Showing posts with label Herbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herbs. Show all posts

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Baked Salmon with Capers, Herbs, and Lemon


I eat salmon at least once a week.  I am guilty of making salmon just to enjoy the crispy skin. It is like a huge potato chip to me.  It totally grosses my husband out;  he won't even try it to see if he likes it or not.  I think he would enjoy the crispy and salty taste of the perfectly fried skin.

It does not taste fishy in my opinion.  I fry the fish with the skin side down in a pool of olive oil that is very hot.  My cast iron pan is perfect for this part of the recipe.  It does the job quickly.  I turn it over and get a nice sear and then transfer the salmon to a baking dish to finish cooking in the oven.

I don't always do this two-step process but for this dish I did.  I removed the crispy skin and devoured it before my daughter could get wind of what I was doing in the kitchen.  She loves the crispy salmon skin too.  (For the most part I always share with her.  It's what Moms do.) The oven allows the mayonnaise, lemon and herbs to coat the salmon filets.  I take one large piece of salmon and cut it into two or three pieces and then top them with my desired ingredients.

Capers are heavenly in my opinion.  They are briny and add just the right punch to this dish.  I use them in everything these days. I love finding new ingredients.  Capers are an ingredient I see posted in recipes all the time. I just never started buying them until recently.  Not to sound to repetitive, but I am so glad I did.

This recipe calls for mayonnaise.  There are several options you have here.  You can make your own mayonnaise from scratch or use store bought.  I have used both with great success.  We have also used Vegannaise.  

Enjoy this easy baked salmon dish.  


Baked Salmon with Capers, Herbs, and Lemon
Serves 4

1.5 pounds of fresh, wild caught salmon (1 large filet or 4 smaller portions)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 cup of mayonnaise or Vegannaise
1 lemon, juice only
1 lemon, sliced thinly
4 sprigs each of fresh thyme and fresh dill
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Jar of capers


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare baking dish with a light coating of cooking spray.

2.  In a heavy duty frying pan heat oil.  Add salmon with the skin down and fry.  This takes about 3 minutes for the skin to get nice and crispy and to pull away from the salmon.  Flip salmon and fry again for 3 minutes.

3.  Remove skin and set aside.  Add the whole filet of salmon or small salmon steaks to a baking dish.  Season fish with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  Smear top with mayonnaise.  Sprinkle herbs, lemon slices and capers for the final touches. Cover with foil.

4.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Fish should be moist and flake with a fork.  Serve immediately. Store leftovers in refrigerator.


Written by Sherron Watson



Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Gluten Free Basil Parmesan Popovers #TwelveLoaves


August is my favorite month so far for Twelve Loaves because we are working with herbs.  I love them all. I find great joy in preparing a dish and walking to my herb plant boxes in my front yard and snipping a few leaves or bunches of fresh herbs to add to my meals for the day.  I guess it makes me feel nostalgic.

My daughter cringes if I use the word vintage.  It is a joke now with us and she points out all things vintage to me.  It is true. I do feel connected to a simpler time.  I enjoy old things.  I find myself happiest when I have worked hard all day and then sit down to a meal that I made from scratch using ingredients that I grew.

Popovers are a vintage dish to me.  They use basic ingredients that we have had in our kitchens for centuries.  They are an American version of the Yorkshire Pudding from England.  I usually make them "as-is" but last week I decided to have some fun with them. I wanted to incorporate a fresh herb into the batter and add a bit of cheese to see if they would still be loved by my family with the extra ingredients.

Isabella asked for seconds and thought they were the "bees knees".  I guess they were too.


Making anything gluten free from a regular recipe is challenging.  I am working with some of the same ingredients but then adding new flours and starches to the mix.  Sometimes it works and every once in a while it does not.  This time it worked.   The outside was crispy, the inside hollow and the top "popped" over the top of the pan, hence we have a great Gluten Free POPOVER!  YAY.

I get excited about this stuff because those that have to eat with food restrictions give up a lot of their favorite foods.  It makes me happy when I can share a recipe that brings an item they miss back into their diets.

I hope that you will experiment with your own popover version mixing up the herb of choice.  Try thyme, rosemary or parsley--or get crazy--and combine all three.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to see my friends recipes too!  We have a great selection for Twelve Loaves this month.  The highlighted links will redirect you to their pages.  If you need help converting a recipe to gluten free, let me know.  Most recipes  can use a basic all purpose gluten free flour to exchange 1:1 for the wheat based flours.


NOTE:  To guarantee the success of this recipe I encourage you to use the volume measurements.  I have tried to get the cup measurement as close as possible but using the grams will guarantee the recipe turns out the same each time.  The batter is thicker than crepe batter yet thinner than pancake batter.  If the batter seems too thick, add a bit more milk.  If the batter is too loose then add more rice flour.  


Gluten Free Basil Parmesan Popovers 
Makes 12

4 large eggs
215g (just under 1 cup) milk
85g (1 cup) tapioca flour
110g (1 cup)white rice flour, fine
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons lard or butter, melted (used in bottom of popover pans)
1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced fine
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan (divided between the 12 popovers)
lard, for popover pan

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2.  In a medium bowl combine eggs and milk.  In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk well.  Add the two together.  Whisk until the batter is smooth.

3.  Mince the basil and combine with egg batter.

4.  Let batter sit for 15 minutes.  While batter is sitting, put a small dab of lard or butter into each popover. If you use butter, adjust time, because it may burn.  My pan has 12 popovers.  Put pan in oven long enough to heat pan and melt lard, about 5 minutes.

5.  Take pan out of oven and ladle the batter into each popover. They should be about 3/4's of the way full.  Sprinkle the batter with a dusting of parmesan cheese.

6.  Return to a very hot oven and let cook18-20 minutes.  Do not open the oven to keep checking on them.  This may cause them to not rise or POP.

7.  Remove from oven and serve immediately or let cool and refrigerate leftovers.  My kids reheat them in the microwave with butter, lemon and powdered sugar.  






  • Thyme for Beer Bread by Kudos Kitchen by Renee
  • Pesto Quick Bread by Rhubarb and Honey
  • Basil Buns by  Rise of The Sourdough Preacher
  • Herbed Skillet Cornbread by Magnolia Days
  • Rosemary Grissini by  Cake Duchess
  • Rosemary Parmesan Flatbread Crisps by A Shaggy Dough Story
  • Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
  • Keema Naan by Food Lust People Love
  • Gluten Free Basil Parmesan Popovers by Simply Gourmet
  • Pull-Apart Bread w/ Herbs & Seeds  by  girlichef
  • Pesto Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories



  •  #TwelveLoaves August: Herbs If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

    1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

    2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

    3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this August 2014, and posted on your blog by August 30, 2014.

    #TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess. #TwelveLoaves runs smoothly with the help of our friends.

    Thank you to Sherron from Simply Gourmet for hosting this month’s event!
    Written by Sherron Watson

Donut Breakfast Casserole

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