1 Large Fresh Caught Salmon Filet ( about 1 in.- 1 3/4 in thick)
1 Lemon, sliced into thin slices
1/4 cup of white wine
1/2 medium to large onion sliced lengthwise
fresh dill to taste, chopped
fresh mint to taste, chiffonade
1/4 cup ultra-pasteurized whipping cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp butter
kosher salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
lemon pepper, to taste
1 lemon, sliced


Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small oven-proof container like pictured, line the bottom of container with sliced onions and minced garlic. Next, place a small pat of butter on top of the onions just to ensure that they do not burn. Next place your salmon filet on top of the bed of onions(because I didn't have oblong mini casserole dishes, I have to cut my filet in half) and a few slices of lemon. Sprinkle to your liking with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper along with fresh dill and place 2-3 lemon slices on top.


Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork.


In a medium sized bowl, pour your whipping cream along with  an ample amount of hand torn herbs and whisk quickly (30 seconds ) until a thin, frothy sauce is formed. Pour on top of the salmon and enjoy!

Sorry about the super messy picture--I was starving and in a huge hurry to eat versus taking pictures for 10 minutes while my fish got cold...

Finally...

So this is my first post. I'm pretty damn proud of myself for even getting this far due to the fact that I believe I have a chronic case of the life-threatening disease...Procrastination. I have been talking about starting a food blog for nearly a year and half, and I've finally done it. I guess I shouldn't start celebrating too quickly because the real test will be posting my kitchen concoctions on here somewhat regularly. 


In other news, David and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary this week and instead of going out and spending $100+ on a noisy Friday night restaurant experience, we have decided to stay home and cook (by we..I of course mean myself because I have now accepted that I am a control freak when it comes to anyone messing around with my kitchen including my lovely boyfriend). After hours and hours of scouring the internet for recipes, I decided on making a small plates menu with the following:


-Strawberry Spinach Salad w/poppy seed vinaigrette

-Spicy mini crab cakes w/lemon aioli

-Bison burger sliders w/Wisconsin cheddar cheese & caramelized onions

-Champinones al ajillo( Garlic Mushrooms)

-Gambas al Ajillo ( Garlic Shrimp)

-Meat and cheese plate with local Scholars Inn Bakehouse farm bread

-Baklava

-Mojitos!

I know this is a quite the hodgepodge of stuff, but David and I basically just wanted to eat a bunch of appetizers without worrying about what foods went with what...kind of like a fun food experiment. I was originally going to make some braised oxtails and chili garlic mussels, but I realized that my school workload is going to be really heavy this weekend so I wasn't down with all that manual labor(i.e. cleaning and de-bearding the mussels) and the fact that oxtails have gotten to be pretty expensive these days. I know this isn't the cheapest menu I could make, but it is a special occasion! I think the thing I'm the most worried about is the bison, because I've never made bison before and I honestly am a little afraid of drying the sliders out. If this were to happen I think I could end up boyfriendless by the end of the night..(because you don't come between David and his burgers...). I'm also pretty stoked about the Baklava, but am deathly afraid of tearing my phyllo dough because baking is definitely my weakness, given the fact that I don't really have a sweet tooth too much these days. 

Well alas, I must return to my school work, but there will be pictures of my anniversary dinner experimentation around Friday morning. Hopefully everything turns out great and maybe I will even be able to get David to overcome his fear of shrimp (he says they remind him of bugs..honestly I don't really blame him, they are pretty creepy looking when you get them fresh..).