salmon cakes over creamy corn in a tarragon sauce

• 1.5 pounds salmon (fresh, frozen, or canned will work)
• 1 egg
• bread crumbs
• fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 bag frozen sweet corn
• garlic, chopped
• heavy cream
• Dijon mustard
• fresh tarragon, chopped fine

To make the sauce, whisk together about equal parts mustard and cream. Add tarragon and refrigerate. Chop salmon into small pieces, mix together with egg, bread crumbs and parsley. Form into cakes slightly smaller than the size of your palm. In a skillet over high heat, fry the cakes in a swirl of oil for about 1+ minute per side. Once all have been browned, transfer to a 275 degree oven in a covered dish. Meanwhile, saute the garlic (to taste) in a little olive oil over a medium high flame for about 3 minutes. Add corn and continue to cook for about 5 minutes until corn is cooked through. Reduce flame to medium and add a touch of heavy cream. Season to taste with coarse salt and pepper and add any of the parsley or tarragon if you have any left over. Assemble by placing corn on plate, placing salmon over it and drizzling it in the sauce.

The dish: Much like the crab cake sandwich I posted, these cakes are pretty forgiving about exact measurements and spices so feel free to experiment and improvise. The corn was a nice touch, but the sauce was the star of the show. I'm not sure I ever used tarragon before, but I got the idea from something I read and the result was great. To create the cool drizzle effect I used one of those plastic condiment bottles people put ketchup in for picnics and just chopped a little off the top for the herbs to flow through. You can find those at the dollar store (Sam's dollar is the best around if you're local to the New Windsor area) and they're great to have on hand for such occasions. This entry is a little out of order as the cakes were actually served as a appetizer to our meal with the rents, but whatever. You could really serve this as a main dish just by increasing the portion sizes a bit.

Champagne crab cake sandwich

• 1 can lump crab meat (I used chicken of the sea)
• 1 pouch fresh crab meat (it will be refrigerated)
• 2 packages imitation crab meat, chopped finely
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2/3 cup of bread crumbs
• Dijon mustard
• 2 large eggs
• mayonnaise
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• old bay seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar (or any white wine vinegar)

In a skillet over medium heat brown the onion for 3-5 minutes in a little olive oil or until just opaque. Combine all the crab (making sure the imitation is chopped finely), onion, bread crumbs, a tablespoon of mustard, eggs, old bay and vinegar in a large bowl. Mix together and form into sandwich sized patties. Using same skillet as onion, cook each crab cake over a high flame in a little bit of oil until just browned. Transfer cakes onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350. Stir together equal parts mayonnaise and mustard and add parsley. Serve crab cakes on nice rolls with shredded lettuce and sauce.

The dish: Imitation crab stick, as the name implies, is not crab at all. I refer to it as "bologna of the sea", but that's not really accurate either. Beef bologna is made from the parts of a cow that you can't sell in any other way. The crab stick has no crab at all in it (even the undesirable parts) and instead is ground up Alaska Pollock, a plentiful, flavorless whitefish that's in crazy abundance up in northern Alaska and Japan. It's not at all bad for you and can really work well in a dish if done right. I use it in the crab cakes because it's as cheap as the breadcrumbs and gives a great texture and flavor without being too fishy. The Champagne vinegar was a bottle I got on sale at Marshall's and have just been looking for ways to use it, but any white wine vinegar would work well. This recipe made 8 BIG crab cakes, so unless you need a lot you might want to cut back, but like meatloaf, this recipe is very forgiving about not using exact amounts of ingredients.

Beyonce fries

• 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fry shapes
• cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 3 tablespoons high quality maple syrup

Toss fries with salt, pepper and olive oil. Spread out evenly on a large baking sheet and cook in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until desired doneness. Stir syrup into sour cream and mix thoroughly. Dip fries into sauce and enjoy (was this sentence really necessary).

The dish: I work two days a month in an office that has a plethora of People magazines. If I'm there and I get a lull I often thumb through one and catch up on what's happening with the stars. One of them reported that Beyonce was trying some new diet that didn't involve much other than eating cayenne pepper and maple syrup, something about the different tastes satisfying cravings. I think it's a great example for all of her young girl fans that she should be so concerned about her body image and turn food (something that on patches of this planet is still in short supply) into the enemy. Hopefully Ms. Knowles realizes that eating is not the issue, but rather what and how much you eat. Sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamins A, B6 and C, as well as fiber and a host of antioxidants, and when you "fry" them in the oven in olive oil you cut out the really bad sat fats. I never really cared about the differences of maple syrup before I married a girl from Canada (pretty much) and she got me hooked on the good stuff, adjust it to your taste here. If you want perfect cut fries go to Bed Bath and Beyond and spend $12 on a fry cutter, otherwise any shape works.

Mediterranean Boboli pizza

• 1 Boboli crust
• prepared pesto
• fresh spinach, chopped finely
• pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• 1 jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 425. If you have a pizza stone leave in and make sure it gets all hot, otherwise cook it directly on the rack, but if you're wondering why pizza you make at home sucks it's because you don't have one. Meanwhile, spoon dollops of pesto and ricotta randomly on crust and cover with rest of ingredients being generous as most of this stuff is pretty good for you. Cook in hot oven for 10 minutes or until toppings are hot and crust is crispy.

The dish: There is no substitute for real New York style thin crust, so when I make pizza at home I don't even try to replicate it. Boboli makes a pretty good and very easy crust and I try to load it up with all kinds of things I would never ask the dude with the vowel-heavy name behind the counter at the local pizzeria to top one of his slices with. Themes work well, this Mediterranean one is great for loading up on veggies, but you could just as easily be non-virtuous and have a bbq chicken or meats from around the world pie.