Pecan Crusted Salmon

I hope your Valentine's Day was special. This year, I decided to treat my husband to date night, because normally he is in charge of all the Valentine plans. He loves watching the Food Network shows, so when I received an email that a nearby restaurant was having a Valentine's Day brunch and cooking class with an amazing local chef known for his cowboy cooking, I signed us up. I managed to keep it a secret for a whole month.

When his mom arrived to babysit I started giving him clues. I usually only do silly games with my kids, but somehow I was inspired to try it on my husband. I was a little worried he would think it was stupid and corny but I gave it a shot. I had envelopes with six clues. In each envelope was a graphic image clue. It was comparable to playing pictionary, but I did not have to draw.

For example, one was a fire with a cooking kettle hanging over it. Another was a line of people, a spear, a camp sign, etc.

About 5 minutes into the game, my husband smiled and said, this is pretty fun. No wonder our boys like the silly things you do. He did figure it out before we arrived and was fairly please with himself. We went to Linecamp's Steakhouse in Tolar, Texas with chef Grady Spears. I will share a few pictures at the end and eventually some new recipes. No, this salmon recipe is not from Grady Spears. His recipes are much fancier!

Ingredients:

Salmon Fillets

2 cups milk

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 packed brown sugar

2 tsp seasoned salt

2 tsp pepper

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Place salmon fillets in a large resealable plastic bag; add milk. Let stand for 10 minutes; drain.

2. Let stand for ten minutes; drain. In a shallow bowl, combine the pecans, flour, brown sugar, seasoned salt and pepper. Coat fillets with pecan mixture, gently pressing into the fish.

3. In a large skillet, brown salmon in oil over medium-high heat. Transfer to a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

4. Enjoy!

This is Grady Spears at our cowboy cooking class. They have a class in the warm weather, where he cooks outside over an open flame that sounds really intriguing as well.

My husband and I at LineCamp Steakhouse for our brunch and cooking class....after some amazing margaritas.