Crunchy Mustard Baked Salmon

Recipe: Crunchy Mustard Baked Salmon // Serious Eats
Side Recipes: Couscous (not pictured), Corn, & Roasted Broccoli

Rating:

I burnt the salmon topping a little bit in the broiler, but we still liked it. The corn was delicious for being so early in the season. We'll use this recipe again.

Lamb Chops

Recipe: Broiled Lamb Chops // How to Cook Everything (pg. 478)
Side Recipe: Roasted Broccoli & Feta Salad

Rating:

This was our first time cooking lamb at home. It had a nice flavor, and was rare in the middle. I cooked the chops on a cast iron skillet on the stovetop, but perhaps I should have broiled them. There wasn't much to the recipe besides adding salt and pepper and cooking at a high temperature for a few minutes.

I liked the feta salad with it -- we made a lemon vinaigrette that went well with the meat but wasn't that good on it's own.

Miso Ginger Salmon

Recipe: Miso Ginger Salmon // Serious Eats
Side Recipe: Roasted Broccoli // Cook's Illustrated

Rating:

We made this for Seth's parents. It turned out great. We also served a salad with Carrot-Ginger dressing. That was also a favorite.

Pasta with Goat Cheese, Broccoli, and Oregano

Recipe: Pasta with Goat Cheese, Broccoli, and Oregano // Serious Eats

Rating: 

Seth's Rating: 

I forgot that I'm not fond of goat cheese used as pasta sauce. I love goat cheese, but it just doesn't work for me on pasta. Seth liked it, though (and made me include a separate rating for him). 

We roasted the broccoli using the Cook's Illustrated method instead of steaming it. I can't get enough of roasted broccoli these days! 

Valentine Salmon

Recipe: Valentine Salmon // How to Cook Everything

Rating: 

Seth first made this for me on Valentine's day two years ago. I have been making it ever since. It's a tasty mix of carrots, onions & garlic in a red wine sauce. It's really wonderful. We had it with roasted broccoli. 

Man Pleasing Chicken & Roasted Broccoli

Recipe: Man Pleasing Chicken // Witty in the City
Side Recipe: Roasted Broccoli // Cook's Illustrated

Rating:

We found this recipe on Pinterest. It was quite good! We used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, but the recipe called for boneless, skinless thighs, which I would have preferred. That's the only thing I'll change in the future. 

It was nice with the broccoli, which we've made before. 

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Recipe: Broccoli Cheddar Soup // Mangio da Sola

Rating: 

I have made this soup before and enjoyed it again tonight. I added an extra can of chicken broth when my base looked too thick, but I think I should have just added one cup of water. I didn't add any extra salt, but this still tasted salty to me (we used low sodium broth). It's still a nice soup, and I expect we'll make it again.

Chicken Kiev & Roasted Broccoli

Recipe: Chicken Kiev // Cook's Illustrated Cookbook
Side Recipe: Roasted Broccoli // Cook's Illustrated Cookbook
Kiev Rating:  
Broccoli Rating: 

I didn't have faith that the Kiev was going to hold together, but it did! It was pretty simple to put together overall, although I would have liked more filling in the piece I ate. Perhaps I didn't put enough of the butter mixture in each chicken piece. The mustard added to the dipping egg added a nice, subtle flavor. We used store-bought breadcrumbs; they turned out just fine. I gave this an rating of 3 because it's a solid chicken recipe, but nothing that blew me away.

The broccoli was awesome, though! Four kitties! Cooks Illustrated has a variation in their cookbook that calls for shallots rather than garlic--I copied it down before returning the book to the library. It's basically the same recipe linked above; just omit the garlic and when the broccoli finishes roasting, add shallots cooked in oil and parmesan cheese.