Lemon Pepper Herb Salmon with Basil Garlic Couscous and Veggies

Fun Cubes of Flavor

Cooking Time:  15 minutes
Clean-Up:  Pot, skillet, and tongs

Call this a "proof-of-concept" meal. Fresh salmon, baby carrots, green beans, and couscous. From fridge to plate in under 15 minutes.  I even used a new "cheat" - which I happened to fall completely in love with.

The Original Minute Rice

I didn't feel like adding the nutty, earthy taste of brown rice to this dish and that is where the couscous comes in.  Couscous is a different mouth feel than rice but, more importantly, it is a completely blank canvas and will be done quicker than brown rice. Earlier in the day I found the chopped basil and crushed garlic in the freezer section of my local fresh & easy market. Toss one of each into the boiling water and butter and it will do wonders for adding flavor to the semolina of the couscous. Once you've added the flavor and let it steep for another minute, stir in the couscous, remove from heat, cover and let sit for five minutes.

Don't Worry - The Black is Normal

Skinless salmon fillets are an easy cook. Crust salmon with herbs of your own choosing and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning. Gently place in a skillet of medium hot oil and cook two minutes per side. Then place in a 375 degree oven and cook three minutes more per side (it really pays to have a high quality skillet that can go from stove top to oven in a single swoop. If your seasoning forms a black crust then your oil was too hot when you started (yes - mine was). Don't panic if this happens - you will just wind up with a cajun style dish - which didn't bug me too much.

The end result is yummy, healthy, freshness that will never be found in any location that has you using internal combustion to wait in line for faux food. Bon appetit!

Firecracker Shrimp with Organic Ramen

Cooking Time:  10 minutes
Clean-Up:  Pot, skillet, and tongs

Yea - this took only ten minutes.  Hard to believe but if you plan for it, you can pull it off.  Granted, this was a kit from fresh & easy but, it is easy enough to re-create without the kit and a bit of work flow management.  

Cook You Little Yummies!

All you will need is some raw peeled (deveined) shrimp (I don't use jumbo for stir-frys - it is a shrimp to veggie ratio thing). Place in a skillet (or wok - if you have one) that has about 2-3 tablespoons hot oil (which, for me is olive oil). Heat for 5 minutes (make sure all sides are pink). While these are cooking off, get a pot of water going to a boil.  After five minutes you will want to throw in the veggies and start the ramen.  For the veggies I used the water chestnuts, red bell peppers, snow peas, and onions but; you can use just about any veggie you want.

Not Your College Ramen

The ramen tonight was a substitution for the plain-jane rice that I would normally use for a stir-fry.  This isn't the ramen that you are thinking of (plastic packet - crappy powered chicken season, etc)...this is real live, organic Chinese style wheat noodles. These are not the egg noodles that we normally cook in this country.  They will not take as long to cook and can overcook really easy.  That said, pull them after three minutes and let them drain.  By the time you have laid these out dump your sauce into the pan. Any sauce will do (sweet and sour or stir-fry for example) but don't use too much and don't let it scorch in the hot pan with the veggies.  You will only need to cook the shrimp, veggies and sauce a couple of minutes. Set it on the bed of ramen and enjoy. Ten easy minutes - well thirteen if you factor in the dishes you will do...

Ten Minutes to This!

Lemon Pepper Pork Chops with Basmati Rice and Asparagus

Simple Spices

 Protein and Veggies:  fresh & easy

Cooking Time:  20 minutes
Clean-Up: Pot and tongs (you just have to love grilling)
Tim's Additions: nothing but spice

So it has been a while since I blogged.  Between travel, volunteer, and work events; I have not been home to cook a lot. If ever there was a night where I wanted to bomb through a drive thru - this was it. In spite of the overly emotional end to the day, I came home ready to spark up the grill and get cracking on cooking.

So Easy Tim Can Cook It

One of the best things about grilling is the total ease of clean-up. Except for the plate and utensils I used to eat with, there is virtually no clean-up with this meal (something that I think is a factor when considering cooking for yourself versus the burger doodle). The thick cut chops were pulled from the freezer and defrosted during the day in the fridge. The rice I had on hand and the asparagus was in the easy, "micro-zap" kit - that will just take 2:30 in the microwave.

While warming up the grill, I started my prep for the rice and the chops.  The chops don't take a lot, just sprinkle the lemon pepper (and since it is from fresh & easy - it doesn't have any elongated chemical names that belong in a laboratory) on both sides of the chops. As with most dry rubs, be sure to use tongs and flip by grabbing the sides rather than the top or bottom of the meat.  The rice should be prepared as per the instructions on the package (again, for the love of God, don't use "minute rice").  I like to add some additional seasoning, in this case a salt free herb blend, to the water as it boils. In my opinion, this flavors the rice much better than trying to sprinkle it on after the fact.

Be sure to cook the chops to chops to the right internal temperature - to me that is 150 degrees (med/well) but, no more than 160 degrees (well). After pulling the meat off the grill let it rest and zap the asparagus.  Thanks for helping me dodge an emotional eating bullet.

Yummy!