Halibut with Pea Puree, Herb Butter and Sauteed Vegetables

This was one of those times where I made up a recipe on the fly, and it turned into something restaurant-esque. Very pleased with this dinner.

Gravlax (Graflax)

This was one of my contributions for ladiez brunch and I was really happy with it. It’s easy, but time consuming. I used a recipe that I got from our Eater in the Embassy series (from an Icelandic diplomat) with a bit of adaptation – I halved the recipe, as I didn’t have the money for 4 pounds of salmon. I also added sugar, because although he defined “graflax” as involving a cure of both salt and sugar, the recipe he sent only had salt. The results had great texture and were a big hit.

Pan Bagnat

I’ve always wanted to make this, and given I had leftover tuna, roasted vegetables, etc. this week, it seemed like a good opportunity. It’s basically salad nicoise on a sandwich. I love sandwich recipes that get better overnight.

Southwestern Salad with Tuna

Threw this salad together kind of impromptu. Turns out corn nuts make for a pretty fun crouton. This is a little labor intensive, but is easy to put together if you do the steps in batches as I did.

Salmon and Guacamole Wraps

Technically this is a sandwich recipe, out of one of my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. But I adjusted it to make it into a lettuce wrap, as we will not be having ciabatta rolls this month. The results are a little unwieldy but very tasty. And if you’re eating bread? Feel free to add it.

Meat In A Box-Inspired Salmon Kebabs

Meat In A Box is this yummy kebab place by our house. Awesome name, right? I almost always order either the salmon kebabs or the salmon salad (pretty much the same thing on a bed of greens), and I love it. Though I knew I wouldn’t get to eat it with pita bread, I figured trying to recreate this dish would make for a good low carb dinner, and this turned out really great. One of my favorite salmon preparations in recent memory. Pictured with tomatoes and avocado tossed with red wine vinegar.

WW Baja-Style Fish (and Chicken) Tacos

This was quite successful, even if the fish we got wasn’t great. I ended up making half a batch with chicken, and half with fish because I ran out of the latter. But we liked both styles – the coating and toppings make the chicken tacos seem fish-taco esque.

Grouper (or Rockfish) Braised in Beer with Chanterelles

I got this recipe out of the “Two for Tonight” cookbook. Couldn’t find grouper so went with rockfish. I remember I made a mistake in the recipe to cause there to be an excess amount of sauce, but now can’t remember the mistake. Oops! But you can read the original recipe here. Very delicate and tasty. I had to trim a whole fish into filets, which could have went better.

Pan-fried plaice with lemon and capers

A delicious recipe from one of my Spanish cookbooks. Plus, a chance to cook with plaice, a new type of fish (to me, anyway).

Salmon with Anchovy Herb Butter

A great, and fairly easy, savory salmon recipe from one of my cookbooks. Pictured with vegetables cooked with Penzey’s Italian dressing base (surprisingly tasty), as well as Israeli couscous mixed with lemon, mint and feta.