I like most vegetables and like to try different ways to prepare them. While I’ve always been a fan of cauliflower, there are many people who shy away from it. I suspect this is because they’ve always had it boiled, steamed, or raw, which while appealing to some, doesn’t bring out much depth of flavor. So after reading Michael Ruhlman’s post about roasted cauliflower I’d been anxious to try it. I picked up a nice, fresh head at the West Side Market and told Renée what I intended to do with it.  She was nonplussed. “I don’t really like cauliflower,”" she said, “so do what you want because I probably won’t have any.” Knowing how she appreciates good food, I remained confident.

Here’s all you need:

Preheat your oven to 425˚F/220˚C. Cut the stem off the cauliflower as close to the base as possible and remove any leaves. Rub oil all over the cauliflower. Put the cauliflower in an oven-proof skillet. Slide the pan into the oven and roast the cauliflower for 45 minutes. Remove it from the oven and smear the soft butter over the surface. Sprinkle with a four-finger pinch of salt.  Roast the cauliflower for another 30 to 45 minutes, basting it several times with the butter, which will have browned.  The cauliflower in the picture was roasted a total of 60 minutes. It’s done when you can insert a paring knife into it and feel no resistance. It should be completely tender.

As it roasted Renée commented how good it smelled. And it did. I had to step outside to clean the snow off Ali’s car before she left for the evening and when I walked back into the kitchen the aroma of the roasting cauliflower teased my taste buds. I couldn’t wait to try it! It was tender throughout but the browned outside edges and the bottom had a bit of a crunch that made the overall texture really terrific. The browned butter and salt were the perfect companions.

I gave Renée a little taste and she immediately went back for more. “Seriously, I don’t even like cauliflower,” she said, “but this is really good. I think if you salted and buttered anything I would eat it. And you can quote me on that.”

Thanks, honey; I just did.

Proper grammar notwithstanding, I know you’re thinking, ” Hey, Paul is dead right; there AREN’T enough songs about squash!” But before you waste a portion of your day trying to scratch out some lyrics for “The  Crookneck Squash Blues”, you might want to take a listen to this song by Australian singer/songwriter Darren Hanlon. Sadly, it’s about the other type of squash, the one that involves a racquet. Maybe if I send Darren some new lyrics he’ll do a version honoring the vegetable. One can only hope.

As for the cooking with squash, I’ve written about acorn and pattypan squash, and pumpkins before but with the wide variety of squash available year round and a plethora of great recipes for them, you can easily see the versatility of the squash family of vegetables.

It was our turn to host dinner club last night and the theme was “Fall Harvest”, so I decided to call on the acorn squash once again as our main dish and prepared Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash.  I liked this recipe because I thought the sweetness of the squash would pair very well with the spicy sausage. It was easy to prepare and was enjoyed by all. I tripled the recipe for dinner club, but here’s what you’ll need to prepare 4 servings:

Start your oven at least 15 minutes before you intend to use it and set it to 15 degrees below your intended temperature. This ensures that the interior of the oven will reach a uniform temperature. After you put your ingredients in the oven, turn it up to the proper temperature. Since you lose heat when you open the door, you can be sure that the oven will get up to temp quickly by jump starting the heating cycle yourself.

Combine the melted butter, garlic salt, and ground sage and brush it over the cut sides and cavity of the squash. Add salt and pepper to taste and bake in a large roasting pan, cut side up, at 400 degrees F for 1 hour or until squash is tender yet still holds its shape.

While the squash is baking, fry the pork until light brown then remove it to a strainer to drain. Keep 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pan and add the onions, celery, and mushrooms. Sauté about 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in the apples and sauté 2 more minutes.

Combine the pork, onions, celery, mushrooms, and apples with the breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Taste and season with the fresh sage, salt and pepper, then stir in the egg and 2 T fresh parsley.

Fill the squash halves with stuffing until slightly mounded. Return the squash to the over and bake, covered, for 20 more minutes, until the egg is set.  Top with shredded Romano cheese and garnish with the remainder of the parsley.

You may, like I did, have extra stuffing left over from this recipe. It goes really well in an egg scramble for breakfast and also would make a great filling for a savory breakfast pastry. I think it would also be delicious in turkey, chicken, or peppers.

Give it a try and let me know what you think! I’ll look for your music videos on YouTube.

If you can roast a chicken, you can serve dinner to anyone. It’s one of the basic cooking skills every self-respecting cook needs to have in his or her culinary toolbox. I saw this recipe on the Cook’s Illustrated site and wanted to try it. I’m always impressed with their tried and true methods; they’re simple, effective and they’re just good, solid food science. I added a twist or two of my own, too.

As part of the Chagrin Falls School District’s Bridge to the World Program, 15 students from Jeppe Boys High School in South Africa are visiting Chagrin Falls High School from September 20th to the 27th. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to host one of the Jeppe students, a charming and well-mannered young man named Christopher. I thought this dish would serve as a terrific example of American home cooking .

The Cook’s Illustrated technique has several things that are different from the standard roast chicken recipe:

Sounded good to me, so I went for it!

The Cook’s Illustrated recipe calls for a whole chicken, of course, but I’m using three large bone-in breasts and an 8-pack of drumsticks. The key to adapting the recipe is to pay attention to the temperature of the breasts as they roast. Here’s the original ingredients list:

In addition to the prepping the chicken as suggested below, I choose to brine my chicken parts using a variation of a brine from Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s Charcuterie: The Art of Salting, Smoking, and Curing consisting of water, kosher salt, sugar, bay leaves, garlic, black peppercorns, and rosemary. I’ve written about brining before and its virtues cannot be overstated. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked on the flavor and moistness it adds to your meats. Combine the brining ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar, then allow it to cool to room temperature then refrigerate until chilled. Add the chicken and place it back in the fridge for 8-12 hours for a 3-4 pound chicken. The parts I used required less brining time; about 2-3 hours.

Patting meat dry with paper towels before adding it to a hot pan ensures quick, flawless browning. Dry meat produces a crisp, dark, even sear and leaves behind a wonderfully flavorful golden fond that is the perfect base for pan sauces. Left wet, meat produces fond too quickly which burns and turns bitter before the meat finishes cooking leaving you no yummy goodness on which to base a sauce. The excess moisture remains trapped between the meat and the pan resulting in a softer sear than the dried meat.

To roast your chicken, adjust your oven rack to the middle position  and place a 12-inch ovensafe skillet on rack–I’m using a cast iron skillet–and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Meanwhile, combine the salt and pepper in bowl. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and rub the entire surface with oil. Sprinkle the salt mixture evenly over the chicken and rub it in to coat the chicken evenly. For a whole chicken, tie the legs together with twine and tuck the wing tips behind the back.

Transfer the chicken, breast side up, to the preheated skillet in the oven. Roast chicken until the breasts register 120 degrees and thighs register 135 degrees, about 25 to 35 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the chicken in the oven until the breasts register 160 degrees and the thighs register 175 degrees, about another 25 to 35 minutes.

Move the chicken to a carving board and let it rest, uncovered, for 20 minutes. While the chicken rests, prepare the suggested pan sauce below, if you decide to use it. Then, carve and serve.

I served my chicken with sautéed squash and onions. Simple and delicious!

• 6 medium summer squash, sliced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly or diced
• salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion and a little salt and cook over medium heat until just tender. Add the yellow squash and continue cooking over medium heat, stirring until squash begins to soften. Cover and continue cooking over low heat until nice and tender (usually about 20-25 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste.

What I Liked

As expected, the Cook’s Illustrated technique delivered flawlessly. The chicken cooked perfectly with a well-browned, somewhat crispy skin and was moist throughout. The seasoning combined with the light brining added a terrific flavor and finish to every bite. Plus, I love a recipe that cooks in a single pan! Coupled with the sautéed squash and onions it was a great meal that tasted like it took a lot longer to prepare. Cooking up all the pieces parts I had on hand means there’s another bonus: leftovers! And Christopher thoroughly enjoyed it!

What I Would Have Done Differently

Absolutely nothing. There are times, no matter how long you’ve been doing something, when you pause for just a moment to admire your own handiwork. As simple as this dish was to make, it was no less satisfying than more complex dishes I’ve prepared. So I’ve got that going for me. which is nice.

Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best
Excitable boy, they all said
And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he’s just an excitable boy
~Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy

The first day after turning the clocks back to standard time seems like a good day to make pot roast. Matt and I did some grocery shopping on Saturday and I picked up an English cut chuck shoulder roast for under $10.00. This boneless chuck section comes from the shoulder and neck of the beef, and is one of the most economical cuts you can buy. It’s also one of the most flavorful. There is a downside: these cuts tend to be tough and fatty, and the 7 bone cuts can have quite a bit of bone and gristle. (They’re called 7 bone because of the shape of the bone, which looks like a 7.) Perfect for low and slow cooking in a liquid, the typical chuck steak is rectangular and about 1″ thick.

This is a recipe based loosely on one found in my 1972 edition of James Beard’s American Cookery. The measurements are guesses because I just added ingredients as I went. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 t rosemary
• 3 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1 12 oz bottle of good craft beer (I used a Misery Bay IPA from Erie Brewing Company)
• 1/2 t coriander
• 3-4 medium potatoes cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 T vegetable oil

Begin by adding 1-2 T of oil to your Dutch oven and it over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes to get it nice and hot. While it’s heating up, mix some flour with salt and pepper in a Zip-loc bag big enough to hold your roast. Put the roast in and toss it to coat evenly with the flour mixture. Add the roast to the Dutch oven and brown on all sides. When it is well browned, remove it and set it aside. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until softened, then add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30-45 seconds. Add additional oil if necessary. Return the roast to the pan and add the liquid, herbs, and coriander. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 2 hours. Add the vegetables, cover, and continue to simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until you can pull the meat apart with two forks.  Remove bay leaf and serve.

This dish serves as a great example of how you can turn a lesser cut of meat into a terrific meal. It’s as comfortable as comfort food gets and like many dishes, it’s even better the next day. It freezes well, too, so don’t worry about leftovers.

Now put on a little Warren Zevon and get cooking! But please, just eat the pot roast.

The biggest events in the world of sports are often accompanied by great food. Among other things, I’ve made gumbo, finger food, and thrown together a pot of chili using no particular recipe. Chili is one of my favorite things to make because it’s easy to put together and, cooked low and slow, the longer you cook it the better is tastes. It’s also fun to make because the nuances of flavor you can get are subtle, deep, and unique. It’s no wonder that competitive chili cooks are so protective of their recipes.

After helping my friend Tim move a piano across state lines, his wife, Cami, treated us helpers to a terrific lunch of Swamp Club Chicken Chili. The recipe comes from the original owners of the Swamp Club, a restaurant/night club in the Cleveland suburb of Solon that enjoyed it’s biggest success in the 90′s. Over the years the same location was home to Eugene’s, Sapphire Grille, and Allure. The building is gone now, razed during development of new retail space, but this dish from the Swamp Club lives on.

Here are the ingredients:

Brown the ground chicken in the olive oil until it is no longer pink. Since the chicken contains very little fat, you may have to add  little more oil. Eye-ball it and add additional oil sparingly. The chicken will not separate as well as ground beef does, so if you want a fine-grained texture to the meat, use a pastry cutter or a large fork to break the chicken into smaller pieces. Once browned, remove the chicken to a mixing bowl, leaving as much liquid as you can in the pan. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté until soft, about five minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the chicken to the pot and add the remaining ingredients. Cook on low for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.  Serve over bow-tie pasta and top with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese.

Except for the pasta, I made this entirely in my 6 1/2 qt. Dutch oven. And since we were having friends over to watch part of the big game, I had to also keep the pasta fresh for a while. I did this by cooking it until it was slightly underdone, shaving 30 seconds to 1 minute off the recommended cooking time. I drained the pasta using a strainer and retained a few cups of the pasta water to put back into the original pot. Drizzled the cooked pasta with a little olive oil and tossed to coat to prevent the pasta from sticking. I then set the pasta-filled strainer on top of the original cooking pot, covered it, and set the heat to low so the water was just below a simmer. The small bit of steam from the heated water kept the pasta moist and warm without cooking it further. Just remember to keep checking the water so your pot doesn’t go dry.

What I like about this recipe is that it offers traditional chili flavors with a southwestern/Cincinnati chili influence. The textures offered by the main ingredients and the contrast of the pasta differentiate this chili from the norm. The heat is just right, noticeable, but not overpowering, and the coriander adds that little extra something that you can’t quite define but are glad to enjoy. And like most one-pot dishes, it was even better the next day.

Got a favorite chili recipe? I’d love to hear about it!

Rub your temples, immerse yourself in thought, and marinate on this: The best way to impart amazing flavor to your food is to do stuff to it before you cook it.  The list of stuff you can do includes three of the most common methods to boost flavor: marinating, rubs, and brining. While you can marinate with a brine, you can’t brine with a marinade. If that rubs you the wrong way, break out your spices and rub that confusion into submission. Capisce?

Let Me Marinade You

Most of us have marinated food before cooking at one time or another, usually in the refrigerator, and your local supermarket likely contains many varieties from which to choose. In recent years many salad dressing makers have branched out into the marinade category after realizing that their dressings were being used as marinades.

In addition to imparting flavor, most marinades claim to tenderize as well. And while most marinades contain some acid ingredients–usually vinegar, wine, or citrus juice–that can dissolve proteins, they don’t do much beyond the surface of the food. (Most wet and dry tenderizers are based on enzymes of the papaya and are grandchildren of the late 1940′s commercial tenderizers that used papaya enzyme.) They do help add salty, sweet, acidic, and spicy flavors which contribute very well to overall enjoyment.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Rubs get flavors onto meats quickly. Meats with lots of surface area like flank steak, chicken breasts, and tuna steaks are good candidates. Rubs are fast and don’t add much rep time when cooking, so if you get a little last minute inspiration, you can use a pre-packaged rub or mix up one of your own if you have the right spices handy.

Rubs, as the name implies, are not simply sprinkled on top like seasonings. They’re meant to be worked into the meat thoroughly. Remember the scrub you used to get from mom after playing in the mud? You’ve got to get into all those nooks and crannies if your rub is going to do its job. Because most commercial rubs contain salt, your initial application of a rub, when left to rest for a few minutes, will pull moisture to the surface, enabling you to apply a second, third, or fourth layer.

Rubs are food-specific in flavor and texture; you wouldn’t use the same rub on chicken as you would on pork or tuna. Take a look at some commercial rubs to get ideas for what to include in your homemade versions. As always, your palate may vary.

Brine, Women, and Song

In I’m Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0, Alton Brown nails it: “Had Shakespeare chosen to reach for a culinary metaphor in his love sonnets, brining would have been the one. Brining is a wonderful thing because it’s invisible. You brine a piece of meat, cook it, cut it, serve it, and everybody tastes it and exclaims in disbelief, “Man, this is great meat. You’re a genius!” Learn to brine pork and poultry and soon you’ll be clearing room on your mantle for that Nobel Prize in cooking.” My mantle awaits.

Brines are mostly salt and sugar dissolved in water.  Add a few herbs and spices and you’ve got a magic elixir that will amaze your taste buds and change the way you cook forever.

The effectiveness of brines is simple, really. Chemistry tells us that osmotic forces enable water to flow with relative ease throughout meat. Salt a steak before cooking and you’ll see how it pulls water from the cells to the surface. Because the cells in the meat are always seeking balance, the salt on the surface needs to be balanced with the salt inside, so water is pumped out. We can use that to our advantage to pump water in, too.  If our brine is on the salty side(about 5% solution), the cells will seek to balance the salt content on the inside and will pull the salty water into the interior of the meat. The result is nicely seasoned meat that is also plump full of water. And because other flavorings are water-soluble (sugar, herbs, and spices), they’ll tag along with our salt water to add even more flavor. The salt solution traps water and flavorings in the meat and retains it during cooking resulting in juicier meats that are also harder to overcook.

The Basic Brine

I’ve used several brines with great effectiveness. A basic all-purpose brine recommended by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn in Charcuterie consists of the following:

When brining a whole turkey, I added the following to the basic brine:

The roasted turkey was so juicy and flavorful it was hard to tell the white meat from the dark meat. It was even better the next day. I was floored by the difference brining made in the flavor, texture, and moisture that permeated the turkey. Even after resting for 30 minutes, the breast meat slices were dripping as I carved. I took some to my mom’s house and made everyone taste it. What can I say; I was excited!

For a pork roast, I used one of Alton’s brines:

The roast had just a hint of citrus flavor and was buttery in texture all the way through. I never tasted a pork roast like it. Like the turkey, the pork was extremely juicy and the flavors and textures were surprising with every bite.

Brining Times

Leave a piece of meat in a brine for too long and it will be too salty, so when in doubt, cut brining time short. Make sure you give the brine time to work and the brined meat time to rest before cooking or all your effort will be lost. Here, from Charcuterie, is a general guideline on brining times:

Some general brining tips:

WHY stand we gazing on the sparkling Brine,
with wonder smit by its transparency,
And all-enraptured with its purity?
Because the unstained, the clear, the crystalline,
Have ever in them something of benign;
Whether in gem, in water, or in sky,
A sleeping infant’s brow, or wakeful eye
Of a young maiden, only not divine.
Scarcely the hand forbears to dip its palm
For beverage drawn as from a mountain-well;
Temptation centres in the liquid Calm;
Our daily raiment seems no obstacle
To instantaneous plunging in, deep Sea!
And revelling in long embrace with thee.
~William Wordsworth – 1833

I’m not sure if it’s poetic justice or just a cruel twist of fate that the return of my cooking blog begins with a post about SPAM.  Depending on who you ask, it’s either loved, hated, or looked upon with indifference.

The first can of SPAM Classic was produced in 1937 in Austin, Minnesota, and 73 years and 7 billion cans later, it’s still going strong.  SPAM is particularly popular in Hawaii–where it has been dubbed “The Hawaiian Steak”–as well as in the territories if Guam and the Commonwealth of the Norther Mariana Islands. SPAM celebrations are held across the country in small local festivals and events known as Spam Jam and Spamarama. There is SPAM Classic, Honey SPAM, SPAM with Bacon, and Hot and Spicy SPAM. Through the years the virtues of SPAM have been sung by Edward R. Murrow, Gracie Allen, Dwight Eisenhower, and Margaret Thatcher, and of course, Monty Python. There is a SPAM Museum and a SPAMMobile.

Any way you look at it, SPAM is prolific–almost as prolific as that annoying stuff that shows up in your email inbox–and it deserves a mention as a cooking ingredient. Especially when it’s the central ingredient in a cook-off help annually at theFraternal Order of Eagles in Chagrin Falls.

And so it was that on this fine day I spent the late morning preparing my entry for the contest – Spicy Baked Ziti with Crumbles SPAM. Based my concoction on a recipe for Baked Ziti with Crumbles Italian Sausage found in Cover & Bake. Having entered this contest in the past, I had a good idea of the different kinds of dishes that would be submitted, and I not only wanted to prominently feature the main ingredient, I wanted to make something that I’d want to eat.

Here are the ingredients from the original recipe:

Here are my additions and substitutions:

I began by pre-heating my oven to 400 degrees and putting a pot of water on to cook the pasta. I also got a skillet heating to brown the SPAM. While I waited for the oven, water, and skillet, I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

Since the original recipe called for the sausage to be removed from its casing and browned, I wanted the SPAM to be as close as possible to the consistency of the sausage, so I first diced it into 1/4 inch cubes. Then I used a potato masher to make it look more like ground meat. I also peeled and minced my garlic, picked some fresh basil from the plant I still have from last summer and got my seasonings ready to go.

Once my water reached a boil I added about 2 T of salt along with the pasta. That might sound like a lot of salt, but pasta water should taste like the sea; it’s the easiest way to impart flavor to your pasta and you’ll notice the difference in the finished dish. The Ziti normally takes about ten minutes to cook al dente, but since this dish finishes in the oven, I wanted the pasta to be slightly underdone before it went in the oven, so I set my timer for nine. When the pasta was done, I drained it, reserving about 1/4 cup of the water and added it back to the pot where I tossed it with 1 T of olive oil.

Meanwhile, I added 1 T of olive oil to my hot pan and when it began to shimmer, added the mashed SPAM. I cooked it until it started to brown, which took longer than it would it I had used the sausage. Once I obtained the brown I was looking for, I added the

Coriander, Cumin, and Cinnamon to taste. (These three spices–especially the Coriander and Cinnamon, used in very small quantities–can add amazing flavors to many dishes. They add and enhance flavors that you won’t be able to immediately recognize, you’ll just know it tastes good.) The garlic and red pepper are next, cooked until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then, the tomatoes go in, simmering for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Finally, stir in the basil off the heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the tomato sauce and reserved pasta water to the pasta and stir to combine. Pour half of the pasta into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan. Add the remaining pasta and top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake until the cheese

melts, about 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the cheese begins to brown, about 5 minutes more.

I enjoyed putting this dish together and it turned out tasting very good. My competition included Chocolate Covered SPAM, Italian Wedding Soup with SPAM Meatballs, SPAM Corn Chowder, SPAM Sliders, SPAM Baked Beans, SPAM Carbonara, and SPAM Deviled Eggs, among other dishes. But alas, I did not win, didn’t even place in the top 5. Oh well, there’s always next year. At least I have half a dish of pasta to eat. And some leftover SPAM.

Last weekend, the farmer’s market yielded some beautiful pattypan squash. I hadn’t eaten them before but the way they were described to me, they sounded like something I would like; zucchini-like but with a nuttier flavor. I’m all for nuttier food.

Pattypan are easy to cook. They can be roasted, baked, sauteed, steamed, or stuffed.

I trimmed the ends, cubed them and sauteed them in some butter and garlic until browned, then added a few cubes of frozen stock for a little additional flavoring. A little coriander, a little salt and pepper, a sprinkle of fresh parsley and a dash of soy sauce later and we had ourselves a tasty treat!

When the cold and snow seems like it will never end, sometimes you just don’t feel well. First I had it, then Renée got it. Her doctor called it the “Creeping Crud” and said, since it was viral, there was nothing to do but wait it out. She’d been feeling lousy for over a week, so I thought little homemade chicken soup might make her feel better.

I had lots of frozen chicken stock on hand, along with carrots, leeks, mushrooms, green onions, parsley, and some frozen chicken pieces left over from the last time I made stock. I cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and browned it in a little butter in a dutch oven. After removing the chicken, I added a little more butter and tossed in the vegetables along with some kosher salt and a little fresh ground pepper. When those were browned and tender, I deglazed with a little white wine before adding the defrosted chicken stock. I seasoned again and added the chicken pieces. Then I added Ditalini pasta and brought it to a boil, then reduced it to a simmer and let it cook for about 10 minutes before adding about 3/4 cup of heavy cream to give it some body and smoothness.

Some people cook their pasta before adding it to the soup. I like thicker, hearty soups, so I like to cook it in the soup so that the pasta  absorbs all the flavors of the broth. I can always add more stock later if it gets too thick.

Here’s what it looked like the next day:

Yup, sometimes, some good home cookin’ is all you need for what ails you. Sometimes, you just need a nap.

This morning I was fortunate to have an opportunity to do a cooking segment on Fox 8 Cleveland’s “That’s Life with Robin Swoboda“. The segment was a “Dads Who Cook” spotlight focused on making something quick, easy, and delicious for Valentine’s Day. First off, I want to thank everyone from That’s Life. I’d never done a cooking demo on television before, but they all made it easy and fun!

The segment was 4 1/2 minutes, so I had to prepare something that could easily be demonstrated beginning to end in that time frame. I had to show how to assemble the dish, plus have a finished dish ready. I had all my mise en place done and a prepared dish ready to go in the microwave when I got to the studio. It cooked while Robin and I talked about the recipe.

As I mentioned in my Sunday in the Kitchen post, I chose a salmon dish called Salmon en Papillote.  En papillote means “in the paper”, which means this dish is cooked inside a parchment paper pouch. It’s akin to cooking fish on the grill inside an aluminum pouch, except we’re using parchment. There are several things that are great about this method of cooking:

1. It combines the techniques of baking, braising, and steaming to thoroughly cook your ingredients while extracting flavorful juices that bring the ingredients together. The salmon will be tender and the vegetables will be crisp.
2. It’s fast. Start to finish, you can prepare this dish in under 30 minutes.
3. The clean up is minimal. Since the dish is prepared and cooked in the pouch, you can cook and serve on the same plate.

Here’s the recipe (this is per serving, so double quantities to serve for 2):

Begin with a 15″ x 30″ piece of parchment paper and fold in 1/2 like a book. Cut out a large half heart on paper, with fold of paper being the center of the heart, and lay it open. Place fennel, leeks, carrots, and snow peas on the parchment in center to one side of the fold. Mix together salt, pepper, and coriander and sprinkle vegetables with 1/2 of seasoning mixture. Lay the salmon on top of the vegetables and season with remaining seasoning mixture. Top with the orange wedges and sprinkle with vermouth. Fold other side of heart over fish and starting at top of heart shape, fold up both edges of parchment, overlapping folds as you move along. Once you reach the end, twist several times to secure tightly and fold in under. Place on microwave safe plate and cook for 4 minutes on high in microwave. (You can cook this in the oven at 425 degrees F for 12 minutes, but I think it cooks better in the microwave.) There will be some steam, so open the parchment carefully and enjoy!

This couldn’t be easier to make, plus it has a high chichi factor that makes it special for a Valentine’s Day dinner for two.

UPDATE – One thing I forgot to mention: be sure to have everything as close to room temperature as you can before cooking. Otherwise the fillet may require additional cooking time. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you want the internal temp of the fillet to be 140 degrees.)