Saturday night dinner

The mood for cooking was back again. So once again, I decided to try some new recipes for dinner before a game of mahjong, since there will be 3 guinea pigs to try my food. Heh.

Wanted to just have one dish and to go with rice, but then dear Mr. BT is allergic to shrimps. So made a last minute trip to the supermarket to get two slices of salmon and some vegetables for a more balanced meal.

Salmon Tango

Easy enough to prepare if you need a quick fish dish. But give an advance 1 hour as that is the time that you would need to marinate the salmon. After that, it was just into the oven (since I had no grill as stated in the recipe) for about 8-10 minutes.

The brown sugar gave the outer layer of the salmon some sweetness, but the taste of the fish is still maintained underneath. However, the husband mentioned that he preferred the ginger salmon I made some time ago, though I personally like this better.

Shrimp Etouffee

Put simply, etouffee is a Cajun dish typically served with shellfish or chicken over rice.

I'm not too sure about the weight of ingredients, meaning the shrimps in this case. But i feel that 11 ounces (about 311 g) as stated in the recipe, may be slightly too little for the amount of other ingredients stated. I estimated that about 15-20 tiger prawns may just be right for the final amount of sauce.

An important point to note : I don't think it's good to microwave (as stated in recipe) this whole dish, especially the prawns. So I cooked the whole dish over the stove, and I kept the cooking time about the same as the recipe's.

Another point to note : because the condensed cream of chicken soup is already salty, you do not need to add too much salt at the end. I forgot about this and the dish came out a little too salty.

And again, the husband and piglet mentioned that they much preferred the Tomato-Dill shrimp stew I made a few days ago compared to this.

But never mind. That's what it is to cooking. New dishes need to be tried out to gather feedback, then decide whether to have it again or not. At least I tried another two new dishes, and now I know what to improve on the next time if I were to cook them again.

Salmon Tango (from : allrecipes)

4 serving

Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons white wine
- 1 pound salmon fillets

Directions:
1. In a medium glass bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, and white wine. Stir until brown sugar has dissolved. Reserve a small amount to use as a basting sauce; the remainder is used as a marinade.

2. Place salmon fillets in a large resealable plastic bag. Pour in marinade, seal, and turn to coat salmon. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, turning once.

3. Preheat grill for medium-high heat.

4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until easily flaked with a fork. Baste with reserved sauce while grilling.

Shrimp Etouffee (from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons margarine
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion
- 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1/3 cup celery, diced
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2/3 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 11 ounces cleaned shrimp
- salt to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. In a 2 quart microwave safe dish, combine margarine, onion, green onion, bell pepper, garlic and celery. Heat on High settings for 8 to 9 minutes.

2. Stir in parsley, tomato paste, soup, shrimp, salt, hot pepper sauce and cayenne. Heat on High setting for 5 minutes. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes until mixture thickens. Serve over white rice.