Recently, one of my friends sent out a request to start a cooking club.  Like me, she loves to cook and try new things.  I was game…of course!  The first cooking club was Tuscan cuisine, which was very yummy.  The next one we decided would be seafood.  Each person brings the ingredients for dinner and we spend the evening making everything and drinking wine.

I volunteered to host the seafood night.

Our menu:

• Cheese and apple plate for a starter
• Buffalo grilled shrimp and chicken sausage appetizer
• Kale Salad with edamame and pine nuts
• Crab cake sliders with caper and dill tarter sauce
• Salmon with arugula pesto cream sauce
• Grilled broccoli with chile lime seasoning
• Meyer lemon tarts for dessert

I made the salmon, having a few pieces left in the freezer.  The age of the salmon in the freezer doesn’t mean too much for this dish.  The pesto cream sauce is really at the forefront of your taste buds.  I made arugula pesto from my CSA stuff last year, so again…freezer to the rescue!  I was going to make fresh basil pesto, but alas…the heat and drought of late summer did a number on my plants.  They were turning brown. 🙁

All I did to make the salmon was, take the skin off and bones out.  Cut a lemon up in slices.  Place it on a sheet of aluminum foil, lemon slices on bottom and salmon on top.  Mix the pesto with 1/2 package of light cream cheese.  Spread on salmon.  Put another piece of aluminum foil on top and seal edges.  Grill for about 15-20 minutes.

The night before the ladies came over, I set the table.  The china and silver gets used so rarely that it is fun to be able to take everything out and use it!  The fronds with the roses are from my asparagus plant.  Makes for a good filler.

I didn’t get a picture of the food, but trust me…it was good!