Fennel-Crusted Salmon

FENNEL-CRUSTED SALMON

Normally I will never dumpster fish.  It's a rule I stick to almost 100% of the time.  Fish goes bad extremely easily.  So, unless it's still frozen, hasn't passed the expiration date, and looks perfect, I will not eat dumpstered fish.  Sometimes, though, I'll find something that meets my exacting standards and I'll go ahead with it

Ingredients:
- Salmon
- Fennel seeds
- Dill
- Olive oil

Rub salmon with olive oil. Place it skin-side down on a tin foil covered (greased) baking pan. Sprinkle liberally with dill and fennel seed.

Broil for about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the fish (again, the internet can take care of these questions for you).  The fish is done when it flakes easily.  If you smell burning, it's probably the fennel, and it's probably past time to take out your fish.

If you want to make this last even longer, you can put it over a salad or make it into a sandwich. 

Items not dumpstered or donated: fennel seeds, dill, olive oil

Cucumber Watermelon Salad and Coolers

WATERMELON AND CUCUMBER SALAD

"Cornbread is sweet,
pork chops are good,
blackeyed peas are mighty, mighty fine
but give me, oh give me
I really wish you would
that watermelon hangin' on the vine..."

-- Tennessee Ernie Ford, "The Watermelon Song"



Ingredients:


- 3 cups peeled and cubed cucumber

- 3 cups cubed seedless watermelon

- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice

- Salt & pepper to taste

- Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

- Lime zest


1. In a large bowl, toss cucumber and watermelon with lime juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne (if using.) Top with grated lime zest and serve immediately.

2. There is no step two.

If not serving immediately, leave out the salt. Refrigerate salad, covered, up to four hours; just before serving, toss with salt.

If you're feeling boozy, omit the salt and pepper and dump the salad into a food processor or blender. Puree and strain the liquid into an ice-filled glass and top up with vodka, a squeeze of lime, and a drizzle of honey. Boom! WATERMELON-CUCUMBER COOLERS (save the pulp to eat later).

Summer Salads - Sesame Tomato and Citrus Carrot

Now that it's summer, expect more produce in the dumpster (yay)! Also, expect more recipes using that produce (yay)!


SESAME TOMATO SALAD

So, the first time I made this, I made it as a tomato and cucumber salad paired with some similarly marinated tuna steaks, but then I ran out of cucumber and just used tomatoes for a quick snack before work. It still tasted awesome; it was crisp and cool in this suffocating summer heat. Honestly, this recipe is all about the dressing. It doesn't really matter what you put the dressing on, because it will automatically taste delicious. I just have 8 million cherry tomatoes to use right now before they go bad, and this makes me eat them faster than Justin Bieber can run away from a flashmob of tweens.

Ingredients:

These amounts are good for about 1-2 small side servings.

- Cherry tomatoes, halved (add heirlooms if you have them for color and extra flavor like I did) (you can also use regular sized tomatoes if you want)
- Cucumber/whatever (optional) - if you skin the cucumber, you can get fancy and use the shredded bits to garnish the top or do one sliver to make a bowl corral thing for your salad...
- Ginger (about the size of a garlic clove)
- Garlic (0.5-1 clove per serving of tomatoes)
- 1.5 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp white vinegar or rice vinegar
- Toasted sesame seeds
- 2 tsp soy sauce

Shred your ginger onto the tomatoes.
Mince garlic, toss that in.
Pour all the other stuff on top (tweak the ratios if you want more bite).
Serve it.

BOOM. Easy.

This is very similar to the sauce I used with my Bok Choy & Green Beans - the salad dressing is a lighter, more refreshing version (due to the vinegar). However, you could totally substitute raw green beans as your salad material and go to town if you needed to use them up. If I were to use green beans, I'd probably julienne them first so they would absorb more of the juicy stuff. I made this dressing to put on a mostly dumpstered salad at my friends' house and they LOVED it, so I'm pretty sure I'm not insane that this stuff is the nomz.




CITRUS CARROT SALAD

Ingredients:
- Carrots
- Lime juice (lemon can be substituted, but it doesn't taste as good)
- Salt & Pepper to taste. Use fresh cilantro if you're feeling sassy.

Shred or julienne carrots (the thinner the better).
Thoroughly cover in lime juice.
Add salt/pepper/cilantro/whatever to taste (optional - I usually won't add anything).

DONE.

Super easy and refreshing. Plus, you needed ZERO other materials besides those you dumpstered! Amazing!

Items not dumpstered or donated: garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, white vinegar, salt & pepper