Anniversary Dinner

You'll note by the use of our fine china that we were celebrating our anniversary for this meal. To keep me from spending all night in the kitchen I kept it pretty simple.

A spinach salad with some surprisingly nice tomatoes. They were somewhere between a cherry and a small slicer. Topped it off with some sprouts. I made a quick dressing out of canola, red wine vinegar, dry mustard, touch of sugar and fresh tarragon.

I cubed some potatoes, dressed them with salt and malt vinegar and roasted them at 425 for a half hour. I picked up some asparagus that was also surprisingly sweet for off-season. I sauteed these with some garlic and salt and pepper.

Amy wanted shrimp and I wanted steak. I sauteed the shrimp with salt, pepper, garlic and fresh tarragon again. I finished it with just a little butter.

I was after steak and picked up a Piedmont strip. It wasn't bad, but I should have picked up the prime strip. It was only another buck a pound.

I cranked up the heat on a cast iron skillet and put a serious sear on it, I then finished it off in the oven at 450 while the shrimp was finishing.

I plated it with a few shrimp because, well, I wanted some of those shrimp.

Nevertheless, it was beefy, just a little leaner than I was hoping for. We had a nice Rancho Zabaco Zinfandel to go with it.

Salmon with Green Curry

When I first started cooking one of the first things I wanted to try was a thai curry, but the recipes I saw were really complicated and called for making the curry paste yourself so I wrote it off and never went back to it.

So, I recently had a terrific curry at Lotus Thai here in Ann Arbor and decided to give it a go again.

Who knew it was so easy?

This is a great weeknight recipe.

1 12 ounce can of coconut milk
1/2 small can of curry, green in this instance
1 tbs honey

The recipe on the curry can said to use the whole can of curry paste, but a half-can provided plenty of flavor and heat. Combine and simmer for 15-30 min. I prefer it a little sweet so I added some honey.

I sauteed a couple of salmon filets and cooked a pot of rice. I spooned the sauce over both, liberally. I couldn't find any thai basil and my cilantro had turned so the color leaves something to be desired in these photos. But it's crazy delicious.