Salmon, hold the nuts.

As I am still catching up on a week's worth of extremely minor events, I came across pictures of a pretty lovely meal I made last week that had completely slipped my mind. Per Ry's request, which is how most of my meals come to fruition, we had salmon. To get my cooking juices flowing, no pun intended, I started checking out my favorite website (tastespotting.com) for some ideas. Most of the recipes included Soy Sauce and/or Hoisin. I really was not in the mood for an asian flavored dish, particularly not with the veggies I was making, so I decided to revise a recipe I saw and I think it turned out quite well.

HONEY PECAN SALMON:

Worchestire Sauce
Honey
1/4 c. crushed Pecans
Salmon filet
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 375. Coat glass baking dish with cooking spray and place salmon in dish. Cover with several dashes of worchestire to taste, basically enough to cover and/or marinate. Squeeze lines of honey on the coated salmon and kind of mix with the worchestire with your finger or a spoon. I let mine sit for about 15 mins. since we wanted to eat soon, but I think this would be even better if you let it marinate covered in the fridge for a few hours. Heat olive oil in a skillet pan to a medium-high heat. Once drops of water sizzle on the pan, place the salmon in the pan. Sear it on both sides for just about a minute each side. Place the salmon back in the baking dish and cover with crushed pecans, drizzles of some more honey, and salt to taste. Bake for about 12-14 mins. until desired doneness.

And on the side we had our favorite veggies, which is actually so simple that I almost wouldn't even think to post a recipe. However, I made this around Christmas-time with my family and my sister loved it, as was quite clear when I received a text message from her a few days later asking how to make it because she was craving it. That was quite the cooking ego boost I might say. Thinking back however, I believe credit is truly due to my man Tony Chachere, who has made many things I have cooked taste quite complex and utterly delicious with very little effort on my part.

BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER SAUTE:

1 bag Frozen mixed Broccoli & Cauliflower

OR

1/2 head of chopped Cauliflower
4-5 Broccoli Florets chopped

Spray Butter
Tony Chachere's Seasoning (or Cajun Spices, or Cayenne)

Spray saute pan with spray butter and heat to medium. Toss cauliflower and broccoli in pan. Sprinkle veggies with salt, pepper, and spicy seasoning of your choice to desired spiciness. Spray veggies with a little more spray butter (enough to coat a little) and sautee veggies for a while in the pan. I recommend cooking them until they start to brown a little. It makes the veggies kind of crunchy and in my opinion better (I will say from what I have read, critics would say I am well overcooking these types of veggies, but I think it tastes better).