Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce

Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce

Still catching up here. This recipe goes back to early summer when Jessica and her littles arrived, minus their dad who was traveling. We were looking for easy meals and this one checked all the boxes. Quick. Easy. Delicious. And it was flavors that Jessica would never do at home. We have to be real and acknowledge food dislikes when cooking for a family. Lucky for her, in our house we LIKE lemon and dill!

I'm including the baking directions for the salmon, but this is really all about the sauce. You can prepare the salmon filets by your favorite method. Bake it. Grill it. Air fry it. Next on my "to try" list is cooking them in the air fryer. We'll see how that goes.

BAKED SALMON with EASY LEMON DILL SAUCE

4 (6-oz) salmon fillets 

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Lemon Dill Sauce:

1/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1 tablespoon milk--any kind is fine, including non-dairy options

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

1-1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

1/2 tablespoon lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

If salmon is especially cold, let it rest at room temp for 15 to 20 minutes. Blot salmon dry with paper towels.

Preheat oven to 400º. Place salmon in a baking dish or on baking sheet, skin side down. Drizzle olive oil over tops of filets. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until salmon is opaque and flaky with pulled apart with a fork.

While salmon is baking, combine all sauce ingredients. Whish until well blended.

Serve baked salmon with your favorite green vegetable. Top each filet with the lemon dill sauce and a sprinkle of fresh finely chopped dill or parsley.

To make our meal even easier, we zapped a pouch of rice in the microwave. I don't remember now which kind we used, but there are so many choices of rice and grains and rice/grain blends on the shelf. I don't use these products often, but every now and then they fill a need.

 

Summer Round-Up (Part 3) plus Recipe Round-Up

No Knead Market Style Cheese & Herb Bread

By the time I am at part 3 of what's happened at the farm as summer winds down, the photos are few and far between. We have loved seeing these kiddos that we don't so often during the school year. But just as summer is winding down, so is Mimi. Might be running out of steam.

But I need to share a few recipes before I lose the printed copy or totally forget where I saw it on the internet. The bread you see above is a variation of the no knead bread I've been making for a long time. A good variation. In addition adding the cheese and herb layers, the recipe directions are slightly different. And for once, I did it just as written. The recipe is at the end of the post.  And there are a couple of other super easy recipes mixed in between.

"Pretend" knitting—but the concentration is real.

(Fortunately the tattoo is not.)

Chatting man to man.

The kids (all ages) made juice popsicles all summer.

Then I made some grownup popsicles.

WHITE WINE SANGRIA POPS

1/4 cup thinly sliced strawberries (I used cherry plums)

1/4 cup raspberries

1/4 cup blackberries (cut in half if large)

1 cup moscato wine

1/4 cup orange juice

Divide fruit between popsicle molds. (My set made four.)

Mix wine and orange juice and pour over fruit, leaving room at top

for popsicles to expand. Add handles and freeze.

(1 WW point if your mold set makes 6 pops, 2 WW points if you made 4 pops.)

Time will tell if his love of music lasts.

She graduated to training wheels!

Zero WW point dip.

Mix 1/2 cup of fat-free cottage cheese and 1-1/2 tsp

Everything But the Bagel seasoning. 

A 13th birthday celebration for "Middle Sister."

I cannot in good conscience call her Little Sister any longer.

This is ridiculously good. 

NO KNEAD MARKET STYLE CHEESE & HERB BREAD

3 cups all-purpose flour (I stick to the Kind Arthur brand.)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 

1-1/2 cup warm water (95º to 105º)

1-1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup - 1/3 cup fresh chives, thinly cut

1 teaspoon dried thyme, or to taste

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and yeast. (Use the scoop-and-level measure method.) Pour in warm water and mix thoroughly. Dough will be sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for 3 to 18 hours. 

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 450º. Place a dutch oven in the hot oven to preheat the pot. Let the dutch oven preheat for about 30 minutes while you continue with the dough prep. Use extra flour to flour your work surface and your hands. Use a spatula to slide dough out onto floured surface. Flatten dough, then fold dough over on itself 4 times. Layer the cheese and herbs into each fold.

Form dough into a tight ball and place on the center of a parchment baking sheet. Use the parchment to move the dough back into the mixing bowl. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Take your pot from the oven and carefully remove lid. Use the parchment corners to put dough into hot Dutch oven. Use a very sharp knife and slice the top of dough to release steam. Replace cover on Dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, remove top of the Dutch oven and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown.

Remove from oven and remove bread from pot. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing. 

I still have a few more recipes to share, so check back later. We really didn't cook a lot this summer, but we did try several new recipes that we liked. 

 

Summer Round-Up (Part 2)

Strawberry shortcake
(see recipe below)

We enjoyed all the grandchildren here this summer. Both sets have been here more than once and there was some overlap. My photos are in no way chronological. I couldn't keep up. But I've hit the highlights. 

 

Front yard fun.

Jamming with the grands.

Cousin time.

More time with cousins.

(The oldest of the five graduated from college and has moved!

We miss her but glad she found her first job.)

July 4th dessert. Make this! It's so good. 

Little Sister (who is almost 13 now) made this treat.

Use scissors to cut up marshmallows for the skewers.

Lake girl.

Champion!

Summer lake days.

Boating and swimming.

Rainy day lake poetry.

Mending Daddy-O's shirt.

She's got skills.

Farm time.

Driving lessons.

Learning to weave.

Finish a potholder and get a Popsicle.

Outside as much as possible.

She baked this all by herself.

A new recipe learned at her summer cooking camp.

 And we were the lucky taste testers.

After attending a summer cooking camp, not-so-Little Sister recreated some of those recipes for us during their early summer visit to the farm. Luckily for us, it was still strawberry season here.

CLASSIC STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE (makes 8)

2 (16-oz) containers of fresh strawberries, quartered

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup cold butter, cut up

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 (8-oz) container sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Cover berry mixture and let stand.

Beat whipping cream at medium speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add 2 tablespoon sugar, beating until soft peaks form.

Combine flour, remaining 1/4 cup sugar and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender (or two forks) until crumbly.

Whisk together eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

Drop dough by 1/3 cup portions onto lightly greased baking sheet. (Coat cup with cooking spray after each drop.)

Bake at 450º for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden.

Split shortcakes in half horizontally. Spoon about 1/2 cup berry mixture onto each shortcake bottom. Top each with a rounded tablespoon of chilled whipped cream and cover with tops.

Serve with remaining whipped cream.

There was some serious effort in this recipe. So happy that she (and both of her sisters) love to cook.