While in Madison we visited the Farmers Market there - the first one of the season, their market is held right by the Capital which is really beautiful. It was the perfect morning weather wise and I just started taking a photography class/get to know how to use my new fancy dancy camera last week so I was looking ALL over the place at all of the things I wanted to take pictures of! I ended up with a lot of the tulips out around the Capital - I couldn't help it - they were so pretty and now that I know how to play with the light with my camera my photos look completely different then when I was in the auto setting - F.U.N.
Continuing on in the fun we spent the afternoon at some thrift shops on Odana Street - VERY fun and we both were able to snag some little treasures :) Ellie and I are both little foodies so our dinner plan for Saturday night was to put together a great meal that could stretch over the night so we could chat and cook and just not be rushed. We looked over a few recipes and put together one of our own from the ideas of what we read - literally my absolute favorite way to cook - getting the general idea and then putting your own spin on things. Here's what we did:
Our first course was some great rustic Italian bread from Trader Joe's, Ellie mixed olive oil, Parmesan and spices for dipping and some great red wine.
While we enjoyed the bread here is the recipe that we got to work on creating:
Seared Salmon over Linguine with a Lemon Dill Vodka Sauce (don't be scared of the title!)
For the Sauce:
Dice 1 medium onion and saute over medium high heat in a good drizzle of EVOO until the onion is translucent (about 5 minutes)
Add:
1 Cup cream
3 Cups Chicken Broth
1/3 Cup vodka
Simmer the sauce over medium heat for 1 hour to reduce to 2 cups
At about the half way mark we started assembling the other parts (pasta, salmon, salad) of our dinner and the timing worked out fabulously....
Bring a big pot of well salted water to a roaring boil and add your pasta of choice - we used linguine - according to the pasta measuring thing from Cooks America is said we had 2 servings of pasta measured out - I think it was more like 4 but it worked well for the amount of sauce. Cook the pasta until el dente.
Saute 1 medium diced red pepper and a 50/50 mix of spinach and arugula (about 2 cups each) in a pan with a good drizzle of olive oil.
Meanwhile - back to the sauce, once reduced add 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest and 2 Tbls. lemon juice, black pepper to taste and 1/2 Tbsp. dried dill. The sauce will be thin - it's not like a cheesy Alfredo sauce...that kept throwing us off, while it's not thick it is still rich and satisfying!
Pour the water off the pasta and add the pepper and greens along with the sauce to the pan and simmer everything together for about 5 minutes.
Your pasta is set - while all of that magic was going on, Ellie was tending to the salmon fillets - we picked up about 3/4 of a lb of fresh salmon from the grocery and rubbed it with the leftover bread dipping oil and seared it on a grill pan over medium/high heat for about 4-5 minutes per side.
Plate your pasta and place salmon over the top alongside a salad - for the salad we did a mix of romaine and spinach tossed with pecans, bleu cheese and dried cranberries. We dressed the salad with 1 clove of garlic mashed to a paste (dice the garlic then sprinkle with a little salt and using the back of a spoon mash the garlic into a paste - or they sell mashed garlic in a tube at the grocery store but where's the fun in a just squeezing? :) ) then whisked with 3 tsp. honey, 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup lemon juice with salt and pepper to taste.
Yum. It was delicious - the flavors in the sauce are outstanding without being overpowering. I would definitely make this recipe again.
Sunday we took Ellie's dog Loki for a long walk on the Ice Age Trail - yes, the same Ice Age Trail that comes through by Medford is in Madison, I never knew! While out on our walk I brought my camera along and got some really fun shots of flowers along the path...we also spotted two HUGE turkeys - luckily, I spotted them before Loki did so we were able to get her on her leash before she ran off after them. Ellen and I were joking around about the scenarios of when turkeys attack - our imaginations may have gotten the best of us!
It was a wonderful weekend away and great to spend some time just relaxing...but one of the best parts of the weekend was walking through the door at home and hearing "Momma!" and to see Naomi come running at me with a huge smile on her face and getting the biggest hug in the world. It was a great welcome home! I think that when you take a break or time out from your day to day it gives you a chance to breathe and refocus. It gives you the perspective you need to come back to your "real life" with a new perspective and appreciation.
Many blessings and much love :)
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