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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Super Simple Baked Salmon



...i think i fell in love with Matt Kerley the day he gave me a mix cd with the song "She Belongs to Me" by Bob Dylan on it, and said that Bob wrote that song for, and about, me. SERIOUSLY?? Who does that? Well, Matt Kerley does...and I've been his ever since. In fact, Oliver (our son) came along not too long after. Living proof that a simple dedication can turn a girl to mush, a puddle, clay in your hands, and you can do whatever you want to her, whenever you want to, and, well, you get where I'm going with this. Next thing you know you are playing peek-a-boo and planning for college.

ANYWAYS...Matt Kerley is the REAL chef in our house...
 By that I mean, he is a chef by profession, he runs a restaurant, & he is an AMAZING cook, and I'm not just saying that cause I live with him. It's true. I, on the other hand, am certainly not an amazing cook. I'm a mediocre cook at best, but there are a few things I do well and those things I tend to make pretty often. The difference between Matt and I is this...he makes duck confit, I make tuna casserole. He makes gnocchi from scratch, I make spaghetti and meat sauce. He makes pâté, I make peanut butter toast. But I do happen to do almost all the cooking at our house because by the time he gets home from work, cooking is the last thing he wants to do. And he always finishes all his food and usually asks for seconds, so I guess he kinda likes it. Beyond cooking at home, I've been working in restaurants since the beginning of time, and eating in them too, AND I am lucky enough to live in one of the foodiest cities in the world, San Francisco, so I have access to farms, and fresh, and free range, and all that good stuff. At this point in my life cooking has become the one creative act that I do almost everyday. And everyday I look forward to it. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I might cook that night, and what I need, and when I'm going to go to the market, and which market, and blah, blah, blah...So the recipes I share here will be my own, or not, and I hope you will try them, like them, eat them up, and then make them YOUR own. Let's start with last night's dinner...

Super Simple Salmon (this recipe is for 2 eaters, get 3 pieces of fish if you happen to have 3 eaters, and guesstimate about 1/2 tablespoon of butter & 1/2 clove of garlic for each piece of fish)

2 Wild Salmon fillets
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove fresh garlic
cumin
salt
pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a small sauce pan and toss in your chopped garlic, saute about 1 minute, or until garlic loses a bit of its sharpness, but don't burn the garlic! Place salmon fillets skin side down in a baking dish, I prefer glass. Sprinkle fish with salt, pepper, cumin, and your butter & garlic mixture. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Salmon is one thing I like either totally raw (sushi!) or totally cooked through, so I always cook mine until it is just cooked through, but not dry. Serve with a simple green salad. Delish!!

P.S. Everyone knows how good salmon is for you, Omega 3's and all that stuff, but its especially important when you are a breastfeeding mama, like I am, because it helps our babies brains to grow big and strong. So eat up Mama's! Eat your fish!!



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