Cooking with Cosmo--1

Yay, my first blog entry of Cooking with Cosmo! 

This meal from the July 2011 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine was a huge success!  In honor of my mother's coworker, Meredith, who loved the meal and wants the recipe, I've decided even though I don't have any photos I have to post it!

This meal consists of Salmon, a homemade tartar sauce, a side of quinoa, and a spinach salad.  I substituted the spinach salad for an arugula salad (which I do have photos of) because I had that handy.  I will be making the spinach salad in the future and posting more on that later.

Salmon Cakes
1/2 pound salmon
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 celery stalks, diced small
1 red bell pepper, diced small
1 red onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place salmon skin side down in baking dish, and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 15 minutes, until cooked through.  Let cool completely.  Remove skin, flake with fork, put in a medium bowl. 
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add celery, bell pepper, onion, parsley, salt and pepper.  Saute until tender, about 10 minutes.  Let cool completely, mix with salmon.  Add breadcrumbs and eggs, mix. 
Shape salmon mixture (it will be wet) into about 8 patties.  Place on baking sheet.  Put in fridge for 30 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Cook patties for about 3 minutes on each side.  Serve hot!


Artichoke Tarter Sauce
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup mayo
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

In a bowl, mix all ingredients.  Put in fridge until serving time.

**I personally put all ingredients into the chopper after mixing and just chopped it again lightly.

Lemony Quinoa Cucumber Pilaf
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 English cucumber
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped dill
1/4 cup chopped mint
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper
**If you wanted, you could add olives to make it even more Mediterraneann!

In small saucepan, combine water and quinoa, bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.  Let it cool completely.
In a bowl, combined cooled quinoa, cucumber, feta, dill, mint, olive oil, and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper.  Toss to combine.  Put in fridge until serving time.


I hope you enjoy this recipe!  Let me know if you try it!

And remember, cooking = love.