Breakfast Froyo!!!!

One of my current jobs this school year is a cashier at a frozen yogurt bar next to my apartment. My boss is awesome and lets all of us lucky employees have as much free froyo as we want. I think he realizes that we don't actually eat that much.... Smart move... 

Well, one day I was opening the shop which happens at noon and I decided that I was going to make an awesome brunch froyo cup for myself. I like to think I'm kind of brilliant just for this one. 

I layered the cup with cheerios then banana slices that I brought to work with me. Then I added strawberries and a little vanilla custard. I repeated this of course, and since it's me and froyo I topped my cup with rainbow sprinkles. 

CEREAL BRUNCH CUPPPPP!!!! I'm so smart.    

Poached Salmon

I'm not a huge fan of Salmon. I know, I'm crazy. But this poached salmon in a cream sauce was beyond good (I think it was the cream that made me like it..) Honestly... these fish dishes are fast. I like them.

What we did to poach the salmon was place about an 8oz piece of salmon in a pan with 1.5 cups of water, 1tbsp of lemon juice, 1tbsp minced onion, a peppercorn, a parsley sprig, and a bay leaf and covered it. We heated up the pan to around 160 or 180 degrees and let the fish cook for about 5minutes. We took the salmon out of the pan then added heavy cream, white wine vinegar, and white wine to the pan and reduced it all to create the sauce. (My professor eyeballed the amount of liquid so I have no idea how much was used). We topped the fish with the  sauce then sprinkled on paprika and served. 

I'm telling you, the cream was so good. The fish was perfect and everything was pretty quick and easy. It made me actually like eating the salmon. I'm ready to go to restaurants and try some more! 

Fish (Halibut) en Papilloute

That's right! I got to cook fish in parchment paper. It was so cool! 

I've seen this technique before but I've never actually done it, and turns out - it's super easy! 

We had a lot of Halibut so we decided we would use that which worked out fine. We cut a giant heart out of parchment paper (apparently some of the boys had difficulties with that part while it seemed perfectly logical to just about all of the girls in class...). We rubbed half of the heart with butter and oil to coat it, layered julienne strips of red pepper, carrots, celery, and zucchini near the center of the half. we placed the raw halibut fillet on top of these vegetables. Sprinkled around strips of leeks, then topped the fish with 3 or 4 rounds of jalapeño and then lemon slices. Then we just folded the paper over and then folded the edges together tightly. We baked the envelopes at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Then there was the great unveiling! We cut open the paper pouches and the halibut was perfect and flakey! it was so simple I can't believe it. Why doesn't everyone steam fish like this? 

Braised Balsamic Steak

What's great about this dish is that it's one of those things that you start, then you walk away for an hour while it cooks. Read a book (if people still do that.. ) or something.

We started off with a 3lb cut of thick cut of beef (Chuck roast or Sirloin or something). We rinsed it quickly with water then pat it dry. We dredged it in seasoned flour then quickly seared it in a pan with 2tbs of smoking hot basing oil. Once all sides were nice and brown we took it out of the pan and set it aside. 

We turned down the heat, then added 4 large minced shallots and 4 tbsp of sundried tomato paste and sauteed them until they started turning golden brown. We deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of dark red wine, then once it started boiling we added 1 1/2 cups of beef stock and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. We brought up the heat a little, added the beef back into the pan, and covered it with a lid to simmer for an hour. I made sure to flip it every 20 or so minutes but besides that, it stays on the stove simmering with the lid on. 

After an hour the liquid in the pan was reduced nicely, we pulled the meat out, and let it rest for 7ish minutes before cutting into it. Its good meat. With a side of rice or mashed potatoes, this stuff soars. 

Roasted Baby Potatoes

When we made the rack of lamb we had some time to make roasted potatoes also! Of course I ate all of them in class so when I got home later with left over lamb I wanted to make more potatoes. 

I think I have a potato addiction or sorts... 

Anyways, I went to the grocery store (shout out to Wegmans!) and found a cool bag of mixed baby potatoes (yellow, red, and purple) I decided to try. I got home, quartered the potatoes, and coated them in olive oil, rosemary, salt and I think some thyme (I just raided my pantry for spices and didn't think too much about it). 

I threw them in a 400 degree oven for I believe 40minutes. Then proceeded to sit on the kitchen counter and eat half of them while doing homework. Not even a little bit sorry. If I gave up potatoes, I would probably drop so much weight but man would I be sad.