Four Top Please

Made dinner for Bryan and his friends Mike and Mirentxu last night - it was fabulous, if I do say so myself - and pretty easy. We had a wonderful time, I got everything to be cooked and done at the right moment, and we had a fantastic evening. We went out dancing at Citron, this little salsa club which has prolific "Do Not Dance on the Tables" signs that are duly ignored. Mike and Mirentxu are wonderful, and we all had such a good time. Yay for good food and good friends.

Brown Sugar Salmon

	1 tablespoon honey
	1 tablespoon brown sugar
	2 teaspoons unsalted butter
	2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
	1 whole salmon fillet, skin on; about 2.5 lbs and three-fourths to 1 inch thick

The sauce:
In a small sauté pan over medium heat (best to do this part on the range), melt the brown sugar with the honey and butter. Remove from heat and whisk in the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil and ginger. Allow to cool.

Place the salmon, skin side down, on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Trim the foil to leave a border of about one-fourth to one-half inch around the edge of the salmon. Coat the flesh of the salmon with the brown sugar mixture.

Bake the salmon indirectly at about 350 degrees until the edges begin to brown and the inside is opaque, about 25 – 30 minutes. Cut the salmon crosswise into 6 to 8 pieces, but do not cut through the skin. Slide a spatula between the skin and flesh to remove the salmon pieces to a serving platter or individual plates. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

*I more than doubled the sauce, and it carmalized around the edges.. super yum. The salmon was line caught in Alaska, courtesy of Bryan! Pretty cool...

Lemon Brown Butter Green Beans

1/4 lb haricots verts or other thin green beans, trimmed
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Cook beans in a 2-quart heavy saucepan of boiling water seasoned with 1 teaspoon salt until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes, then drain in a colander. Wipe out pan and cook butter over moderate heat until deep golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and remove pan from heat. Add beans and toss well.

*I added about half a cup of pine nuts to the finished product, and tripled the recipe. Sue me, I like butter.

Baked Peaches with White Chocolate

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 unpeeled peaches, halved, pitted
1/3 cup finely chopped white chocolate
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped toasted salted pistachios
4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Whisk first 3 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Add peach halves; toss to coat well. Place peaches, cut side down, in dish, then use the rest of the mix to cover. Bake peaches in a 2 inch deep dish - the recipe initially calls for barbequeing, but our barbeque sucks, and I was afraid they'd taste like steak. So broiling them about 3 minutes each side, or until hot all the way through worked just as well. Melt white chocolate and spoon over ice cream, divide peach halves among bowls. Sprinkle with pistachios and serve.