Following are a couple of sample recipes. Recipes appear in each issue, and also occasionally in the Eating Journal.

Note to subscribers: more recipes can be found in the "Subscribers Only" section.

Salmon with Bacon Vinaigrette

With a little practice, this is a fifteen-minute meal. Use whatever vegetables you like - substitute spinach for the arugula, or add some asparagus.

Basically, everything tastes better with bacon.

2 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2" pieces
2 filets salmon, 4 oz. each
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
1 T. olive oil
1 t. mustard
1 t. sugar
juice of 1 lemon OR 2 t. red wine vinegar
arugula, cooked green beans, sliced tomatoes

Season the salmon on both sides with salt and pepper. Set aside to cure for a few minutes while you prepare the vegetables. (Cook the green beans, wash the arugula, etc.) Arrange the prepared vegetables on two serving plates.

Fry bacon until crisp, then remove from pan with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Pour out all but about 1 T. of the fat from the pan. Slip the salmon into the hot fat, and sauté. When it is nicely browned on one side, flip over and cook briefly on the other side (if you like your salmon slightly rare, like me), or until cooked to your taste.

When the fish is cooked, put it on top of the arugula, tomatoes, and green beans on a plate. Your pan will should have a little bacon fat left, along with a little salmon fat - yum! Add the olive oil and onions to the pan, and sauté until the onions are just beginning to soften. Then add the mustard, sugar, and lemon juice to the pan, stir to combine and dissolve sugar. Toss the bacon back in for a few seconds, just to warm it, then spoon the warm vinaigrette over the salmon and vegetables.

Note: this is also delicious with a few good olives (picholine, niçoise, etc.) added at the same time as the onions.

Cuban Sweet Potatoes with garlic and cilantro

Don't judge the complexity of this recipe by the length of the instructions. This is a non-recipe recipe - if you make these potatoes once, you'll never need a recipe again. There're only five ingredients!

Put a heavy-duty baking sheet into the oven and preheat both the oven and the baking sheet to 450º.

2 medium sweet potatoes
4 T. olive oil

Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them in half lengthwise, and then into slices about 1/2-inch thick. Put them in a big bowl, add the olive oil and stir to coat well, then season with salt and toss again.

By this time, the baking sheet should be nice and HOT. Take it carefully out of the oven and pour the sweet potatoes onto it - they should really sizzle. Spread them out so they're all flat and in a single layer. Put them back into the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes - don't wash the bowl.

4 cloves garlic - or more!
1/3 bunch cilantro
juice of 1 lime

Peel the garlic and slice in half lengthwise. If there is a green shoot, remove it, then chop the garlic very finely. Pull the cilantro leaves off of the stems. Cilantro can be gritty, so wash the leaves and spin dry, then chop the leaves roughly. (Sometimes I don't chop them at all.) Put the garlic, cilantro, and lime juice into the bowl you used for the sweet potatoes.

When the timer goes off, check to see if the sweet potatoes are browned on the bottom. If they are, turn them over. If they're not, put them back in for 5 more minutes.

(An aside: Cooking in a 450º oven makes this a quick dish to make, and gives you nice brown potatoes. However, there's a fine line between "brown" and "burnt beyond repair." Use a timer, pay attention, and don't drink any wine until the sweet potatoes are safely out of the oven! Learn from my mistakes...)

After you've turned the sweet potatoes over, put them back into the oven to brown on the other side. This will take a little less time than it took for the first side. Total cooking time should be less than 30 minutes - probably closer to 20, depending on the accuracy of your oven temperature.

When the sweet potatoes are cooked and nicely browned, take them out and immediately toss them into the bowl with the garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with a little more salt and a nice dose of freshly ground black pepper. That's it!

NOTES: Yes, the garlic is raw. It gets warmed up by the hot sweet potatoes, but it doesn't get cooked. It's good, trust me. How many cloves you use depends on your personal taste, as well as on the age of the garlic. If you're worried about using too much (is there any such thing as too much garlic?), chop the full amount, but only add half to the bowl. You can always add the rest later, as long as you add it while the potatoes are still hot.

If you don't like cilantro, use parsley instead. Last night I used parsley and lemon juice instead of lime, and it was still good.

Red pepper flakes are a very nice addition. Tabasco on the table is good for those who like it.