Mediterranean Salmon @MaddieDayAuthor #ValentinesDay

MADDIE DAY here. If you remember from last month, my Hugh is on a no-sugar regime. Normally I would make him a rich, decadent, chocolate treat for Valentines Day - which doubles as our anniversary! But not this year. 

Instead, I got a lovely piece of pretty pink salmon and invented a tasty recipe that came out tasting like something from Spain or Portugal. 

 

Mediterranean Salmon

This easy dish is a perfect love meal to serve for your Valentine and yourself – or just yourself!

Ingredients

(Because I was making this dish up as I went, I neglected to show the olive oil, salt, pepper, and pesto in the photograph.)

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 potatoes, thinly sliced

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1 pound salmon filet, preferably skinned

1 tablespoon basil pesto

4 small tomatoes, sliced

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup white wine

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. 

Oil the bottom of a 9” x 11” pan. Layer in the onions and then the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil generously over top. 

Bake uncovered for ten minutes and remove from oven.

Spread salmon top with pesto. 

Lay salmon on top of potatoes. Add tomatoes around the edges and sprinkle with parsley. 

Pour on the wine. Seal tightly with foil and bake another twenty minutes.

Note: Alternatively, you can separate all ingredients into two or three double-foil packets with the same layers and bake with the foil well sealed.

Test salmon and potatoes for doneness. 

Serve hot with a green salad and more white wine.

Readers: what meal do you like to make - or order out - for a special person in your life?

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Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Mediterranean Fish

by Sheila Connolly

It occurs to me that recently I've been giving you quite a few recipes that use a lot of butter.  Did I mention I love butter?  Blame two grandfathers who were dairy farmers—it must be in the genes. But I still feel guilty, so here is a dish that is actually healthy, at least in comparison.

My husband and I usually eat fresh fish at least once a week.  Half the time it's salmon (all right, farm-raised); otherwise we choose whatever is caught in the U.S. and never frozen.  That varies from week to week.  This recipe will work with any firm-fleshed white fish.  It's very loosely based on a Venetian recipe from James McNair's Fish Cookbook (which has beautiful pictures by the author).

Mediterranean Fish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Fresh white fish filets (we usually estimate a half-pound per person)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the spices and rub them well into the fish filets.  Let the fish sit while you prepare the other ingredients.

¼ cup olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed

1 Tblsp granulated sugar

½ cup red wine vinegar (you may use lemon juice if you prefer)

1 ½ cups red wine

2 cups chopped, peeled tomatoes (canned are fine)

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil.  Add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat until they are golden (do not burn!), about ten minutes.  Add the sugar, stir, and cook for another minute.

Stir in the vinegar, wine and tomatoes.  You can add some more cumin, coriander and oregano if you like.  Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and cook until the sauce is almost thick enough to hold its shape—this may take up to 45 minutes (keep an eye on it so it doesn't stick).  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Dip the fish filets in flour (shake off the excess).  In a saute pan, sauté the fish filets until they are lightly browned, turning once.  Do not overcook!

Place the fish filets in a greased pan and distribute the sauce over them.  Cook in the preheated oven 15-20 minutes, just to let the ingredients blend.

When you are serving, arrange the filets on a plate, spoon some sauce over them, and, if you like, sprinkle with crumbled feta or goat cheese.  The creaminess of the cheese offsets the tartness of the vinegar-based sauce.