Quiet cooking

The girls had no school today as it was Good Friday. I've gotten adept at scheduling play dates for them on days off so we will all be happy. It's a treat to be able to cook while the girls are happily entertained upstairs.

While the girls played, I made some spaghetti with a little butter and a bit of sauce on the side in case anyone wanted a ladle or two. I also made the salmon I had bought from yesterday.

I heated a little olive oil in a pan with 2 cubes of frozen garlic. Once that began to sizzle, I put the salmon in, skin side down. I added a pinch of kosher salt and a hearty pinch of black pepper. I used the rest of the Riesling wine to poach the fish. I squeezed the juice from 1/2 of a Meyer lemon that my mother had overnight mailed me from California, put the top on the pan and let it poach. After about 6 minutes, it was beautiful and pink. I removed the salmon from the liquid and added in a small pat of unsalted butter, letting the liquid reduce down to a nice beurre blanc to go over the fish.

I had roasted the brussel sprouts earlier in the day for lunch. This is my favorite way to cook them, and they are foolproof. I rinsed the sprouts and cut them in half. I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with foil and preheated the oven to 425. I drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper to them and tossed them lightly to spread them out over the cookie sheet. I let them roast in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until they became crispy and soft. There were a few left over which we had for dinner.

The girls made faces about both the fish and the sprouts, but ate a bite anyhow. Some nights are just plain pasta nights.