Honey-Wasabi Glazed Salmon or Honey-Mustard Glazed Salmon

My latest book, BAREFOOT SEASON, was released this week. BAREFOOT SEASON is set on Blackberry Island, Washington. As on all islands I’ve ever visited, seafood is a staple on Blackberry Island. I live in Seattle, so seafood is pretty big in my world, too.

One of the things I love about seafood is how fast it cooks. This honey-wasabi glazed salmon is a terrific weeknight meal for busy people. If you can’t find prepared wasabi sauce, or it’s too spicy for you, you can substitute your favorite mustard. From start to finish, it takes about half an hour to get dinner on the table. Tastes great with a light, summery white wine.

Be sure to visit www.blackberryisland.com to read Chapter 1 of BAREFOOT SEASON and to get some fabulous blackberry recipes! If you love salmon as much as I do, try the Blackberry Chipotle Sauce as a glaze for salmon. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m thinking it will be incredible. It’s next on my list!

Recipe: Honey-Wasabi Glazed Salmon or Honey-Mustard Glazed Salmon

½ C honey
2 T prepared Wasabi sauce or spicy mustard
2T soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
½ t fresh ginger, minced
4 salmon fillets, ½ pound each

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Warm the honey in the microwave for 10 second increments until it’s runny enough to stir in the other ingredients.

Place the salmon skin-side down on the aluminum foil. Spoon the glaze over the salmon pieces. Bake about 20 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork, brushing with glaze every five minutes.

Summertime Broccoli

For a printable version of this and lots of other great recipes, visit www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php.

I am especially proud of this recipe for Summertime Broccoli. Why? Number one, because it’s delicious; and number two, because it wasn’t inspired by any other recipe I’ve ever seen or tried. It started with me standing in the kitchen staring at a head of broccoli, wondering what I could do to give it an interesting twist.

I’ve been hard at work getting ready for the release of ONLY MINE, the first of this year’s Fool’s Gold books, as well as writing next year’s books, so I didn’t have a lot of time to cook. (You can read a free excerpt of ONLY MINE at www.susanmallery.com/excerpts.php.) I know a lot of my readers are busy women, too, and I wanted to create something fast, easy, and delicious. And healthy. Broccoli is such a rich green color, you know it’s got to be chock full of vitamins.

ONLY MINE, July 26 2011

Summertime Broccoli fits the bill on all counts. The nutty, salty flavor is a pleasant surprise. We ate it alongside a nice rib-eye, and I think it would be a delicious side dish for chicken or seafood, too. I think you’ll love it!

Recipe: Summertime Broccoli

4 C fresh broccoli, cut into half-inch chunks
1 T toasted sesame oil (peanut oil may be substituted)
1 t tahini (smooth peanut butter may be substituted)
1 clove garlic
½ t red pepper flakes
½ t Kosher salt
¼ C walnut pieces

Steam the broccoli for 5-7 minutes, until crisp-tender. Rinse under cool water, then drain completely. Mix together the oil through the salt. Pour mixture over the broccoli and toss, then add the walnut pieces. Serve warm or chilled.

Potluck Pleaser: Cauliflower-Crab Salad with Cilantro-Lime Mayonnaise

You can get a printable version of this recipe and many more at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php!

This is the most beautiful time of year in Seattle. However reluctantly, summer has finally arrived. Because of the rain we get through much of the year, everything is green and lush, and now that the sun comes out to play every day, the colors are so vibrant that you can lose yourself in them. Every June, I am awed again by the infinite shades of green that are possible in nature.

To me, summertime is made for salads. One of my favorites was always crab pasta salad, but “pasta” and “swimsuit season” should not be used in the same sentence. I asked myself what could substitute for pasta to make a low-carb version of the delicious side. I decided to try it with steamed cauliflower.

Instant success.

This is a healthy, relatively light, low carb salad that tastes amazing. Because I needed to use enough other ingredients to balance out an entire head of cauliflower, this made enough salad to feed an entire softball team. If you’re bringing it to a potluck, make the recipe as shown. If you’re making it for your family and don’t want a ton of leftovers, I suggest you cut the recipe in half.

Recipe: Cauliflower-Crab Salad with Cilantro-Lime Mayonnaise

1 head of cauliflower
2-3 pounds of imitation crab
1 lb bag of frozen peas, thawed
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
½ C onion, diced
Dressing:
2 C low fat or fat-free mayonnaise
1 ½ C fresh cilantro, minced
1 T lime juice
1 t soy sauce
1 packet Splenda (or ½ t sugar)
Lime zest to taste

Cut the cauliflower into small chunks and steam until crisp-tender, about 10-12 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer, you can put them in a microwave with a little water. Microwave a minute or two at a time until the cauliflower reaches the desired texture. Cool to room temperature.

Put the cauliflower and remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together the dressing ingredients, then fold gently into the salad to get everything coated. I used about ½ t of lime zest to give the dressing a nice limey bite.

Tomato-Basil Salad with Molasses Vinaigrette

You can get a printable version of this recipe at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php - plus lots more free recipes!

Summer has been slow to come to Seattle this year, as it is every year. While other parts of the country talk about trips to the beach, we crane our necks looking for a hint of sun peeking from between the clouds.

Seattle finally got a little bit of sun this week, and it’s thanks to me. (You’re welcome.) This weekend, I decided that summer needed a little encouragement, so I came up with a recipe for Tomato-Basil Salad with Molasses Vinaigrette. Summer in a bowl.

I had never even heard of molasses vinaigrette before. I have since found some recipes online, so clearly I wasn’t the first person to think of this delicious combination. The vinaigrette has a slightly smoky flavor. One website said it tastes great on spinach salad, and that sounds true to me.

Recipe: Tomato-Basil Salad with Molasses Vinaigrette

2 cups of tomatoes, sliced into one-inch pieces
½ C sweet onion, quartered and sliced
¼ C fresh basil, sliced

Molasses Vinaigrette:
3 T red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 ½ t molasses
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Put the tomatoes, onions, and basil in a bowl. Combine the vinaigrette ingredients, then pour over the vegetables. Toss lightly to coat. Allow to marinate for at least half an hour. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Serenity's Portobello Mushroom Fajitas

You'll find a printable version of this recipe and many other free recipes on my website, SusanMallery.com.

In ALREADY HOME, which will be in stores on March 29, heroine Jenna Stevens is surprised by the sudden and unwelcome arrival of her birth parents. Why now? They claim they’ve always thought of her… so why did they wait until she was in her early thirties to show up?

Not that she’s been anxious to meet them. Jenna had been raised by loving and traditional adoptive parents in a town outside of Austin, Texas. After a painful divorce, she moved back to her hometown to be near her parents, returning to the comfort of the familiar and expected. The last thing she wants to deal with is a New Age birth mother who won’t go away.

Without revealing any secrets, I will tell you that Jenna discovers that she does have a few things in common with her birth mother, Serenity, after all. Most notably, they both love to cook. But Serenity is a vegan, while Jenna was raised in a family of unrepentant carnivores.

This week, I thought it would be fun to come up with a recipe for Serenity’s Portobello Mushroom Fajitas. These can be vegan, but I’ll confess – I added cheese and sour cream to mine. I’m unwilling to live in a world without dairy.

Recipe: Serenity’s Portobello Mushroom Fajitas (Vegan or Vegetarian)

12 oz Portobello mushrooms, sliced ¼-inch thick
½ C + 2 T olive oil, divided
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ C cilantro, minced
1 t cumin powder
½ t salt
1 small onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 orange, red, or yellow bell pepper, sliced
Splash of lime juice
Flour tortillas
Cheese and sour cream (unless you want to go vegan)

Place the mushroom slices in a casserole dish. Mix half a cup of the oil with the garlic, cilantro, cumin, and salt, then pour over the mushrooms. Stir to coat well. Allow to marinate for an hour or more.

Preheat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Put a single layer of mushrooms in the pan and cook, without stirring, until it browns, about 3 minutes per side. Keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the mushrooms. After all the mushrooms are cooked, add 2 T of oil to the pan and toss in the peppers and onion. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the peppers are crisp-tender. Put in the dish with the mushrooms, and add the splash of lime juice.

Serve on warm flour tortillas with, if desired, cheese and sour cream.

Spicy Manchurian Cauliflower

You can download a printable version of this recipe at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php!

As you might have heard by now, I’m on a diet. I made a very public New Year’s Resolution to lose 20 pounds by March 31, and with the support of my Facebook friends and readers who email me, I’m more than halfway to my goal. Yay, me.

But I’m getting kind of bored. I’ve been eating a lot of very bland food. Steamed chicken breast, steamed broccoli, steamed cabbage… Salad without dressing. Chicken without skin. Cheese without fat.

Food without flavor.

No, I’m exaggerating. It hasn’t been that bad. But I did feel like I needed to wake up my tongue this week with something different. I decided a taste trip to the East was just the answer. The Manchurian Cauliflower is my version of a spicy cauliflower dish from an Indian restaurant I visited pre-diet. The “real” stuff has some sort of breaded coating and is deep fried. This version is a lot lighter but still has a lot of flavor.

Recipe: Spicy Manchurian Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets
2 t ground coriander
1 ½ t ground cumin
1 t pepper
½ t ground cardamom
½ t ground cloves
½ t ground cinnamon
¼ t salt
2 t vegetable oil, divided
6 cloves of garlic, minced
¾ C ketchup
1/8 – ½ t cayenne pepper
1 green onion, sliced

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the cauliflower in a large Ziploc with 1 t oil. Shake to coat. Add coriander through salt to the bag. Shake to coat. Put cauliflower in a single layer on a large, ungreased baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, flipping once.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a small saucepan. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the ketchup and cayenne pepper to taste.

Mix the cauliflower with the ketchup mixture, then return to the baking sheet. Roast for another 20 minutes, flipping once. Put in a bowl and toss green onion slices on top.

Pepper-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Feta

You can download the printable version of this recipe and many more at susanmallery.com/recipes.php.

Brussels sprouts are one of those love-‘em-or-hate-‘em vegetables. There is no middle ground. There’s no way that you can doctor Brussels sprouts so that a hater will grasp her hands to her chest and cry, “Delicious!” It’s not gonna happen. You can stir fry them, roast them, grill them, or cover them with cheese sauce, but they’re still Brussels sprouts. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are what they are.

So I won’t try to convince you that this recipe will convert any nonbelievers. But for those of you who already fall in the Love ‘Em category, this Brussels sprouts recipe is going to rock your world! I invited a well-traveled foodie friend to dinner the night I made these. This is a woman who has been to Paris many times, and who has dined in fine restaurants in Europe and the United States. She said, and I quote, “These are the best Brussels sprouts I have ever had.”

I think I might cry.

Recipe: Pepper-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Feta

1 lb Brussels sprouts
1 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 habanero pepper, chopped
½ t salt
1/8 t pepper
2 T crumbled feta cheese

Place the oil in a small bowl. Add the habanero pepper and the garlic, and allow flavors to infuse oil for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the ends off the Brussels sprouts and remove the outer leaves. Place the sprouts into a bowl and pour the oil in through a strainer. Toss with salt, and pepper.

Put in a single layer on a shallow roasting pan and roast for about 35 minutes, stirring twice. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Put them into a serving bowl, add the feta, and toss.

Hummus Chicken

You can download a printable version of this recipe for free at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php. Lots of other delicious recipes there, too!

Since I started this cooking blog, the funniest thing has happened: I imagine flavors more than I ever did before. It used to be when I imagined a flavor, it was the flavor of my favorite dish in some restaurant, and the only way to get it out of my head was to visit that restaurant. But now, I imagine flavor combinations that I’ve never tasted before, just wild ideas that pop into my head. The combinations don’t always work – my husband will attest to my many failures.

But sometimes, wow. They’re as delicious in real life as I imagined them to be. One example is the Shrimp Margaritas appetizer I concocted. And the Snap Pea Cheese Canoes. (My imagination didn’t serve me nearly as well with my Tater Salad, potato salad made with Tater Tots, which tasted so horrible that I put it in the “Don’t try this at home” category.)

I am very proud to share with you my delicious recipe for Hummus Chicken, which happily tasted even better in my mouth than it did in my head. And it’s super easy, with just four ingredients.

Recipe: Hummus Chicken

3 – 4 pounds of boneless chicken breasts
4 oz prepared hummus
1 T mayonnaise (I used fat-free)
½ t cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice each chicken breast in half.

Mix together the remaining ingredients. Spread some of the hummus mixture inside each chicken breast, fold the halves closed, then spread some on top of each chicken breast. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and put it into the oven.

Bake until the chicken is cooked thoroughly, about 50-60 minutes.

Tomato-Cucumber Salad

Sigh. Yes, I’m on a diet. I’ve committed to losing 20 pounds by March 31. I’m still feeling bitter about it, but I’m hopeful that in a couple of days, after the sugar has worked its way out of my system, I’ll get happier. Or at least more resigned to my fate. I’ve invited my Facebook friends to join in the challenge – or to set a resolution of their own – and we’re cheering each other on at www.facebook.com/susanmallery. Or if you prefer, you can join the challenge at www.susanmallery.com.

So… dieting. That means that for the next three months, I will try to post only reasonably healthy recipes. My hope is that coming up with new recipes will make this fun.

And the truth is, this salad really was kind of fun to create. It was very easy, but it looks beautiful, doesn’t it? We served it with a steamed chicken breast, and I didn’t feel deprived. Much.

Recipe: Tomato-Cucumber Salad

1 large cucumber, sliced thin
2 small, sweet tomatoes, sliced thin
½ small onion, sliced thin
1 T mild vinegar
1 t olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ C Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 T pine nuts

Layer the vegetables on a large plate. Drizzle with vinegar and oil, then add salt and pepper. Allow to marinate at least half an hour. Just before serving, top with cheese and pine nuts.

You can get a printable version of this recipe at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php.