Easy French Inspired Dinner

I caught a small portion of Hubert Keller's cooking show on OPB this morning and totally got inspired to do a French themed dinner. Generally, French food is much too fussy and dignified for my taste, but I decided to go with 2 rustic French classics that are incredibly easy to make; Salmon filet en papillote and ratatouille.

• Entree: Salmon filet en Papillote 
• Side Dish: Ratatouille
• Appetizer: Onion Rings with Spicy Aioli

Entree: Salmon Filet en Papillote
Ingredients

• 2- 6 oz salmon filets
• 2 lemons (sliced)
• 2 teaspoons fresh or dried herbs (I used dill, marjoram, savory, lemon zest and pepper)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 shallot minced
• 1 sheet of parchment paper

Put sliced lemons on bottom of salmon. Top salmon with herb mix, more lemon slices, olive oil, garlic, shallot and lemon zest. Close the parchment paper and cook @375 for 15-20 minutes.


Side Dish: Ratatouille

• 1 eggplant diced
• 3-4 small zucchini diced
• 1 large sweet onion or red onion sliced
• 2 large tomatoes diced
• 1 red pepper diced
• 1 green pepper diced
• one handful fresh basil chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 bunch parsley chopped

Roast all the Veggies in the oven for 20-25 minutes @ 400 degrees. Take them out and saute them in a pan with the garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add vinegar. Toss with parsley and you are done!

Appetizer: Onion Rings and Spicy Aioli
The onion ring recipe can be found on Hubert Keller's website.
For the Aioli I used Julia Child's recipe for mayo and then added in 1 garlic clove, 1 Tablespoon of Siracha and 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest.

Onion Rings and Spicy homemade Aioli

Salmon and Ratatouille