Roasted Almond Crusted Salmon

Salmon. We're addicted to salmon, I tell ya.

Here is a delish recipe adapted from How Sweet Eats (only the most swoon-worthy food blog on the world wide web).  This salmon is very tasty, and we served it on a salad of spinach, goat cheese and topped with pomegranate vinaigrette (Simply Dressed has a very yummy version).

Roasted Almond Crusted Salmon

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Ingredients:

1 pound of salmon (cut into 4 pieces) or 4 salmon filets

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1 cup crushed roasted almonds*

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup regular seasoned bread crumbs

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place aluminum foil on a baking sheet, then set a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with non-stick spray. In a bowl, combine flour, panko, almonds, bread crumbs, and a half teaspoon each of salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, add the egg whites and lightly beat with a fork.

Season the salmon with the remaining salt and pepper on both sides. Dip each piece in the egg white and coat thoroughly, then set in the bowl filled with bread crumbs, covering each piece completely and lightly pressing so the coating adheres. Gently place on the wire rack. Spritzing each piece of salmon with non-stick spray or olive oil gives the crust a nice crisp.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and fish is flakey. As long as you use a wire rack, the fish should not need flipped during cooking. If you do not have a wire rack, place the fish on a baking sheet and gently flip halfway through cooking – you may lose a bit of the breading though.

*I followed How Sweet's advice and roasted whole, raw almonds at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, tossing every 3-5 minutes. I then crushed them in the food processor.

This is a great recipe, and the breading technique is one I will use again and again for many dishes!

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

I'm a little behind in sharing this dish as I made it over Christmas break, but you could make this dessert any time of year. It is absolutely, decadently, richly delicious, like a totally insane chocolate heaven!

This was my first attempt at a real, from-scratch cheesecake, and it was pretty easy. I picked up several tips from searching online, and now I can bake cheesecakes with confidence! :) This is a Southern Living recipe, and the white chocolate garnish on top could be any shape: a heart for Valentine's Day, a monogram for a shower, a letter for a birthday...just print any shape or letter from the internet, place under wax paper and pipe over. Voila! Another excellent way to eat this cheesecake is with a drizzle of raspberry sauce - magnifico! Here is the recipe...

Chocolate Cheesecake Truffle

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Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups crushed dark chocolate-and-almond shortbread cookies (about 18 cookies; I used Keebler Dark Chocolate and Almond Shortbread Sandies) 
2 tablespoons melted butter 
2 (4-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking bars, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
4 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened 
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs 
Ganache Topping: 

1 cup whipping cream

1 (4-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking bar 

1 (4-oz.) dark chocolate baking bar

Garnish: fresh raspberries, raspberry sauce or White Chocolate Snowflake

Preheat oven to 300°. Combine crushed cookies and butter. Press mixture on bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Microwave chocolate and cream at HIGH 1 1/2 minutes or until melted, stirring at 30-second intervals.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 2 minutes or until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, beating just until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Add chocolate mixture, beating just until blended. Pour batter into prepared crust. Place a 9x13 pan halfway filled with water on the lowest rack in oven.

Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or just until center is set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven with door closed 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run a knife around outer edge of cheesecake to loosen from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.

Bring cream to a light boil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Process chocolate bars in a food processor until coarsely chopped. With processor running, pour cream through food chute in a slow, steady stream, processing until smooth. Let mixture cool until slightly warm (about 20 minutes). The Ganache is ready when it drops from the spoon.

 

Remove sides of pan, and place cheesecake on a serving plate. Slowly pour warm Ganache Topping over cheesecake, spreading to edges. Chill 1 hour before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Look at that CHOCOLATE. Oh, yummm.

This is so rich that a very thin slice is all you need. One cheesecake could potentially serve 18-20 people if you slice it thin enough!

PS - I am linking up to Tasty Tuesdays at 33 Shades of Green. Click over to find lots of other delicious recipes!

Wine Friday: Petite Sirah

Happy first Friday of 2012! I hope your first week of the new year has been a good one and that you have plans to relax this weekend. Our beloved Arkansas Razorbacks are playing in the Cotton Bowl tonight, so we'll be watching that and cheering them on. Go Hogs Go! I'm sure there will be a glass (or two, or three) of wine present in my weekend plans. If you will be indulging in the vino too, here's a great one to try!

Hence, welcome to Wine Friday!

 

My friend, Jessica, brought a bottle of this over on Wednesday night for us to enjoy while we cooked together. I must say, I looooooooved it.

Drops of Jupiter Petite Sirah

Year: 2009

Origin: San Francisco, CA

Average Price: $9

About the wine: Does 'Drops of Jupiter' sound familiar to you? Yes, this is wine by the band, Train. They launched a brand called Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company and this is their inaugural product. The guys in the band are huge wine-os and even tweet and blog about their favorite bottles. And, I have to say, this is an excellent petite sirah!

“Wine and music tell stories and connect those who share it,” says Jimmy Stafford – the band’s lead wine explorer and founder of the Train Wine Club. Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co. crafts wines that evoke the emotions and human connections experienced through its namesake songs. 

This bottle of Drops of Jupiter is named after the Grammy-Award winning song written by lead singer Pat Monahan after the loss of his mother to cancer. The song is about the journey of self-discovery experienced through the loss of a loved one. I didn't know that until I did a little bit of research tonight, and it makes the song that much cooler.

I'm a big Train fan as of recent years. I've always loved their earlier stuff, but I heard them play 2 years ago here in Memphis before the release of their latest album featuring Hey, Soul Sister. I immediately fell in love and bought the album. I've grown to love a lot of their songs, especially some that aren't Billboard hits. Below are my favorite Train jams in no particular order:

• Marry Me
• If it's love
• Meet Virginia
• I Got You
• And, of course, Drops of Jupiter

Head out, buy a bottle of this delicious wine and put on some tunes. It'll be a great start to your weekend!

Garlic Parmesan Edamame

Hungry? This edamame is outstanding. You will become addicted.

No, seriously. It'll change the way you think about eating those delicious little pods of goodness. This is yet another find from Pinterest from 28 cooks. I made this last night when my friend Jessica came over for us to cook wok-style together. It took us so long to make this Sweet and Sour stir-fry because we kept snacking on this edamame, licking our fingers, washing our hands, rinsing and repeating. Our creative juices were flowing thinking of all the items we'd like to put this garlicky crumb coating on: chicken, squash, eggplant. Yum! 

Make this edamame. It takes 15 minutes and you'll be in love.

Garlic Parmesan Edamame

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Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) pkg frozen edamame in shell
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Steam edamame in microwave until slightly warm and not frozen. The kind I buy at Sam's comes in microwave steaming bags, but 28 cooks says you can throw the edamame in a ziploc bag with about a tbsp of water, seal it, leaving a small opening for steam, and heat it on high for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a small food processor or blender, combine olive oil and garlic. Process until well-combined. Heat a wok over medium high heat. Add edamame and toss for a few seconds. Add garlic oil and saute for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and salt and toss until well coated. Serve immediately. Eat like regular edamame, eating the pods and leaving the shell.

Smoked Salmon Canapes

Heaven.

This appetizer is pure heaven. It looks fancy, glamorous and gourmet. It's incredibly easy and will definitely impress your guests! This is a recipe adapted by my lovely mom. She made these when I was at my parent's last week and I was suddenly addicted. Bookmark or pin this recipe for your next dinner party! Trust me!

Smoked Salmon Canapes

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Ingredients:

1/2 of an 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sour cream

1 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp salt

24 slices party rye or pumpernickel bread, cut into triangles

12 ounces smoked salmon

48 very thin slices cucumber

Minced purple onion

Freshly ground pepper

Garnish: fresh dill

Beat first 5 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer until thoroughly blended. Separate salmon into thin slices and cut into slivers.

Spread 1/2 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture onto each piece of bread.Top with cucumber, a folded piece of salmon, a small dollop of the cream cheese and top with the minced red onion, freshly ground pepper and dill.

Your taste buds will thank you! This appetizer is surprisingly light and pairs well with a yummy Pinot Noir. If you're feeling crazy, you could top this with a little bit of caviar, or capers, but the above ingredients suit me (and my budget) just fine! Enjoy!!

Auld Lang Syne

I don't know about you, but I'm excited about 2012! The clean slate, new beginnings and possibilities that a new year represents are welcomed thoughts in the Jones home. 2011 has been a good year and we've made so many wonderful memories, but it's also held a lot of stress. Plenty of work and school worries have been heavy on us, so we're optimistic for a more positive 2012.

We're not big on 'resolutions', but in short we are aiming for: less working late, less laptop and phone addiction, more quality time together, more gym time for Kendall :), more regular attendance at our church, less stress and good health. Keith is superstitious and says even years work in his favor as opposed to odd ones...we'll see!

Here's how we celebrated the New Year's Eve weekend holiday:

On Friday night, I went to our annual ornament exchange with my dear friends from my high school bible study. We counted and I think this was our 8th or 9th year. I love this tradition and I love these ladies!

For the big countdown night, we enjoyed dinner with friends in Little Rock and partied at Next Level Events. A great time, indeed! These are a combo of iPhone and pics from my camera...

Me with Cassie, Lauren and Hannah - such a fun dinner bunch!

Extra, extra, extra dirty Grey Goose martini.

What better couple to toast to the new year with than the Strothers!?

At the party, we saw lots of folks we knew, and I'm so thankful to have seen sweet Rachel!  Rachel was really close to my brother, Kyle, and lost her own younger brother less than 2 weeks before Kyle's accident. She and I have a bond that will never go away! I love you, Rach!

Mr Jones plays with party paraphernalia...

Those glasses are honestly impossible to see out of!

Lauren and I got festive with our glow sticks! Too bad I played with it too much later and it leaked glowing chemicals on my shirt! Off to the dry cleaners we go....

Right after midnight!

Keith with one of his best buds, Caleb.

It was a fun party and a perfect way to ring in a new year. Being that we aren't 22 anymore, we dashed out of there just after midnight! You know you're getting older when most times the thought of your pajamas makes you more excited than the thought of one more drink....hah!

Cheers to 2012! May it be a blessed year for all of us.