It's a lemon and tarragon kind of day

I'm guessing it's lemon season right now.... Can anyone confirm?

In the last month, we have received a whole bag of lemons from my grandma, a whole bag of lemons from Rommel's parents, a few lemons from a friend, and my coworker also brought in a giant basket full of lemons. Before I'm even finished using the ones I already have, someone else gives us more lemons.

I was thinking of making a nice big batch of some sort of lemon vinaigrette. Lemon and tarragon go nicely together. But instead.... typical me.... I started with one idea and went lemon tarragon crazy.

For dinner we had....

Salmon seared on a cast iron with skin side down to create a nice crispy skin then finished off under a broiler then drizzled with some lemon tarragon vinaigrette.

Green beans with garlic, toasted almonds, lemon tarragon vinaigrette, and more fresh tarragon.

Simple salad with baby spring mix lettuce, cucumbers, and lemon tarragon vinaigrette.

Leftover brown rice quinoa pasta noodles with a red pesto sauce - SOMETHING had to have no lemon and tarragon, right?!

I have a nice little batch of lemon tarragon vinaigrette to use for salads for the rest of the week.... Hmmmmmm what else can I do with lemons besides the usual marinades, squeeze on cooked fish/chicken/veggies, and salad dressings?

Ultimate Umami Salmon

ULTIMATE UMAMI SALMON. YUMMMM.

Take a salmon fillet and, using a silicone brush, lightly brush on a thin layer of soy sauce then a thin layer of sesame oil on to the salmon. Then spread a thin layer of miso paste on to the fillet with a knife or the back of a spoon. Make a furikake crust by mixing some furikake with a tiny bit of canola oil in a bowl to just lightly moisten. Furikake is a Japanese rice seasoning that is usually made up of seaweed and sesame seeds. Sometimes it will have some other dehydrated things to add flavor (I think the kind I used also had some tiny pieces of dehydrated carrot, sweet potato, and a few other things). Basically... Furikake is AWESOME. Anyways... continuing.... take your furikake "crust" and press in to the to of the salmon then bake as you would with any normal salmon fillet! So easy and quick, but soooo yummy.

Lunch: Salmon-Salad Sandwich

Here's a quick, simple lunch I put together early this morning before work:

I made a salmon-salad (like chicken-salad but salmon instead) by mixing canned salmon with a little bit of reduced-fat cream cheese, reduced-fat olive oil mayo, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon pepper, and a little salt. I made an open-faced salmon-salad sandwich by topping one slice of Trader Joe's European Style Whole Grain Bread (the kind that's super thinly sliced and dense and all whole grains, seeds, and nuts that you can actually see... SUPER nutritious) with arugula, some avocado, and my salmon-salad! Yummy!!

Baked Salmon

I was at Fresh & Easy the other day and they had a really great price on wild, fresh, never frozen salmon fillets with the skin on! I hadn't planned anything for dinner that night yet, so it was perfect.

Once I saw that it had the skin on, I was immediately craving crispy, delicious salmon skin. Here's what I did to make this simple, quick, and yummy salmon!

Baked Salmon with Crispy Skin:

Ingredients:

- salmon fillet with skin

- 2 tsp capers, chopped

- 1 garlic clove, chopped

- 1 tsp dill

- lemon slices

- olive oil

- salt pepper

- lemon pepper (I used Trader Joe's lemon pepper grinder bc it also has garlic and onion in it)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and start heating a pan with a little olive oil and butter over high heat.

2. First step is to pat down the fish with paper towels. It is important to dry it, so you get a nice browned and crispy skin.

3. Rub a little olive oil over entire fish (both meat and skin side) and season with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper.

4. Start cooking the salmon skin-side down on the pan. You don't want to cook the salmon through. We are only cooking the salmon on the pan to crisp up the skin. Keep a careful watch on the salmon and remove from the stove-top once the skin is lightly browned. Do not flip the salmon over!

5. While the skin is crisping up, sprinkle dill, garlic, capers, and lemon slices on top of the salmon. Squeeze a tiny bit of lemon juice over the salmon (not too much because you don't want a lot of liquid in the pan) and do a final light drizzle of olive oil.

6. When the skin is nice and browned, throw the entire pan in to the oven and finish off the cooking in there! It will be done when the thickest part of the salmon flakes easily. I check mine often because I hate overcooked salmon.

Salmon and toppings in the pan after crisping the skin and before baking.

After baking... Look at all the delicious, healthy fats (the creamy-looking, white parts) that came from the salmon!!

These toppings/seasonings add nice flavor while still allowing the salmon to be the star. The salmon is moist and the skin is nice and crispy! Salmon skin is very healthy for you too - lots of Omega-3s!