the super easy salmon recipe I filmed for Whole Foods

I'm so excited! I recently shot a 2-minute video for Whole Foods, where I share my go-to marinade and method for making salmon for my family. It's now live on all of Whole Foods' NY/NJ/CT store Facebook pages, giving you a simple method for preparing Atlantic salmon (which happens to be one of this week's "Madness Sale" items). You can watch the video here. I'll be signing autographs tomorrow at The Family Dinner Conference. Just kidding. Oh boy, I am punchy tonight. I mean, if you want an autograph just let me know... but I'm thinking you're really at the conference for additional inspiration on "Feeding Your Family Well on the Busiest of Days"!! Anyway, as if watching me make salmon in our brand-spanking-new kitchen isn't excitement enough, there's a chance to win a basket full of "Madness Sale" items, simply for viewing the video! So go on, turn up the volume, and enjoy 2-minutes of cinematic magic courtesy of my 10-year-old cameraman, co-producer and taste tester.

Yep, I was compensated, with a Whole Foods gift card, for filming this masterpiece... but the recipe and real-life "rainbow plates" are my very own!

so easy...roasted shrimp & tomatoes + a new video!

Last night was a little nutty between juggling my kid's dinner + bath + homework + bedtime needs, a friend stopping by for a (much needed) glass of wine, an 8pm meeting...and getting dinner made. This is one of my go-to recipes. It's just so easy. If you don't care for shrimp you can always make it with chicken instead. That's the beauty of this recipe, it's totally adaptable depending upon what flavors you like and what you have on hand.

Originally, a local friend Katharine passed this recipe along to me during one of those email recipe swaps. (Or maybe it was Siri? I can't remember, but one of these girls deserves credit!) The ingredients sometimes differ a bit, depending upon what I have on hand. When I wrote about it the summer of 2009, I happened to have these gorgeous multi-colored heirloom cherry tomatoes on hand and bell peppers. In the video, I had fresh mint, marinated artichokes and kalamata olives that I tossed in as well. Yesterday it was simply: cherry tomatoes, a large can of diced tomatoes, lemon zest & juice, fresh parsley, garlic, a drizzle of balsamic & olive oil, and Feta. And it was delish.

Quick & Easy Bouillabaisse

I'm done with turkey. Tonight I wanted to make something that was the opposite. In a matter of minutes, I made the base for Bouillabaisse, then when my husband got home I tossed the fish & shellfish in so we could sit down to a relaxed dinner with his parents. He asked what the secret ingredient was this time...it might have been this aioli? Everyone got a dollop tonight because we can't just go from decadence to healthy in one fell swoop this week...

Bouillabaisse (a.k.a. Hearty Fish Stew)

Makes 8 servings

(can always half or quarter this recipe)

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1 fennel bulb, chopped

6 stalks of celery, chopped

zest of 1 orange

1 bottle white wine

32 oz can crushed tomatoes

32 oz diced tomatoes

parsley

thyme

3-4 lbs fish & shellfish*

aioli (optional)

crusty bread + stinky cheese (optional)

* tonight I used a combination of shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, and halibut

In a large stock pot, saute the onions, garlic, fennel and celery in a bit of olive oil. Add orange zest and white wine and boil until wine is reduced by about half. Add fresh thyme and parsley and contents of both cans of tomatoes-- chopped and crushed (not drained). Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste. At this point, you can turn the heat off and just let the pot sit covered until a few minutes before you are ready to eat...

When ready to eat, bring the contents of the pot back up to a heavy simmer and add the fish & shellfish. Let cook for about 8 minutes, or until fish is cooked through and shells have opened. (Discard any mussels or clams that do not open).

Ladle a few chunks of fish and a few scallops, shrimp, clams and mussels into each bowl, with some of the aromatic broth. My husband is convinced that the dollop of aioli made this out of this world tonight. Perfect served with some a crusty bread for dipping.

Roasted Shrimp with Tomatoes & Feta

On the heels of tonight’s sad discovery that our tomato plant has also succumbed to late blight, I am wary to share this recipe with you. But then again, it was too quick and delicious not to. You’ll probably have to make it with conventional (versus organic) tomatoes if you are in the Northeast. (The tomatoes I used, above, were from Trader Joe's.) Even then, the price of tomatoes may preclude you from making this meal this summer, so tuck it away for next season if you’d prefer.

Roasted Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

This dinner is super quick to assemble and then pop in the oven to do it’s thing, but I must admit that it is not kid-approved at our house, since neither of my children will touch shrimp. If you have the same pickiness over at your place, just whip it up for you and your lucky spouse.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a roasting pan, combine:

Olive oil
2 pints cherry tomatoes, red or multi-colored/heirloom
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
Garlic, chopped (I put about 4 cloves in)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tub of Feta
1 handful of shredded parmesan
1-2 lbs of frozen peeled shrimp (still frozen)

As you'll see in the photos above, I simply chopped the garlic and bell peppers, zested and juiced a lemon, tossed in the washed tomatoes, drizzled everything with olive oil and then stirred in the Feta, parmesan and frozen shrimp before popping it in the oven. So easy!! My kind of meal.

Normally shrimp cook very quickly, but because the shrimp are frozen, you've gained quite a bit of cook time....enough time for the garlic, tomatoes and peppers to roast and the flavors to meld. I did stir the whole thing two times during cooking because you want to make sure it's cooking evenly. Once the shrimp are pink (and your kitchen smells amazing), take it out and....

dinner is ready! Serve over brown rice, or with a loaf of crusty bread…the olive oil, melted Feta, parmesan, and liquid from the tomatoes and shrimp create this heavenly dipping sauce.

Soy-Citrus Marinade for Salmon (made in minutes!)

I zipped around town with my little one this morning running errands. I had hoped to do some cooking while the kids napped so one stop was the fish market. But, as we all know, some days just don’t go quite as planned. My older one decided to make kites instead of nap, and my little one fell asleep minutes before we were all three due to leave for a swim lesson. Sweet. So, I popped the diaper off, the Elmo undies on, transferred him to his car seat and hoped for the best. The little one and I spent the swim lesson in the Y bathroom stall while my older one splashed about learning new tricks I wish I could have seen. Seeing as how neither kid seemed to have recovered from their ear infections of last week, we then tacked on a trip to the pediatrician (always fun at dinnertime) and a detour to Walgreen’s which experienced a run on antibiotics today and was out of stock. Fear that my little one would wet in his car seat if I trekked two towns over for the meds, we went home and made quick PB&J’s, showered, got them in their PJ’s and off we went, again. By the time I came home I was spent…and I still had to make dinner for my husband and me.

For a meal made, literally, in minutes it was pretty darn good. I made the marinade in the couple minutes the kids picked out their books for the night and let the salmon marinate for about a half hour while I put them to bed; I preheated the oven to 400 while checking my email; and in the 15 minutes it took to roast the salmon, I steamed some broccoli, toasted sesame seeds, reduced the marinade and heated up a rice side dish packet.

Salmon Marinade: whisk soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, a bit of honey, a splash of orange juice, a splash of sesame oil (olive oil would work well too as the base, if that's what you have on hand...or if you do not care for sesame!) and some chopped onion; let the salmon marinate for about a half hour. Before popping it in the oven, I also drizzled it with a bit of honey. I removed the salmon from the marinade but took some of the onions and popped them on top of the fish, then roasted the salmon on a rimmed cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. While the salmon was cooking, I reduced (boiled down to half its volume) the marinade which I then drizzled on the steamed broccoli and the salmon.

Short on time, I steamed the broccoli in the microwave (by adding a couple T of water to the broccoli in a ceramic bowl, covering with a plate and microwaving it for 2 ½ minutes).

The fish market had black and regular sesame seeds which I picked up on a whim, at $2 each. Texturally and flavor-wise they were a nice addition sprinkled on the salmon and broccoli.

And, as I have mentioned before, I am not at all opposed to using prepared foods as long as I recognize (and would cook with) all of the ingredients. The one I used tonight was Trader Joe’s Lentil Rice Biryani. They come in pantry stable pouches and I always keep a couple on hand. Seeds of Change also makes some good ones. This TJ's one is made with: basmati rice, water, potatoes, onion, chickpeas, tomatoes, sunflower oil, French green beans, green lentils, mint leaves, cumin, chili powder, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, clove and cinnamon. Delicious!

Shrimp Soft Tacos

This summer I have found my afternoons action-packed. I don’t want to be slaving over the stove when we could be playing outside. I prepped this meal while the kids were having “quiet time”…and I still had plenty of downtime so I could read the paper that day.

Shrimp Soft Tacos

Lemon juice
Olive oil
Garlic
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
1 lb bag of frozen (uncooked) shrimp

In a blender make the marinade by combining lemon juice, olive oil, a couple cloves of garlic, a dash of cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Marinate the shrimp for ½ hour, then either grill the shrimp or sauté them until pink. I served them room temp with the following accompaniments (all purchased at Trader Joe’s):

Whole Wheat Tortillas (Low Carb or Regular)
Shredded Cabbage
Shredded Carrots
Mango, cut into slivers
Fire Roasted Corn (found in the freezer section)
Cilantro Chive Yogurt Dip (which I mixed with a small tub of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt)