January 30, 2012

Seafood | Side Dishes and Vegetables

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze and Bacon and Pancetta Potatoes

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze seemed like an easy recipe, even for Little Chef A. All it requires is dumping ingredients into a mini food processor then spooning it on top of the fish. I mistakenly thought since it was so simple she could make another, Bacon and Pancetta Potatoes. The potatoes, bacon and pancetta had to be cut, but after cutting the potatoes cook for 20 minutes with frequent stirring. I was SO wrong! These two recipes took a combined time of 75 minutes to make!
Starting with the potatoes the ingredients are what you would have in your pantry with the addition of bacon and pancetta. Two 1/4″ slices of pancetta did cost over $3.00 but the taste is amazing! I learned it is made locally.

Little Chef A put the pancetta on the cutting board and started separating it. I told her it was fine to leave it stacked, she could cut two pieces at once. (I thought this would save some time.) She tried using her new knife again. This time it wasn’t very successful. She was sawing it back and forth, back and forth, and wasn’t getting very far except for almost tearing the precious pancetta!

Since that obviously wasn’t working I let her very carefully use one of my knives. She was able to responsibly use it and cut through the pancetta much easier. Little Chef A tried cutting and cutting a single line until I explained she could stop when she felt the cutting board.

When she was done, she pressed the pancetta against the knife and lifted it to the plate. She said, “I’ve seen Giada do this.” She was SO proud of herself to do what Giada did!

Next she was measuring out the salt and pepper. She didn’t expect the kosher salt to pour out of the box so quickly. Luckily she learned from before and was holding the teaspoon over the small bowl which caught most of the extra salt. She said, “That was a terrible mistake.” Sure, but easy to clean up, not a big deal. I bet she will remember it pours quickly next time!

The pepper was much easier to scoop out. I think I need to put the kosher salt in a container like this to prevent another spill.

The next step was to cook the bacon and pancetta until crisp. She put both in the pan. I instructed her to get a couple paper towels and put them on top of the plate. When it is done cooking the paper towels will soak up the extra grease. She said. “That does sound important.”
I mistakenly thought the 10 minutes it took for the bacon and pancetta to cook would be enough time for her to peel and cut 3 potatoes. I was wrong. The bacon and pancetta was done at least 10 minutes before the potatoes were ready to go in the pan.

As Little Chef A started peeling the potatoes she said, “I’m trying not to drop it in [the garbage]!” This time no potatoes slipped into the garbage.

We got out the Vidalia Chop Wizard to try cutting the potatoes. I cut the potatoes in fourths so she could use this tool. It worked very well. When she slammed the top part down she said, “It is so loud!” She really had to hit it for the potat
oes to cut and drop through and drop through the holes!

The potatoes were then put in the pan. Little Chef A added the garlic and salt and pepper.

While the potatoes were cooking she pulled the thyme leaves off the stem.

Then I showed her how to keep the tip of the knife in one place and move the handle up and down from one side to another. She did pretty well. She did allow me to run through it once “just to be sure.”
With the potatoes cooking in the pan for 20 minutes with an occasional stir I thought she would have plenty of time to take care of the salmon next. We bought a large piece of salmon she needed to cut into pieces.

I thought in 10 minutes the salmon should be cut and placed on the foil lined sheet ready to be put in the oven. It took only a minute longer then I expected, but crazy that I even thought cutting fish should take that long!

When the fish was in the oven I thought it would be easy to dump all the ingredients into the mini food processor. That should be done in 2 minutes when the salmon should be taken out. Nope, wrong again! It took a lot longer to measure out all the ingredients and dump them in.

After the sauce was blended, another tablespoon of coarse dijon mustard was added and mixed.

Little Chef A then topped each of the pieces of salmon with the mustard sauce. She is still a little afraid of the oven. She will go very very slow putting in or taking out unless I am holding her waist reassuring her she will not fall in and burn herself.

The potatoes were done and just needed thyme stirred in.

Of course, Little Chef A was incredibly proud of herself for these two recipes!

Little Chef A tried the potatoes first. She tried each part, the bacon, pacetta and potatoes separately. She said after tasting it all together she said, “it sort of tastes like breakfast because bacon is a breakfast food.” She didn’t like squeezing the lemon on top of the fish. She preferred it with just the mustard sauce.

Little Chef C said, “The sauce is my favorite part.” “It is better with the lemon.” Later when we were talking about the potatoes she very quietly said, “It is kind of burned.” That made me laugh! She was trying to be so nice but was the only one to state the obvious.

Little Chef D was not a fan of the mustard sauce. She LOVED squeezing the lemon on top because it was fun to get her hands dirty. She ate it a lot better afterward!

My favorite part of the discussion was when Little Chef A asked Little Chef D, “If you can tell me [what you don’t like about the fish], I can try to fix it next time.” She was being so caring, wanting to make it better for her little sist
er. Little Chef D didn’t know what to say. All she knew was she didn’t like the sauce without lots of lemon juice. Then Little Chef A said, “Maybe we can use chicken broth next time, I don’t know if it would work, instead of mustard sauce.” She had such great intentions to help. While she was cooking Little Chef A mentioned it would be fun to make up her own recipes and have her own recipe book. I suggested she keep cooking more to find out what flavors work well together. After that we can work on her own recipes.

For my review, I liked the mustard sauce without the squeezed lemon. Little Chef Dad liked the fish with the squeezed lemon. I’m glad we all had the option to try it and make it our own. I had high hopes for the potatoes, especially with the pancetta. Unfortunately they were a little crispy for my liking. Perhaps next time the Little Chefs will only be responsible for the potatoes and will be able to watch them more carefully.

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze

Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon dry white wine
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
Nonstick olive oil cooking spray
6 (6 to 8-ounce) salmon fillets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 lemon wedges

Directions

In a mini food processor, combine garlic, rosemary, thyme, wine, oil, Dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of whole-grain mustard. Grind the mustard sauce until combined, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of whole-grain mustard to the sauce and stir to combine. Set aside mustard sauce.

Preheat the broiler. Line a heavy rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with nonstick spray. Arrange the salmon fillets on the baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Broil for 2 minutes. Spoon the mustard sauce over the fillets. Continue broiling until the fillets are just cooked through and golden brown, about 5 minutes longer.
Transfer the fillets to plates and serve with lemon wedges.

Bacon and Pancetta Potatoes

Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

4 thick-cut slices bacon, roughly chopped
2 (1/4-inch thick) slices pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and pancetta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon and pancetta are brown and crispy, about 10 to 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and pancetta pieces to paper towels to drain. Add the potatoes and garlic to the pan. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the potatoes are golden and cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes. Add the thyme, cooked bacon and cooked pancetta to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer the potatoes to a large serving bowl and serve immediately.