Grilled Octopus

Hello World!

Sorry I have been M.I.A. Lots of great and amazing things have been happening but, unfortunately, I haven't had enough time to cook as much as I've wanted too. I will start to post about my other new hobby soon. This will be incorporated into many of these upcoming posts (I hope). :)

When we were in Greece three years ago, I tried octopus for the first time. It didn't look that appetizing as it was hanging to dry. In fact, I was mortified. But I didn't want to disappoint and tried it anyways.

Grilled octopus is now one of my favorites. I love it when it's grilled, with a little olive oil, salt and oregano. Octopus is crunchy on the outside and chewy inside. Trust me, it's very good.

So we tried making it at home.

We bought two baby octopus (already tenderized - be sure to ask your fish market). There are different ways to clean it, but we just kept the tentacles on. Then we boiled it in hot water for about 30 minutes to get it most tender. After, we threw the octopus on the grill, five minutes on each side and tossed it with olive oil, oregano, salt and some lemon. Paired with white wine, we were pretty much in Greece.

Lobster Roll

I saw this on the Food Network and have been craving to make it! Steve thought it tasted exotic!

It was a very easy, quick and light dinner.
I think I would have used more lobster though. Maybe after the recession ;)

Ingredients

• 1 cup Greek yogurt or plain
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons green onion
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 hotdog buns
• Salt and pepper to taste
• **2 lobster tails

** I used 1 lobster tail.

I bought frozen lobster tail yesterday and thawed it over night in the fridge. Today, I steamed it for about 7 min until the tail curled.

In the meantime, I mixed the yogurt, mayo, celery, green onion, lemon juice and salt and pepper together.

Once the lobster was done, I chopped up into fine pieces and folded it into the above mix.

I toasted the bread, spread the mix on and served with some tomatoes on the side.

"Lobster roll"http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/lobster-roll-recipe/index.html March 2009.

Baked Maple Dijon Salmon with Tomato Rice Salad

I am definitely not a picky eater, but for the longest time, I did not like salmon. But I kept on trying it because it looks so beautiful and appetizing on a plate. One night we went to our friends' Sam and Jeff's house for dinner and Jeff cooked maple glazed salmon on the BBQ. I loved the sweet maple taste and found it toned down the strong flavour of the salmon. Amanda still laughs at me for this because when I was at her house for a bbq one summer, I poured maple syrup all over the beautiful salmon she made. Luckily the taste of salmon has grown on me a little more and I won't have to drench it in maple syrup. Here's a more sophisticated way to eat salmon with maple syrup. It's super quick and easy too!



Baked Maple Dijon Salmon

Ingredients
2 fillets salmon
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
sesame seeds

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Lay salmon on foil lined baking sheet skin side down.
Mix Dijon mustard, maple syrup and soy sauce together in a small bowl and brush mixture over salmon.
Sprinkle with pepper and sesame seeds.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until salmon is cooked through.

Tomato Mushroom and Rice Salad

Ingredients
2 cups leftover cooked rice
6 small button mushrooms diced
1 tomato diced
2 tbsp minced onion
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dill
salt and pepper

Directions
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. (If it has the chance to rest in the fridge for a little bit, all the better.) Serve alongside baked salmon. Enjoy!

Baked Salmon with Vegetables in parchment paper or Salmon en papillote

Look familar.. :)

Thank you Kimmeh for showing me this wonderful recipe on one of the most memorable nights of my life.

This dish will always remind me of that and for that I feel grateful. I felt nostalgic making this tonight and missed you.

xoxoxo


For my dish:

Ingredients:

• 2 salmon fillets
• 1 red pepper julienned
• 1 yellow pepper julienned
• 1 cup of sugar snap peas
• 1 cup of asparagus spears
• Lemon slices
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

You can also add onion too.

To cook:

• Preheat oven to 400f
• Lay two large sheets of parchment paper on a baking sheet and place salmon in the centre.
• Arrange vegetables around the salmon, creating a square.
• Top with lemon slices, olive oil and salt and pepper
• Fold up sides of paper to make a package
• Cook for 20 minutes, depending on thickness of fish. You'll know its done because the packages gets puffy and brown.

Creamy orzo (sans creme)

My secret ingredient with cooking orzo is leaving the pasta water in! By not draining it and leaving the orzo once you turn the heat off, the orzo sucks up all the water and becomes so creamy!

So, cook the orzo, turn off the heat, leave it in the pot for about 10 minutes and you are guaranteed creamy goodness!!