Arranged Seafood Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette

Happy Mother's Day...

Today we celebrate Mom. She does (and still does) so much for us. She's there when you need someone to talk to, supports you, and helps you no matter what. She may have given me life, but without her unconditional love I would never have known how to live. My mom is my best friend and I love her dearly. If I had been making her lunch today, I would have made this salad (she came over for dinner instead).

This arranged seafood salad takes a bit of time to make since everything needs to be chopped, but it's worth the effort, especially if it's for Mom. The shrimp and scallops are gently poached and then mixed with crab, avocado, green onions, dill, mayo, and sour cream. This seafood salad is creamy and fresh. I then arrange this on top of lettuce and surround it by grapefruit, jicama, radishes, and radicchio. Finally, I top the salad off with an easy grapefruit vinaigrette. Spoil Mom with this seafood salad. Here's how to make it...

Ingredients - Serves 4
Salad
1/2 lb. Bay Scallops
1/2 lb. Medium Size Shrimp, peeled & deveined (tails off)
1 (8 oz.) Container Crab Meat, picked over for shells
2 Avocados, pitted & diced
3 Green Onions, sliced
2 T Fresh Dill, chopped
2 T Mayo
2 T Sour Cream
1 Head "Living" (or Boston) Lettuce
1 Grapefruit, supreme
1/2 Jicama, cut into match-sticks
6 Radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 Head Radicchio, chopped

Vinaigrette
1/2 Grapefruit, zest & juice
~1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp. Granulated Sugar
Salt & Pepper

Directions
Cook the scallops & shrimp: Bring a pot of water to a gentle boil. Add the scallops and shrimp and poach for 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. Pat dry.

Make the seafood salad: Combine the cooked scallops and shrimp to the crab, avocado, green onion, dill, mayo, and sour cream in a large bowl. Season with salt to taste, cover, and refrigerate.

Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl combine the grapefruit zest and juice. Drizzle in the olive oil, whisking until emulsified. Add the sugar and a pinch each salt and pepper. Whisk again, taste, and adjust the seasoning as needed. Set aside.

Arrange the salad: On a large plate put 4 or 5 lettuce leaves down. Place a 1/4 of the seafood salad into the center. Then, arrange the grapefruit, jicama, radishes, and radicchio around the seafood salad. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Snap Pea & Asparagus Salad with Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette

spring forward to spring green...

We all lost an hour today, which sucks, but it really is good news because it means that spring is just that much closer (only 12 more days!). It has been warm and sunny this weekend - it's hard to believe we had snow last week. Most of the snow has melted and I'm really hoping we are done with it for this year. I guess we will see...

For this series I'm focusing on snap peas. Little more makes me think of spring than green, green peas that is! This recipe celebrates both snap peas and green peas along with asparagus, another veggie that makes me think of spring. These vegetables are blanched and then tossed in a Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette to create a simple side salad to welcome the up-coming spring season. Here's how to make it...

Ingredients - Serves 6
Salad
1 lb. Snap Peas
1 Bunch Asparagus
1 C Frozen (or fresh) Peas

Vinaigrette
1 T Dijon Mustard
1 T Fresh Lemon Juice
1 1/2 tsp. Sherry Vinegar
1 tsp. Capers, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp. Caper Brine
3 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 T Fresh Dill, chopped
Kosher Salt & Black Pepper

Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously.

Trim the asparagus and then cut into 2 inch pieces. Drop the snap peas, asparagus, and frozen peas into the boiling water. Blanch for 2-3 minutes. Remove to an ice bath (bowl filled with ice and water) to shock the veggies and stop their cooking. After 5 minutes, drain and pat dry.

Meanwhile, make the dressing: In a large bowl combine the mustard, lemon juice, and vinegar; whisk. Next, add in the capers, brine, and a pinch each salt and pepper. Whisk in the extra virgin olive oil. Stir in the dill.

Add the dried peas and asparagus to the bowl with the dressing. Toss well. Refrigerate up to 2 hours before serving. Stir and serve. Enjoy!

Crispy, Crunchy Cornmeal Encrusted Cod w/ Lemon-Dill Tartar Sauce

fish fry Fridays...

'Tis the Lenten season of the fish fry. Although I'm not Catholic and didn't grow up that way, much of Cincinnati is. So, when Lent rolls around each year there are so many fish fries on Fridays you could go to a different one for the entire season and still not hit up even half of them. Here's a list for the 2015 Lenten season you can search by neighborhood, so it should be easy to find one near you. And, hey, it's Friday, so grab some friends and go check one out.

Or, you could stay home and make my Crispy, Crunchy Cornmeal Encrusted Cod w/ Lemon-Dill Tartar Sauce. It's quick and easy to make. And, quite inexpensive to feed a crowd - I guess the Catholic Church knew what they were doing when they instituted these meat free Fridays!. Even if you aren't Catholic, sometimes its fun to be part of a tradition. You know what they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If you do decide to stay in (it is freezing out!) keep the fish fry tradition alive. Here's how to make my fried fish...

Ingredients - Serves 4
Fried Fish
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. Cod, skinned
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Vegetable Oil, for frying
1/2 C All Purpose Flour
2 Large Eggs
2 T Cold Water
2 C Yellow Corn Meal
1 tsp. Dried Parsley
1 tsp. Lemon-Pepper Seasoning (suggest Mrs. Dash, no salt added)
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
To Serve: Lemon Wedges & Cole Slaw

Lemon-Dill Tartar Sauce
1/2 C Mayo (suggest w/ Olive Oil)
2-3 T Fresh Dill, chopped
Zest 1 Lemon
1 T Fresh Lemon Juice

Directions
Cut the cod into 4 fillets. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside. On med-high, heat a large castiron skillet filled with enough oil to shallow fry the fish to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, setup the dredging station: Put the flour on a plate, beat the eggs in a shallow bowl with the two tablespoons of water, and put the cornmeal in another shallow dish. Add the dried parsley, lemon-pepper seasoning, and cayenne pepper to the corn meal. Mix well.

Next, dredge the fish: Coat the fish in flour, then egg, and finally press into the cornmeal mixture. Repeat this process until all of the fillets are coated. Carefully add the fish to the hot oil and fry for 5 minutes on each side until medium-golden brown. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

As the fish fries, make the lemon-dill tartar sauce: In a small bowl combine the mayo, chopped dill, lemon zest and juice. Stir together and set aside.

Finally, serve the fish with the tartar sauce, lemon wedges, and your favorite Cole slaw. Here's to the Lenten season. Enjoy!

Lemon-Dill Biscotti w/ Lemon Glaze

semi-successful is only semi-sweet

I have to admit that I struggled to come up with a dessert or drink using dill. But, then I remembered a recipe from the Food Network for Lemon-Thyme Bars and thought, I can combine lemon and dill to get the same effect. I was semi-successful. The biscotti are good and lemony, but it is tough to taste the dill. I only get a hint here and there. When I make these again (and I will) I'm going to up the amount of dill I used. I've written the recipe below to reflect this change.

Despite my disappointment with this recipe, my husband says he can taste the dill. I'm not sure if he's just telling me that because he loves me, or he really can. Either way, make these biscotti to see for yourself. Here's how...

Ingredients - Makes about 28
Biscotti
1 Package (15.25 oz.) Lemon Cake Mix w/ Pudding in the Mix (suggest Betty Crocker)
1 T Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Lemon Extract
3 T Fresh Dill, minced

Glaze
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1 Lemon, zest & juice

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the biscotti ingredients: lemon cake mix, vegetable oil, eggs, lemon extract, and dill. Mix together until a loose dough forms. Don't over mix, this will cause the biscotti to be tough.

Dump the dough onto a large ungreased baking sheet. Form it into a 14 x 3 in. rectangle, about 1/2 in. thick. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet, set on a cooling rack, for 15 minutes.

Next, carefully move the partially cooked dough to a cutting board. Using a large serrated knife, cut the dough crosswise into 1/2 in. pieces. You should end up with about 28 pieces. Place the biscotti back onto the baking sheet on one side. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the first side is browned. Flip and bake another 7-8 minutes longer, until browned. Cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Then remove to the cooling rack to cool completely.

While the biscotti cool, make the glaze. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, zest of 1 lemon, and the juice of half the lemon (about 1-2 T). Stir together. If the glaze is too thick, add a little more lemon juice, if too thin all a little more powdered sugar. The glaze should coat the back of a spoon.

Move the biscotti to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place them close together. Then drizzle the glaze over one side. Allow the glaze to set, about 30 minutes.


These can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week. Or, make a hot cup of tea - dunking encouraged - and enjoy!

Grilled Simple Salmon w/ Dill Gremolata

fresh is best

Memorial Day Weekend is coming up. It's the (un)official kick-off to summer for many and the grills will be out in full force. So, for this post I've made an easy grilled salmon with a fresh herb topping - a gremolata. Gremolata is a northern Italian (Milanese) topping traditionally served with osso buco (veal shank braised with vegetables). The traditional ingredients are simple - parsley, garlic, and lemon zest. Because I'm serving my gremolata with salmon what could be better than subbing in dill for parsley?

This dish will take less than 20 minutes to prepare from start to finish. And, that's good because who wants to spend more time cooking than necessary on this beautiful weekend? Make this simple supper to start the summer. Here's how...

Ingredients - Serves 4

For the Salmon:

1.5 lbs. Salmon, skin-on

2 T Lemon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (suggest The Spicy Olive)

1 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt

1 tsp. Black Pepper

1 Lemon

For the Gremolata:

1/4 C Fresh Dill, minced

2 T Fresh Parsley, minced

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

Zest of 1 Lemon

Directions

Preheat the grill to about 375.

Put the salmon, skin-side down, on a baking sheet. Drizzle the lemon oil on top. If you don't have lemon flavored oil, you can use regular extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over top. Then rub the oil, salt, and pepper all over the top of the salmon. Set this aside and make the gremolata.

In a small bowl, add the minced dill, parsley, and garlic. Zest the lemon into the bowl and stir everything together. Set aside. Cut the lemon in half and put on the baking sheet with the salmon.

Grill the salmon, skin-side down, with the lid shut for 10-12 minutes (15 minutes for well done). The grill acts as an oven, so there is no need to flip the salmon. Also, I prefer to grill salmon with the skin on as it keeps the fish together and protects the meat. 2-3 minutes before the salmon is done add the lemon, cut-side down, to the grill. Grill until marked. Once the salmon is cooked through, remove from the grill. Allow it to rest for 2 minutes before cutting into 4 fillets.

Serve the salmon topped with about 3 T of the gremolata and a squeeze of juice from the grilled lemon. I served this salmon with Grilled Parmesan Potatoes (see below for the recipe) and a salad. Enjoy your Memorial Holiday weekend and the (un)official kick-off to summer!

Grilled Parmesan Potatoes: Thinly slice Yukon Gold or Red Skin Potatoes and arrange in a single layer in a foil packet. Top with salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Drop dollops of butter all over the top, seal the packet, and grill until cooked through, 25-30 minutes. Ours got a little too done, but they were nice and crispy!

Creamy Dill Dip

spring means green

I returned home from vacation to a world of green. Our yard, shrubs, trees, etc. are all beautifully green right now. I heard that it has been quite rainy here. That has been the case for the past few days since I've been home. It only seems fitting with all this green that I'm celebrating a fresh spring herb - dill. This herb is lemony, grassy, and versatile. It's the perfect way to celebrate the end of spring.

My yogurt based Creamy Dill Dip is fresh and light with a tiny bite of heat at the end. Lemon juice helps to highlight the dill flavor and keep the dip bright. I serve this dip with assorted veggies and bagel chips. It's the perfect appetizer to any meal. Or, take it to a spring cookout. Here's how to make it...

Ingredients - Serves 8-10
1 C Greek Yogurt (suggest 0% fat)
1/2 C Sour Cream (suggest light)
1/2 C Mayo (suggest Canola Oil)
3 T Fresh Dill, minced
2 Green Onions, minced
1 T Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Seasoning Salt
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
Ground Black Pepper, to taste
To Serve: Assorted Veggies, Bagel Chips, Crackers, etc.

Directions

This is so easy!! In a medium sized bowl, combine the yogurt, sour cream, mayo, dill, green onions, lemon juice, seasoning salt, and cayenne pepper. Mix well.

Add the black pepper a little at a time, to taste. Adjust any other seasonings as desired. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Be sure to serve this dip chilled.


Serve with assorted veggies, bagel chips, crackers, anything you can dip. The dip will stay good refrigerated for 5-7 days in an airtight container. Enjoy the spring and all that's green!