So yeah…I definitely recommend them!

Also also! I’m updating the weekly menu! I always forget to do that…so if you’re interested in what kind of food we’re eating this week (you stalker!), go take a look!

This cilantro-pepita pesto is like that.  No matter how I styled it or photographed it, I just couldn’t get it to look…appetizing.  At first it looks kind of like something that would come out of a baby, but once you look past its icky green gloopiness and take a bite, you’ll find that it has a bright freshness from the cilantro, and a slight toasty richness from the pepitas.

Cilantro pesto is not photogenic. Neither is black rice.

Hiding underneath that green glop is a perfectly tender, juicy, seared salmon fillet.  I do love me some salmon pretty much any way I can get it, so I easily overlooked the crazy coloring of the cilantro pesto and dug in.  It really works well with the nuttiness of forbidden (black) rice, but I bet it would go well with my other fish side dish-standby: cous cous.  Or maybe some bruschetta on the side? At any rate, if you can get ahold of some pepitas (also known as hulled or shelled pumpkin seeds), I highly recommend you give this a try.

Pan-Seared Salmon with Cilantro Pepita Pesto

Slightly adapted from Bon Appétit Magazine, November, 2011.

• 2 tbsp, ½ tsp plus ¼ c extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• ½ c pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
• ½ c (firmly packed) cilantro leaves and stems
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tbsp (or more) fresh lime juice/li>
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 6-oz salmon fillets
• 1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

1. Heat ½ teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pepitas; sauté until beginning to brown and pop, about 2 minutes. Transfer seeds to a paper towel to drain; let cool. Reserve skillet.
2. Pulse 6 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, cilantro, coriander, and garlic in a food processor until coarsely chopped. With machine running, gradually add 1 tbsp lime juice, ¼ cup oil, then ¼ cup water, blending until coarse purée forms. Season pesto to taste with salt, pepper, and more lime juice if desired.
3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in reserved skillet over medium heat. Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Add to skillet and cook until just opaque in center, 3-4 minutes on each side. Place fillets on plates and spoon pesto over. Garnish with remaining pumpkin seeds and serve with lime wedges.

Would you look at that buttery flakiness??

Hello, dear ones! How did your Spring Holiday Time go? Between the Equinox, Easter, Passover, and forgive me for not knowing what else, the last few weeks have been busy for everyone, right? Full of family and the joy of new life.

I’ve been doing some necessary Spring cleaning in my home, and working on promoting my freelance business and finding work.  We have also had The Sprout at our house a lot more often lately, and while that’s pretty much the joy of my life, it’s very draining and time-consuming.  I still have to figure out how to balance work and home while working from home!

Because life is always so busy, you know how much I love my time savers.  However, this is not one of them.  Puff pastry is not something you make when you want a quick meal.  I suppose you could make it and freeze it, but I’ve never tried that.  Most I’ve done is make it a day ahead.

That being said, most of the time spent is inactive time, but it does require you to be nearby.  There’s the cutting, the rolling, and the surprisingly cathartic folding, but then there’s the waiting before you do it all over again.  And again.  And again.  You see, in order to have those beautiful, buttery layers, you have to actually make them by folding it over itself and rolling it out – multiple times.

But it is worth it.  Oh, is it worth it to have homemade puff pastry instead of paying an arm and a leg for store-bought which frankly, can’t even compare in taste.  Please throw out right now any notions you have of whole wheat things being more dense or tough than those made with white flour.  This puff pastry is made with slightly more whole wheat pastry flour than half all-purpose flour, keeping it tender, flaky, and still full of whole grains and that subtle nutty flavor.  If you prefer, you can switch the amounts of the flours.

There are so many things you could make with this!  You could make the previously-mentioned Salmon and Rice in Puff Pastry, or you could use it to cover a Chicken Pot Pie, or even make a rich dessert with it.

What are your favorite uses for puff pastry?

Whole Wheat Puff Pastry

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, October 2004.

• ¾ c whole-wheat pastry flour
• ½ c all-purpose flour
• 5 to 6 tbsp ice water

1. Sift together flours and salt into a chilled large metal bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender.
2. Drizzle 5 tbsp ice water evenly over flour mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated. Test mixture by gently squeezing a small handful; when it has the proper texture, it will hold without crumbling apart. If necessary, add another tbsp of water, stirring until just incorporated and testing again.
3. Gather mixture together and form into a 5-inch square, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 30 minutes (Dough will be lumpy & streaky).
4. Roll out dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 15×8-inch rectangle. Arrange dough with short side nearest you, then fold dough into thirds like a letter. Rewrap dough and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
5. Repeat last step 2 more times. Brush off any excess flour, then wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Turmeric, beet juice, and blueberries give eggs a soft color and beautiful watercolor texture.

Decorating eggs was always one of my favorite Easter traditions as a kid.  I was never a huge fan of Easter baskets because they invariably had a huge chocolate bunny and lots of other chocolate-covered or filled concoctions, those mediocre colored marshmallow eggs, and a couple marshmallow Peeps.  The only part I liked were the Peeps.  In later years, a Reese’s egg was added which I liked because they have more peanut butter than chocolate.

But the egg decorating, oh that was fun.  What with those tricksey plastic wrappers, the paper stands that never stayed together, the vinegar-scented dyes, and don’t get me started on the flimsy wire dippers with hard-boiled eggs precariously balanced on top.  Egg decorating was serious business! I enjoyed it, but even as a kid my little hippie-brain I wondered about natural dyes, created from food and plant materials.  I never got to try it until last year, however.

Onion skins give eggs a beautiful brown marbling

I never got around to posting about it, but those colored eggs up there? The Sprout and I made them last year.  This year we experimented with wrapping the egg shells (I blew out the eggs beforehand) in onion skins, then boiling them for 15 minutes.  It created that lovely marbling.  I have to say, I am completely enamored of these earthy eggs.

Why dye/color eggs with food rather than coloring kits or food coloring? Well one reason is to avoid the chemicals.  This appeals to me because I try to keep as few chemicals as possible in our home.  Another reason, and my main attraction is to do things as they’ve been done for hundreds of years.  Why use chemicals when you don’t have to? I like to create the things I use, and egg decorating is no exception! I guess you could say I just find it fun!

The instructions for dying eggs with onion skins can be found over at Instructables, along with instructions for other naturally-dyed eggs.  Boulder Locavore also has a great tutorial on naturally-dying eggs.  Wikihow taught me how to blow out eggs.

Now tell me: have you already decorated your Easter eggs this year? If not, are you going to, and how do you plan to do it?

How freaking rich does that look?

You know, for someone who doesn’t like fish much, I sure post a lot of fish recipes.

But this one has been in my “food photos” folder for a looooong time and it’s about time I shared it.  I’ve really only made it once but it was pretty dang good and just look at that pastry! It came out so perfectly I had to photograph it! Besides, it’s salmon and I really love salmon, so it’s ok.

When I saw this recipe in the Bon Appétit Cookbook, I was beside myself.  Salmon.  Rice+mushroom+leeks.  Puff pastry.  HELLO dinner! The only thing I changed was to omit the dill sauce because I don’t like dill.  Since I would rather not copy an exact recipe, you can find it here: Salmon and Rice Wrapped in Puff Pastry with Dill Sauce.  I ignored their recommendation to serve with caviar and lemon vodka and instead had sautéed spinach with lemon and garlic and pasta with sundried tomato pesto on the side.  It was a very carbohydrate-heavy meal, but sometimes you just want to load up on carbs, ya know?

What are your favorite side dishes for fish? I usually serve it with rice or cous cous and spinach or corn, but I need some more ideas! Please share!