1% embarrassing

HusBen and I caught a little something on Halloween. He had been feverish the night before, then I woke up on Wednesday feeling nearly intoxicated. I tried to distract myself from the nausea at work by staying busy, and then even thought it wise to step into the operating room. Let’s just say I had to politely excuse myself from the table while quickly passing off my tools before allowing myself to feint (sitting on the floor helped me circumnavigate that embarrassment….sort of). By the time I finally drove home, I could already see the little tricker-treaters starting to hit up the neighborhood. Ben and I could not bring ourselves to get into the spirit, even to the point of having to tell the first kids that knocked on our door that we had no candy. Yes, we are that terrible, and our bodies felt just as bad. We discussed our options at that point: A) go to the store and buy some candy (errrr, wrong answer) or B) turn off all our lights and pretend we were not home (why did that sound so appealing at the time?).

We indeed turned off all the lights, put a sticky note on the door that said “Out trick or treating, sorry!” and snuggled our viral selves into the couch with our dinner. This seemed like a good plan at first….until the relentless little people kept coming up to our door despite our best efforts to stave them off! Each time we heard them traipsing up, we had to jump off the couch and hide behind the furniture before they would be able to see us through the glass-windowed front door. We had a good laugh, all the while affirming each other that we really are not this terrible in real life…we were just sick.

Salmon with Pepita Cilantro pesto

I made this for dinner as my one and only effort to celebrate Halloween (it has pumpkin seeds in it!).

Salmon with Pepita Cilantro Pesto, over goat cheese polenta

extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1/2 cup (firmly packed) cilantro leaves and stems

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lime juice

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 (or 4 because you will have plenty of pesto) 6-ounce salmon fillets

1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pumpkin seeds; sauté until beginning to brown and pop, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Pulse the cooled pumpkin seeds, cilantro, coriander seeds, and garlic in a food processor until coarsely chopped. With machine running, gradually add 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1/4 cup oil, then 1/4 cup water, blending until coarse purée forms. Season pesto to taste with salt, pepper, and more lime juice, if desired.

Heat oven to 475. Make each piece of salmon a pouch out of foil by first putting olive oil in the center of a large piece of foil, then laying your salmon on top (drizzle some olive oil over the salmon, 1 good squeeze of lime juice, salt and pepper), then crimping up the edges of the foil together to seal the pouch. Put the pouches directly in your oven and cook for 12 minutes. When they are done, place salmon on plate and spoon pesto over. Serve with lime wedges.  

Adapted from Bon Appétit , November 2011