Lemon Fresh

Been dragging around with a little flu bug this last week, but managed to make it outside the house a few times. We have had so much Spring rain, the wildflowers are ... wild! Driving to the grocery store, I passed this house:

Isn't that a gorgeous yard full of colorful wildflowers?

Hubby and I stripped all of our citrus trees of fruit and pruned them back for the season. The lemons are enormous and juicy. I need some new lemon recipes beyond the lemon meringue pie and lemonade.



And didja know that lemon trees have enormous thorns on the branches? I picked a cut branch up off the ground and it was kind of stuck in a pile so I yanked it. Darn thing whipped around and poked me in the backside.



The upside to all this was our whole yard smelled lemon fresh. No wonder they make furniture polish and cleaning products lemon scented!

What's Cookin' - Poached Salmon

My Youngest Daughter taught me how to poach, eat and love salmon. I have never been a fish lover or eater other than shellfish so when she made it for me the first time, I figured I'd eat it holding my nose ... once. Well, I was absolutely shocked at how good it was; not fishy at all. And the greatest thing is it's fast, easy and so healthy. We always do the same combination of poached salmon with steamed broccoli and I can have it on the table in 15 minutes. No kidding!

Seems like salmon is very well priced, too. Watch for specials on salmon fillets. I can usually get a pound of salmon for just over $6.00. I like to pick up broccoli at the farmers' market and can usually get a couple of crowns for around $3.00. When we steam one crown, dinner for two costs between $6.50 and $7.00. And we open a bottle of wine.

Poached Salmon with Steamed Broccoli

Salmon fillets
Seasoning, i.e., garlic salt or lemon & herb seasoning - whatever you like
1/2 cup of white wine
1 lemon
Broccoli crowns

Directions:

For the salmon - heat about 1/2" of water in the bottom of a skillet to boiling. Sprinkle in whatever seasoning you like (tonight I used Schilling Lemon & Herb Seasoning, but we also like garlic salt).

In the meantime, trim and separate the broccoli into florets. (We use a steamer basket in a saucepan, but there are other good ways to steam including the microwave.) Put about 1/2" of water in the saucepan, place the steamer basket over it and the broccoli in the basket. Start heating the water to a boil.

Carefully slide the salmon into the boiling water skin side down, turn the burner down to medium-low, pour a little white wine over the fillets, put the lid on and set the timer for 8 minutes. We buy 4-packs of  small wine bottles that I use just for cooking. This time we had Sutter Home Pinot Grigio but any white wine will work. You can also use some right out of the bottle you'll be drinking with dinner.

Put the lid on the skillet over the salmon and the lid on the saucepan over the broccoli and start the timer. In 8 minutes, dinner is ready to plate. Squeeze a little fresh lemon over the salmon or make some of Eva's Dill Sauce. Just think, it was such a healthy dinner, you can have a really nice dessert!