Martha Stewart's Salmon with Mustard caper butter sauce

Any flavored butter that's left over can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for up to one month. It's delicious with crusty bread or sauteed vegetables.

Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons drained capers, coarsely chopped
• 4 1/2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs for garnish
• 2 teaspoons grainy mustard
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon, plus 4 thin lemon slices for garnish
• Freshly ground pepper
• 4 salmon fillets (6 to 7 ounces each), skinned
• Coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Stir together butter, capers, dill, mustard, lemon zest, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add salmon, allowing 1 inch of space between fillets (cook in batches if needed). Cook, flipping once, until golden brown and just cooked through, 3 1/2 to 5 minutes per side. Serve topped with mustard-caper butter and garnished with dill and lemon slices.

chicken scampi

The "real" recipe is below, but most of the time I don't have real butter, wine or heavy cream on hand (because I don't like to cook with those kind a calories) So here is my version of the recipe with out sacrificing the flavor.

Heat a little oil in a skillet, when hot add chicken (the little tenderloins are easiest, but if I don't have them, I'll just cut up full breast into strips) Season with pepper, lemon pepper, garlic, basil and the juice of a 1/2 a lemon (or a T from a bottle of lemon juice) Once the chicken is almost all the way cooked, add a bag of tricolored bell peppers. (and red onion if you have it)

Next put your angel hair pasta in boiling water.

For the SAUCE: I use what I have on hand; last night it was a cup or so of sour cream (any kind of cream, yogurt, thickened milk works) 4- 6 T of light margarine, The juice of a 1/2 a lemon (or a T or so from a bottle of lemon juice) 4 cloves of garlic minced, just under a T of black pepper and then salt to taste. Combine Chicken, angel hair pasta and sauce, then serve immediately.

(I did not have a purple/red onion, but it adds a ton of flavor and would suggest adding it to your shopping list)

So now, here is the real Olive Garden Chicken Scampi Recipe,

Scampi Sauce

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)

1 1/2 cups Chablis wine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

1 cup heavy cream

5 to 6 quarts water

16 ounces angel hair pasta

4 tablespoons light olive oil

12 chicken tenderloins

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 green bell pepper, cut into bite-size strips

1 red bell pepper, cut into bite-size strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into bite-size strips

1 chopped red onion

2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

Optional Garnish

freshly grated parmesan cheese

Recipe1. Make scampi sauce by melting butter in a preheated pan over medium/low heat. Add 2 tablespoons chopped onions and sauté for 2 to 4 minutes or until the onions begin to brown. If the butter begins to burn, turn down the heat. When the onions are beginning to brown, add the minced garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds. Don't let the garlic burn. After about 30 seconds add the wine, salt, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and black pepper, and bring mixture to a simmer. Simmer for approximately 15 to 18 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half. Add parsley and heavy cream and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Do not let mixture reach a boil.2. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the angel hair pasta and cook for about 4 minutes or until pasta is al dente, or mostly tender with just a slight toughness. Drain the pasta in a colander or sieve when done, then hit it with some cold water to prevent sticking and to keep it from cooking further.3. If preparing all four servings, preheat 2 large skillets over medium heat (if making just 2 servings, you'll need only one skillet and half of the total ingredients -- save the rest for another meal). Lightly salt and pepper the chicken tenderloins, then coat each one in the flour that has been measured into a large bowl. Arrange all of the coated tenderloins on a plate before sautéing 6 tenderloins in each pan. Cook the tenderloins for 3 to 5 minutes on one side or until golden brown. 4. When the chicken is brown on one side, flip each of the pieces, and move them to the side of the pans, then add an even amount of the sliced peppers and chopped onions to the center of each skillet. Continue cooking the chicken and veggies for 4 to 6 minutes or until the chicken is browned and the veggies are beginning to brown on the edges.5. Divide the scampi sauce in half and pour it over the chicken and veggies in each pan. Add 2 portions of pasta to each pan, then toss the ingredients a bit and continue to cook for a couple minutes or until the pasta is heated through. Prepare each dish by serving equal amounts of pasta onto each of four plates. Use a spoon or tongs to add the peppers and onions on top of each pile of pasta. Arrange three chicken tenderloins onto the center of the pasta.6. Sprinkle each plate with about 1/2 teaspoon of fresh parsley and serve it up with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.

Shrimp Primavera (Olive Garden style)

I LOVE open and dump recipes (semi homemade). After working at O.G. for a few years I learned to love their dishes. This is one of their 'lighter' dishes. I love the freshness of this dish AND my husband and kids loved it.

I used 1 bag of frozen shrimp (I threw away the package that is why it is not in the picture.)

1 box of penne pasta ( I used whole grain, but any kind of penne works)

1 bag of frozen pepper strips (I get these and other recipe starters; diced onions, grn peppers at Walmart or Smiths in their fzn vegetable section)

1/4 red onion sliced

1 bottle of Mezzetta Napa Valley Arribiata sauce (so yummy! down the pasta sauce isle)

As many fresh mushrooms quartered as you like.

Put a little oil in your pan. Saute the shrimp (the package has a more detailed instructions) add the pepper strips and onion. After a few minutes add the mushrooms, sauce and finally the penne. Serve with your favorite salad and bread. Jay even took the leftovers to work a few days later AND ate it. (that NEVER happens) It must be good!

My Chili

3-4 cloves of garlic minced 1 lb ground beef

1 lb hot sausage 2cans diced tomatoes

2 cans pinto beans (or pork n beans what ever beans you prefer)

2 cans kidney beans onion

1 1/2 teas cumin 2 chili seasoning packs

2 cans tomato sauce salt and pepper to taste.

Brown the meat with the garlic, then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until ready to eat.

Lettuce Wraps

CONDIMENTS- 1T hot mustard 1 tsp red chili paste

SAUCE - 1/4 C water (boiling) 1/4 tsp sugar 2T rice vinegar 2T catsup, 2T soy sauce, 1T lime juice, 1/4 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp ginger.

STIR FRY - 3T canola oil, 4 chicken breasts (I used thighs for the dark meat) 1 C water chestnuts (5 oz tin, chopped) 1/2 c straw mushrooms, 1/3 c green onions diced, 2 tsp garlic minced, 3T soy sauce, 3T brown sugar, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 C rice noodles (optl) 10 ice burg lettuce leaves.

Place condiments in separate serving dish. Combine sauce ingredients well, then set aside. Stir fry chicken in oil 4 mins each side. Remove. Chop chicken into dime-size pieces, return to pan along with remaining ingredients and stir fry until heated through. Spoon into lettuce leaves and drizzle with sauce. Condiment can be added to the sauce according to taste. I thought these tasted like P.F. Changs and the girls loved them. We ate them as our meal.

Beef Courdon Blue

I love the FOOD section of the paper that comes out on wed, and I usually try at least one of the recipes. This one was absolutely fabulous (If you don't have a husband who decides to be a stinker).

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed 1/4 c pine nuts

4 oz blue cheese 2 T minced roasted garlic

1.5 lbs London broil (4 thin steaks) 2 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F Squeeze excess water from spinach, put spinach, pine nuts, cheese and garlic in food processor and pulse until it is a thick paste. Spread the paste over each steak roll them into a cylinder. In a large skillet over med-high, heat the oil and sear each steak on every side, using tongs to rotate the rolls. Transfer the rolls to a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven to roast for 15-20 mins.

It was fabulously easy, quick and looked so gourmet. I just used toothpicks to hold them together and instead of blue cheese, I used gorgonzola cheese. YUM!