Salmon with Brown Butter and Almonds

Salmon. Healthy and delicious. Simple as that, so I went searching for some good salmon recipes.  Several weeks ago I had salmon with balsamic shallot sauce at a friends house and when they told me they had gotten the shallot recipe from Real Simple I went to the website right away.  It is official to say I love realsimple.com :) Best part is you can create your profile and save the recipes that you find which means you don't have to print the recipe out right away and I don't have to remember which recipes I thought looked good when it comes time to fix dinner!  I highly suggest everyone checks out www.realsimple.com or the magazine they have some terrific recipes.  A lot of the recipes they have can be fixed in less than 30 minutes, also you can search for recipes by ingredients if you have something particular in mind or something in your pantry that you are ready to mix into a delicious meal.  Also, each recipe includes the nutritional value of the entire meal.
 So I selected a salmon recipe from RealSimple and 3 friends to join me for dinner and the night was officially planned!  I was nervous about overcooking the salmon because that is what everyone warned me about but it didn't seem too dry. I selected a salmon with brown butter and almonds (along with a few capers!) served with green beans on the side.  This meal only took 20 minutes to make. 
 For dessert I made a walnut bundt cake, another recipe from RealSimple!  The perfect thing about the cake was that I prepared it and put it in the oven before I started dinner since it needed to cook longer and it was done in perfect time!  My first time using my bundt pan but it certainly won't be the last time!
 Time to include pictures and recipes!
 First the salmon with brown butter and almonds! (Again both recipes come from RealSimple.com)
Total Time: 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 pounds skinless salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons capers
Directions
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Season the salmon with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
2. Cook the fish until opaque throughout, 3-5 minutes per side (I cut the salmon in half during cooking and checked the center for pinkness which helped me determine when it was cooked thoroughly.)
3. Fill a second skillet with 1/2 inch of water, bring to a boil, and add 1/4 tsp salt.
4. Add the green beans to the second skillet, cover, and steam until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes.  Drain and transfer to the plates.
5. After draining the green beans heat the 3 tbsp of butter over medium heat.
6. Add almonds and cook, stirring frequently, until almonds and butter are golden brown (not burned) 2-3 minutes.  Stir in capers and spoon over fish and beans.

I also prepared Texas Toast to go with our meal.

Walnut Bundt Cake! Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; Additional 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

3 cups walnuts, chopped

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 box yellow cake mix

3 large eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350.  Grease Bundt pan.

2. In a small bowl, combine half the sugar, the melted butter, and 2 1/2 cups of walnuts to make the topping. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, covering the bottom evenly.

3. To make the filling, cream the remaining sugar and the softened butter in a medium bowl.  Stir in the flour and the remaining walnuts.  Set aside.

4.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs and oil and the amount of water the box mixture calls for.  Beat until well combined.  Pour half the batter into the pan.  Spoon the filling mixture evenly over the batter, then pour the remaining batter on top.

5. Place in oven and bake until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes, then unmold bottom-side up onto a cake plate.  Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Walnut Bundt Cake