Chili Dry Rub Salmon with Saffron Rice and Steamed Veg

Chili Dry Rub Salmon with Saffron Rice and Steamed Veg

Most people who've been to Costco and look in the fish case have probably thought the same thing I always do, namely "What in the heck am I gonna do with that much salmon?" Well I was craving salmon so after I decided to freeze most of it, I started thinking that a dry rub something or other would probably make a darned good dinner. I was right.

Pre-heat your oven to 400F.

Step One:

I found this recipe online at www.food.com. While I can't take credit for it, I can attest to it's tastiness. Can I just take a moment and say I love knowing that I had all of these ingredients in the cupboard and none of them were old or stale? Take all of the following:

1 tablespoons sugar

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 tablespoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon dry mustard

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

...and mix them together well. Taste it before we do step two and just imagine how it's going to taste on that naughty piece of salmon.

Step Two:

Spray a non-stick in a glass casserole dish. Lay your salmon fillets down and rub the rub all over those bad boys. Be generous.

Step Three:

Place in oven for about 20 mins. Recommended time is about 10 mins per inch but the oven I cook with was installed in the 70s and is awful. Everything I cook in there takes longer that it's supposed to. Remove from heat when flakey. Once thing I've learned about salmon is that it continues to cook for a couple of minutes once you remove it from the heat so it can overcook itself pretty quickly if you aren't careful.

Look at that picture... that's one sexy piece of salmon.

Saffron Rice:

I cheat and use Mahatma brand Saffron Rice. We love that stuff. Takes 20 mins to cook.

Steamed Veggies:

Take one head of broccoli and cut into spears. Slice up the squash of your choice (mine is yellow), sprinkle with salt and steam to desired softness. I use my rice cooker to steam most things as it came with a steaming tray.

Leftover garlic bread sammich with onion and garlic mayo

Leftover Garlic Bread Sammich with Onion and Garlic Mayo

I was sitting on the couch wonderin' how I was going to prepare my lunch. I'd already decided that last night's garlic bread from our local market was going to be the base and the chicken breast I saved from the roaster I made up would make the meat. Just plain ole' chicken on garlic bread wasn't going to be enough. I looked up at the mortar and pestle atop the fridge and found inspiration... make some garlic and onion mayo to go with it. I won the sandwich war today!

Step One:

Slice an onion thinly, just one slice. Add the onion and 1 clove of garlic to your m&p and mash to a pulp. Once mashed up nicely add some salt and pepper to taste. The addition of the salt helped to cut the strong garlic taste. I started with a pinch of each.

Step Two:

Put that beautiful paste into another bowl/container with

1 tbsp of mayo. Mix together well. Add more seasoning as needed.

Step Three:

Smear a coating of your new mayo blend on both sides of the garlic bread. Add the thinly sliced chicken breast and cheese (I've been using the block "Coastal" rough cheddar from Costco... so yummy). Close it up and there ya go.

It was soooo good. A bit high on the calories because of the garlic bread but not a diet killer. About 534 calories but I'm pretty full now.

Gone but not forgotten...

A few of you have told me to get back to work on this blog and that's just what I'll do. While I'm not a candidate for any game shows I do keep trying new things and my knowledge base has grown with practice. I'm surprised at how I pick up on the differences in the many white rices out there... I never thought that'd happen. Anyway, stay tuned for more recipes and thanks for the encouragement.

If you have friends who like to cook tell them to follow me. It's a confidence booster.