Sunday Dinner: Jason Edition

Last night something miraculous happened. Something that (these days) only happens once every 8 months or so….Jason made me dinner!

No, it wasn’t my birthday or our anniversary or any sort of milestone he chose to celebrate by cooking for me.  A couple of weeks ago he was flipping through the cookbook I brought home from my trip to Seattle, came across a recipe that sounded good (and relatively easy to make) and declared “I’m going to make this for you some weekend soon.”  I’m no fool—I suggested we schedule a day right then and there before he could forget about it and/or change his mind.

So last night Jason made me a lovely Salmon with Pinot Noir Mustard Sauce (using the Pinot Noir I brought back from my brief stop in Willamette Valley). It was really good (the meal and the wine).  Perfectly cooked salmon (I was so proud!) served over a salad of arugula, red pepper, and tossed with a delightful dressing made of pinot noir, honey, mustard seeds, red wine vinegar, shallots, and tarragon.  It was lovely, light, summery meal perfect for the 90 degree weather we had over the weekend.

A couple of notes should you decide to make this recipe. 1) You are supposed to let the dressing sit for 8 hours or overnight to mix and mingle properly. We let it sit about 6.5 hours and I think it worked out just fine. Just make sure you plan ahead! 2) The recipe called for black/brown mustard seeds. After looking at several grocery stores we could not find them and ended up using yellow mustard seeds. Upon further research I found that black/brown mustard seeds are hotter than their yellow counterparts and used a lot in Indian cooking.  Still not sure where to buy them but that info was at least interesting. 3) Searing salmon can stink up your house/apartment. The fish smell seems to have subsided by this morning but we had to use quite a bit of Lysol and burned a number of candles last night trying to get the smell to go away. But it was worth it for a meal like that!

Salmon with Pinot Noir Mustard Sauce
Adapted from The Pike Place Market Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 cup Pinot Noir
¼ cup honey
¼ cup yellow mustard seeds (or black or brown if you can find them)
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped shallot
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Pepper
2 (6 oz) fillets of salmon
3 TBL olive oil
Arugula
1 red bell pepper, diced

1.Place wine in a small saucepan over high heat and boil until reduced by half. Remove from heat and add honey, stirring until it dissolves
2.In a small, dry skillet, toast mustard seeds until they begin to pop and release their aroma. Remove from heat and add to wine-honey mixture. Add red wine vinegar, shallot, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Pour into a jar with a lid (we used a mason jar), shake well and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
3.Heat medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and place salmon, skin side up, on hot skillet. Sear 3 minutes on the first side and then 3 seconds or so on each additional side (ending with the skin side down) and place in 350 degree oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes until just cooked through.
4.Toss arugula, red pepper, and some of the dressing together. Divide among plates. Place salmon on top of salad. Drizzle a little more dressing on top of the salmon and serve.

Postcard from the Pacific Northwest

I’m baaaa-acck! After a week out of town and a brief blog absence, I am finally FINALLY home again. For about 40 hours at least. That’s right, I am heading back out for the final business trip of the seven week up-in-the-air extravaganza tomorrow (yes, Sunday). But the final countdown has definitely begun.  I couldn’t be happier.

So last week I was in the lovely Pacific Northwest, my very first trip out that way. And I have to say, I loved it. Not the crazy work part, but that general part of the country. It’s beautiful. Lots of green, lots of trees, and amazing majestic, snow-covered mountains practically everywhere you look.

My first stop was Portland, Oregon. I think this may have eclipsed Austin as the number one city on our list of places we’d move to if we ever left the DC area. It was a beautiful city and I would love to go back (especially since I did not get to see as much of it as I would have liked) and show Jason since I know he would really like it too.  I was lucky enough to be able to stay at the Hotel Monaco in Downtown.  Hotel Monaco is part of the Kimpton hotel chain and if you ever have an opportunity to stay at one of these hotels you should. They are really cool, quirky hotels, definitely not your run-of-the mill establishments.

View from my hotel room

Downtown Portland (courtesy of portlandground.com)

My first night there, my colleague and I walked through the city, passed the famous Powell Books, to the Pearl District which is home to lots of cool shops and restaurants. We ate tapas and drank tasty sangria at Andina. So so good.  One of our dishes was the conchas a la parilla-  grilled diver scallops with a garlic lime butter sauce and crispy onions. I like scallops but these might have been one of the best things I have ever eaten.  I am salivating just thinking about them!

The next day we traveled to Salem for meetings but on our way back to the city we decided to take a detour through Rickreall and McMinnville to see if we could make it to at least one of the famous Willamette Valley wineries before closing time. We made it to Firesteed Winery with about 10 minutes to spare!  Willamette Valley started out as the premier destination for pioneers who made their way west via the Oregon Trail (loved that computer game!) back in the day. Today, it is still home to 70% of Oregon’s population as well as more than 200 wineries known worldwide for their Pinot Noir grapes.  I knew I couldn’t come home to Jason without a bottle of genuine Willamette Valley Pinot Noir to share!

On day 3 we left Oregon to drive up to Olympia, Washington for additional meetings. On our way there we decided to stop at the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Visitors Center (mostly because I needed a bathroom break but also because my co-worker who is from Washington State insisted that it was a must-see for any first time visitor). I had always heard about Mt. St. Helens but watching the little orientation video and seeing the before/after pictures was pretty amazing. It’s crazy to think that a lot of the Cascade Mountains (which run all along Oregon and Washington) are volcanoes that could blow at any time! But I guess the Pacific Northwest is part of the so-called Ring of Fire.

Mt. St. Helens before/after its eruption in May 1980

 

 View of Mt. St. Helens from Visitor Center (it was cloudy!)

The Cascades were probably one of my favorite parts of the area. They just seem to pop out of nowhere (largely because of all the clouds). You are driving along and look up and OH MY GOSH! there is huge Mt. Rainer right there in front of you.

Since I clearly couldn't take a picture of Mt. Rainer while simultaneously driving (dangerous!), this comes from Google Images. But this was seriously what it looked like. Only cloudier.

As someone who has lived on the East Coast most of their life, I am just so not used to these kinds of mountains. They are a whole different animal than the Blue Ridge Mountains I am used to!

My final day was spent solo in Seattle, doing some sight-seeing. But that is a blog post for another day :)