The Forum: Help to speed up dinner prep

  • By Judyrae Kruse Herald Columnist
  • Friday, March 19, 2010 6:27am
  • Life

Meatless Fridays don’t necessarily have to mean blah, ho-hum fare. But that means the menus do have to be different, tasty, quick, reasonably affordable and easily workable.

Like that’s as easy done as said.

So here’s some help that answers the question of what and how, thanks to a couple of dinnertime possibilities from SeaPak.

They may be the providers of the nation’s best-selling shrimp, but they also market some nifty-swifty salmon specialties, as you can see by taking a look at the following recipes.

Chipotle-ranch salmon burgers

2tablespoons chipotle pepper sauce, such as Tabasco

1/4cup ranch dressing

1package (12.8 ounces) SeaPak salmon burgers (available at Safeway) or other salmon burgers

4slices green leaf lettuce

4slices red onion

4slices of ripe tomato

4slices pepper jack cheese (optional)

4hamburger buns

In a small bowl, stir together the chipotle pepper sauce and ranch dressing; set aside.

Cook salmon burgers according to package directions. Remove from heat.

To assemble burgers, place a burger on each hamburger bun bottom and top each with a leaf of lettuce, slice of onion, slice of tomato and cheese. Spread the inside of hamburger bun tops with the chipotle-ranch sauce, place on burgers and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Herb butter salmon bisque

1package (10 ounces) SeaPak herb butter salmon (available at Safeway)

2tablespoons butter

4tablespoons flour, divided

4cups milk, divided

1teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Garnish: croutons and chopped fresh parsley

Cook salmon according to microwave directions on package; set aside until cool enough to handle.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; add 2 tablespoons of the flour. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in 3 1/2 cups of the milk and cook over medium-high heat until mixture thickens slightly, whisking frequently.

Place salmon with all of the butter and herb coating in a blender or food processor (reserving a small piece of salmon for garnish, if desired).

Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour and salt and process until a paste is formed; blend in remaining 1/2 cup milk.

Add salmon mixture to the thickened milk mixture in saucepan; cook until heated through and smooth, stirring frequently.

Season with pepper to taste and ladle soup into bowls. Garnish each bowl with 3 or 4 croutons, chopped reserved salmon and chopped parsley, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

The next Forum will appear in Monday’s Good Life section.

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