*Raspberry Chipotle Sauce* (over Baked Salmon)

It's all about the sauce.
This Raspberry Chipotle sauce has been by far, one of my favorite things I've made (thanks, allrecipes.com).  It has a simple combination of sweetness, saltiness, and a little kick of spice.  The amazing thing is that it works SO well with different types of food.  You can drizzle the sauce over meats...ie: Fish, Chicken, Pork, etc.  You can even pour this sauce over cream cheese and eat it with crackers!!  For this recipe, I poured it over Salmon & Chicken :o)

[TO BUY]
Raspberry Chipotle Sauce:
2 containers of Fresh Raspberries (6 oz each)
1-2 Jalapeno Peppers (fresh or from a jar, seeded & diced)
Garlic (fresh or in a jar, ~2 tablespoons, minced)
Adobo Sauce (4 teaspoons-you can find canned Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce in the Latin aisle at grocery stores)
Apple Cider Vinegar (just a little less than 1/2 cup)
Brown Sugar (1/4 cup)
White Sugar (1/2 cup)
Olive Oil (2 tablespoons)
Salt (1/2 teaspoon...or to taste)
*Pretty* way to make Baked Salmon:
Prepackaged Salmon Filets (however many you're serving)
Lemon (sliced)
Minced Garlic (from a jar or fresh)
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Here's the end result.  And here's how you get there:

Gather up your ingredients.

Let's start by making the Salmon look *Pretty*

Slice the lemon. 

Then take 2 of the sliced lemon, and cut those in 1/4's.  Sorry, the picture shows the slices in half, but quarter them.  (if you're making 4 Salmon Filets..there will be 2 slices in each filet)

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES.

You want to take a sharp knife, and slice the Salmon down the center.  Don't cut all the way through the filet, just enough to make a "pocket".

Wedge 2 of the 1/4 sliced lemon into each Filet Pocket.  Then add in some Minced Garlic (in the same pocket) on each side of the lemon. Season each Filet with a good amount of Salt & Pepper.

Fancy looking, huh?

Lay out the Filets on a Baking Sheet/Pan. (I put foil down on the baking sheet first)  Then loosely cover the Salmon with Foil.

Once oven has reached 350 degrees, Bake up to 20 minutes..or just until the meat flakes apart. (If you have a meat thermometer, Fish should be at least 145 degrees)

While the fish is in the oven, start on the Raspberry Chipotle Sauce.

I used pre-sliced Jalapeno Peppers in a jar, but you can use fresh ones if you want.  You can decide the amount you want to put in..1 or 2 Jalapenos.  I put in as much as I thought I could handle! (the Adobo Sauce has its own kick too, so keep that in mind!) Just make sure you seed them (remove seeds) and dice them up.

Then heat oil on Medium.  Add in the diced Jalapeno Peppers.  Cook it until tender, or when it starts to simmer a bit...

Once the Jalapeno is tender, mix in the Minced Garlic and Adobo Sauce (from the jar of chipotle peppers)--bring to a simmer.

Add in the Raspberries.

Stir the Raspberries, and cook for a few minutes until soft.

At this point, stir in the Apple Cider Vinegar, Salt, Brown Sugar, and White Sugar.  Mix well.  Increase the heat to Medium-High.  Stir occasionally...Allow the sauce to simmer and thicken up. (~10-15 mins)

Now check back on your Salmon!

The Salmon should be done baking in the oven at this time.  Don't worry if white stuff is oozing out.  That's normal. Its also a good way to know when the Salmon is well done--without being burned.

(just scrape off the excess before serving..)

Checking back to the sauce--it should be thickened.  Turn off heat and transfer the sauce into a bowl.  Allow it to cool a bit before serving.

*Good sides for this meal is Rice and mixed Veggies*

(if you have Oyster Flavored sauce -found at Asian Markets or the Asian aisle at some grocery stores- I would add that to the mixed veggies.  It gives it a nice salty flavor which really compliments the sweetness of the Raspberry Sauce!)

Here's grilled chicken topped with the Raspberry Chipotle Sauce!

Like I said before, you can do many things with this sauce.  It also would be a great Do It Yourself gift in a jar!

Enjoy!

Beef Medallions with Carmelized Tomato & Mushroom Pan Sauce

It's been just about a month since my last post--and I'm really excited to update my blog!  Even though I've been making good meals during that time, for some reason I didn't feel like all were "blogworthy".  But then I came across a Beef Medallion recipe (thanks, foodwishes) that caught my eye.  It's simple, and that's what I like the most!

[TO BUY] -serves 4
2 lbs of Beef Tenderloin (trimmed & cut into 8-4 oz pieces about 1" thick)
White Mushroom (8 oz, sliced thin)
Tomato Sauce (1/2 cup)
Marsala Cooking Wine (1/3 cup)
Chicken Stock (1.5 cup)
Vegetable Oil (1 tablespoon)
Exrta Virgin Olive Oil (1 tablespoon)
Unsalted Butter (2 tablespoons, DIVIDED*)
Salt/Pepper (to taste)
Oregano (chopped-fresh or the seasoning, OPTIONAL*) 

Here's the end result.  And here's how you get there:

Gather your ingredients.

You can get the meat at the meat butchers counter, or you can get the pre-cut ones.  Beef Tenderloin can be expensive, so you can substitute it for Round Eye Beef<--this meat is more tough than the Tenderloin.

Season the meat with a generous amount of Salt & Pepper on each side.

Let that sit.

Cut the Mushroom into thin slices.

I personally like to de-stem the mushrooms before slicing.  The easiest way to de-stem is to hold the mushroom with your non-dominant hand, then take the thumb of your dominant hand and push forward on the stem.  It pops right off.

Add in the Vegetable Oil, and turn the heat up to High.

Once the oil starts to smoke (or you can check if its hot enough by putting a wooden -something- into the oil.  If bubbles form around and away from the wooden -something-, its ready to go!) put the meat in the pan. The High heat allows you to sear the meat. Cook for 1.5 - 2 mins per side.

This is what the meat should look like after the first flip.

Once you seared the other side, turn off the heat, then remove the meat to a plate.

Add in the Olive Oil and a tablespoon of Butter.  The butter will melt from the remaining heat from the pan. 

Add in the Sliced Mushrooms, and add in a pinch of Salt. Now turn the heat up to Medium. You want to saute this with the flavor left from the seared beef.

Saute until the Mushrooms get this brown.

(or darker, depending on your preference)

Now add in the Tomato Sauce.

You want to carmelize the Mushrooms with the Tomato Sauce..

Like this!

Once it gets to a nice "brick red-brown" color..

Add in the Marsala Wine.  It smells SO good!  Mix it up a little bit, then turn the heat up to High. The Wine will evaporate a little bit..& at that point..

Add in the Chicken Broth. Feel free to add in Salt/Pepper for extra flavor.  Now, you want to Reduce the sauce by half (this part wont take long, so keep an eye on it. You don't want to reduce it too much!)

*Reduce The Sauce: "Thicken it by cooking". The longer you cook it, the more water content evaporates out of it...so its not as watery.

At this point, introduce the meat back in.  Now this is very IMPORTANT: Once the meat is back in the pan, turn the heat down to LOW.  We only cooked it earlier for about 2 mins per side, so the meat is still rare.  Just keep cooking (flip) the meat in the heated sauce for about 4-5 mins.  That should give you a Medium-Rare.  *Increase cooking time if you don't like too much pink in the middle*

Remove the meat from the pan onto a serving plate.  Turn off the heat from the stove.  Then add in the remaining butter to the sauce (& add in a little bit of Oregano to the sauce-OPTIONAL*) .  Stir it around until it melts. Spoon over the beef!

ENJOY!