Salmon with Lentils

 June 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2023

I learned about this classic French preparation, Saumon Aux Lentilles,  on a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen on TV. Salmon is our favorite fish and this recipe seemed to provide a new and easy method to prepare it. In addition, the lentils, which we had heretofore only had in soup, seemed a good pairing for the fish, so this recipe made it onto my list of things to try.

I made a few modifications to the ingredients: I cooked two rather than four salmon filets, used green lentils in place of French du Puy lentils (hard to find), and replaced sherry vinegar with red wine vinegar. 

First the lentils were prepared. Onion, celery, and carrot were diced fine and cooked with salt in olive oil until softened. Minced garlic, tomato paste, dried thyme, and pepper were added and cooked. Water and lentils were stirred into the mixture and simmered until the lentils were tender. Just before serving vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil were stirred into the lentils. The lentil preparation, mostly hands off, took about 70 minutes. 

The salmon was brined for 15 minutes then patted dry with paper towels. It was placed, skin-side down, in a cold non-stick skillet that had been sprinkled with salt and pepper. Additional salt and pepper were sprinkled on the top of the salmon and the skillet was heated on medium-high. The salmon was cooked until the skin started to brown and the bottom ¼-inch turned opaque. The salmon was carefully turned over and cooked to 125°. It took about 15 minutes to cook the salmon. The total time to prepare lentils and salmon was about 85 minutes.

We both liked this dish. This simple method of cooking the salmon ensured that the flavor of the fish was preeminent with no distractions from a sauce or glaze. We also liked the lentils and can imagine fixing them again to go with other entreés. They provide a a strong earthy accompaniment to the rich salmon. For leftovers the lentils were simply reheated while cooking two new salmon filets.

Blueberry Pie

 May 2025

Recipe from The Perfect Pie, Americas's Test Kitchen, 2019, page 30; also available online

This pie was inspired by a bad blueberry pie that I purchased at Whole Foods. Since it is blueberry season I thought some store-bought pie would be good but I was wrong. The crust was unremarkable and the pie lacked any real blueberry flavor. The filling was dominated by the flavor of nutmeg rather than blueberries. I'm glad I only bought half a pie.

For our homemade blueberry pie the crust was made using the all-butter crust recipe (page 320 of The Perfect Pie) which I have written about before. It took 45 minutes to prepare the crust which was divided into two halves each of which was  chilled in the refrigerator for two hours. After warming for about 10 minutes, the first portion of dough was rolled out,  fitted into a 9" pie plate, and refrigerated. The second portion was rolled into a 12" circle, 1¼" circles were cut from it (to allow steam to escape), and also refrigerated. 

Half of the blueberries, 3 cups, were mashed in a saucepan and cooked over medium heat until the mixture was reduced to about 1½ cups. It was then set aside to cool. A peeled Granny Smith apple was grated and a towel used to squeeze out most of the water. The dry grated apple was placed in a large bowl and mixed with sugar, ground instant tapioca (ground using a mortar and pestle), lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, the cooked blueberries, and the remaining 3 cups of whole berries. The berry mixture was poured into the prepared pie plate and chunks of butter were scattered over the surface. The top crust was added in the usual way and brushed with an egg wash. The pie was baked in a pre-heated 400° oven for 25 minutes then another 55 minutes at 375°. Total time was 45 minutes for the dough plus 2 hours chilling and 70 minutes to prepare the filling. Total time from start to taking the pie out of the oven was about 5½ hours, much of it hands off, and not counting the subsequent cooling time.

We enjoyed this pie. It had a great blueberry flavor and the crust was light and buttery. Making this pie was a project, though. It took most of a day to make, created a lot of dirty dishes, and the berries, in particular, were not cheap to buy. It would be worth making again but it's not a dessert to make on a regular basis, but perhaps just when blueberries are in season.

Easy Strawberry Shortcakes for Two

 May 2025

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen, Season 25, Episode "Spring Dinner for Two"

I have not found an accompaniment for fresh strawberries that I was totally happy with. My mother would serve them with biscuits; I think she made them with Bisquik. So I was happy to try this recipe after seeing it on a recent ATK TV show. It was introduced as an update of an old ATK recipe which has been pared down for two people because the biscuits do not keep well, so it could be a good fit for the two of us.

We picked berries ourselves, mostly for jam but also to make this shortcake, so they were perfectly ripe and very fresh. Two cups of berries was divided: ¾ cup was mashed and the remainder sliced. The prepared berries were mixed with just 5 teaspoons of sugar and set aside.

For the biscuits, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt were combined using a food processor. Chilled butter was scattered over the flour mixture and pulsed to the consistency of coarse cornmeal. The flour mixture was transferred to a bowl. Half and half (which I made with a 2:1 mixture of milk to heavy cream) and an egg were whisked together then stirred into the flour mixture with a spatula forming a uniform, sticky dough. The dough was divided into two portions which were shaped into rounds about 2½-inches in diameter and an inch thick, painted with lightly beaten egg white, and sprinkled with sugar. These were baked in a 425° oven then allowed to cool for 15 minutes. Between starting and serving these took an hour to make.

These are delicious biscuits! They were tender, still slightly warm when served, with a sweet, crispy crust. I'd say that I've found my favorite recipe for biscuits to have with strawberries. The biscuits, though, were too large, the recipe could make half as many biscuits which would serve us well. They also take a fair amount of time. We usually have our dessert a few hours after dinner so having to spend that evening time in the kitchen is less than ideal.

Spice-Roasted Chicken Drumsticks

May 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2025

The magazine article had recipes for barbecue spice-roasted chicken and curry-roasted chicken. We like dark-meat poultry and this recipe looked easy to carry out, appropriate for a weeknight, and would make easy to reheat leftovers for a second meal. We chose the more familiar-sounding barbecue recipe.

Each of the recipes included instructions and ingredients for an easy to make dipping sauce but we skipped it this time. I cooked 5 drumsticks, 1.3 pounds, about half of what the recipe specified, but I made the full spice recipe. A spice rub was made by mixing kosher salt, brown sugar, pepper, coriander, cumin, granulated garlic (substituting for garlic powder), onion powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper (just ⅛ teaspoon). The spices were bloomed to bring out their flavors by mixing with warm tap water then, after a few minutes of hydration, vegetable oil to make a loose slurry. The drumsticks were patted dry with paper towels, rolled in the spice slurry, then placed on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet that had been lined with aluminum foil. The chicken was baked in a 350° oven to an internal temperature of 180° then broiled for a few minutes to brown the drumsticks. Total time, mostly roasting, was 80 minutes.

We enjoyed this very flavorful chicken. The spices added a lot of flavor but not too much. The chicken was tender and juicy and the skin crisp. This is a dish to make again, perhaps with the curry spice mixture.