Roasted salmon

This is so quick. Season a fillet of salmon (five minutes tops). Put it in the oven (twelve minutes tops). While it's cooking make a sauce, a vegetable, a starter, a dessert, or a phone call. And it comes out really moist and tender.

This is my favorite entree for a big buffet or pot luck. It's possible to make twice or three times this amount in almost the same time. People just dig in.

There are a thousand seasonings and sauce possible, but here's my standard.

Serves 4-6 as a main course, 10-12 as a starter or buffet item.

• 1 fillet of salmon (1.5 to 1.75 pounds)
• 1-2 cloves garlic
  
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon herbs de province
• Cajun seasoning (or ground cayenne)
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• [optional: capers and sliced lemon]
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350 (375 for 1.75 pounds or larger)
   
2. Dust a cookie sheet with sea salt and place the fish on it skin side down.
   
3. Using a garlic press, crush the garlic onto the fish and rub it in (hands are good here)
4. Using a pastry brush, coat the fish with mustard.
5. Dust with herbs and seasonings.
   
6. Bake for 12 minutes.
7. Sauce (see below) or simply garnish with capers and lemon slices

I like a a warm vinaigrette made by combining 1-2 cloves minced garlic with 4 tablespoons olive oil and lemon juice (salt and pepper), then heating until it the garlic is fragrant (don't burn it!). But there are an infinite number of sauces possible.

with tapenade
with aioli (right)
olive oil, garlic, and lemon

with asparagus
with green beans
with zucchini sliced thinly (right)
with shaved Brussels sprouts (right)

Roast Chicken Breasts

Julia says that the test of a restaurant is its roast chicken. And she is eloquent in describing the popping sounds of roasting, subtle signals to the alert chef of doneness. She is really thorough in describing all the work it takes. This technique gets a similar effect in 5 minutes of prep. The juicy popping sounds, the house filled with roasting aromas.

I like the breast best, and it looks so mahogany with that skin on it. The timing works out well because it's done in 35-45 minutes, just about time to get an starter cooked and eaten and cleaned up.

Roast chicken is so juicy and buttery with the under-skin treatment. And if you throw in some root vegetables, they come out browned and wonderful too, with some drippings from the chicken above flavoring them.

Serves four

A whole, bone-in chicken breast (about 1.5 pounds), completely thawed
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon rosemary leaves, chopped

1. Put the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450.
   
2. Place a cooling rack for cookies on a cookie sheet (a "half sheet pan") and spray with oil
1. (optional) Add to the bottom of the pan one layer of potatoes or peeled carrots, parsnips, or butternut squash, cut about 1/2 inch thick and tossed in or sprayed with olive oil and salted (potatoes cut side down).
   
3. Mix the butter with 1/4 teaspoon salt and chopped rosemary (microwave for about 10 seconds if the butter is too firm to mix).
4. Wiggle a finger under the breast skin to form a pocket and, with a spoon, mush half the butter under each side. Smooth the butter around under the skin.
5. Pull out the ribs to form a base, and put the chicken on top of the broiler rack.
   
6. Roast for about 35 minutes until an instant reading thermometer put in the thickest part of the breast registers 155 to 165. (For a 2 pound breast roast 45-50 minutes.)
7. Remove from the oven and let it rest 5 minutes. Then remove breasts by cutting along the breast bone and scraping the meat off. Slice it on the bias or simply serve in sections.
   
   It's possible to make a quick sauce by deglazing the broiler pan with 1/4 cup white wine, scraping down the brown bits as it boils. Add 1/2 cup pot roast gravy, coq au vin sauce, or canned chicken stock, stirred with 1 teaspoon Wondra. Stir until smooth.