25 Days of Christmas - Day 22: Holiday Cooking

Everyone knows that I love to cook and I'm getting pretty decent at it. Tonight I decided to cook a sit-down holiday dinner for my boyfriend and his best friend. I decided not to do the typical Christmas duck, goose, or turkey and went with an alternative. So without further adieu, on the menu tonight: salmon roasted in butter with fine herbs, shallots, and garlic cloves; roasted asparagus and broccoli; pine nuts couscous; and double chocolate cake with white chocolate gelato for dessert. The couscous is the Near East brand. I'm not including that recipe because all you have to do is follow the directions on the box. I'll also admit that I cheated with dessert. Those were store-bought with the cake coming from the Kroger bakery and the gelato from Gelati Celesti.

Salmon roasted in butter


Ingredients
1-2 pound salmon
4 sticks of butter (yeah, I'm not kidding here but there's a purpose, I promise)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 shallot minced
10 whole cloves of garlic
fine herbs: parsley, thyme, & rosemary (rosemary can be omitted in favor of using more thyme)
sea salt & pepper for taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Melt the butter with the shallots in a roasting pan large enough to fit your salmon fillet in the oven until the foam has subsided. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the salmon to season it. Place the salmon in the butter FLESH side down (like in the picture above) adding the herbs and garlic cloves in the butter surrounding the salmon. Drizzle the two tablespoons directly onto the salmon skin. Roast the salmon with the flesh side down for 5-7 minutes, then flip over and roast skin side down/flesh side up for another 5 minutes until the salmon is completely done. To be on the safe side, check between the flakes to ensure salmon is fully cooked. Cooking time WILL vary depending on the thickness of the salmon fillet. (one of the purposes for all the butter is to "baste" the flesh side of the salmon once you've flipped it.) Slice for individual servings. You may serve the roasted garlic cloves as a garnish or for diners to spread on toasted bread.

Fully cooked salmon roasted in butter

Roasted asparagus and broccoli

 Ingredients
2 pounds of asparagus
1 pound of broccoli crowns
3 tablespoons of minced shallots
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
olive oil
sea salt and pepper for seasoning

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean asparagus and broccoli before starting. Break woody ends of asparagus off and cut leftover stalk off of the broccoli. Arrange in one roasting pan or 2 separate roasting pans if you don't have one big enough to hold both. Sprinkle minced shallot, garlic, sea salt, and pepper over veggies. Drizzle with olive oil. Take care not to use TOO much olive oil. Roll veggies around in pan to coat them with the olive oil. Make sure your hands are CLEAN before doing this. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until veggies are tender yet crisp.


Once you've finished the couscous, serve the salmon, veggies, and couscous with the butter "sauce" leftover in the salmon roasting pan. A fun way to serve this is to mash up the roasted garlic cloves in the melted butter to create a flavorful sauce.

Finished dinner with couscous.