Green Bean Salad

This was my lunch three days in a row. And it felt great. Tasty with a zing and a pow. Maybe zing isn’t, exactly, the right word. But it’s good. And I will come back to this dish over and over again. Forever and ever.

If you currently don’t like onions, this dish could change your life permanently. It’s that powerful.

Green Bean Salad 
1 lb haricot verts
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 T lemon juice
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 T kosher salt
1 1/2 t Demarara sugar

Whisk cider, sugar, lemon juice, and salt together in a large bowl. Add thinly sliced onions and set aside. The longer the onions marinate, the better. At the very least, let the onions hang out about 45 minutes.

While the onions marinate, boil two and a half quarts of water. Add the green beans and allow to boil for about three minutes until they’re crisp-tender. Drain. Add to cold bath. Drain again. Pat dry.

Add green beans and celery to pickled onions. Add fork.

Simpler Salmon

I’ve talked to you about salmon before. I really like it. A lot. This uses the same marinade, but a different method. Let’s go!

Pour equal parts orange juice and soy sauce.

In a medium to large sized bowl, mix two parts each of orange juice and soy sauce to one part brown sugar (light or dark is fine here). Mix well. Put salmon into the marinade so that as much of the salmon is immersed as possible.

Let marinate for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a roasting pan, place the marinated salmon and pour the marinade over and around the salmons.

Then, cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the salmon is fork flaky.

Enjoy. Again and again.

 

Undeniable Salmon

Super Simple Salmon. Sensational Salmon. Salivation-inducing Salmon.

All of these options for post titles ran through my head but none of them made the cut, because it’s morning; I haven’t gotten my coffee yet; and alliteration seems like the wrong direction to go.

How do you feel about salmon? About most fish? I want to know, because it was only about three years ago that I learned to love and adore salmon with all the adoration it deserves.

I made up the sauce myself a few years ago then discovered that it’s actually a pretty common combination, but still feel very proud of this recipe. Here you are.

Salmon

Sauce
1 part soy sauce
1 part brown sugar
2 parts orange juice

This sauce can act as a marinade or … sauce. For marinade usage:: place salmon in flat-bottom container. Pour marinade over fish. Seal (with plastic wrap or container cover). Let marinate in refrigerator for two to many more hours.

Then take out and either stove top cook it or place it in the oven.

For oven preparation: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook skin side down for 25 to 30 minutes, basting it with the sauce about halfway through cooking. Check for doneness by making sure the salmon is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

For stove top preparation: Place sauce into a saute pan. Heat (medium heat) the sauce for a couple of minutes. Place salmon in the pan skinside up.

Allow to cook and bubble for about 3 minutes.

Turn over and cook another 5 minutes or until the sauce becomes thick and starts to caramelize.

Take the salmon off the heat. With the sauce. Turn the heat up to high.

This is how the cat will feel about that.

Then, this is the part where it doesn’t look very pretty but it’s totally worth it. Take the salmon which you lovingly set aside and place into the pan. Then, press down with a spatula (The industry of food products is now calling these “turners.”) until you break up the salmon into smaller pieces.

I said it wasn't pretty.

Allow the sauce and the salmon to sear and cook fully. Take it off the heat as soon as the salmon is opaque and flakes with a fork.

Make sure you have the above-stove fan on for this one.

And enjoy. Edamame or green beans accompany this well. Or a salad. Or just a plate.