The aroma of garlic fills the air

My wife is a huge mashed potatoes fan. I mean big time. I've tried to make many variations for her. Some successful, some not so much. I've learned that while my broccoli & cheddar mashed rules, my lobster mashed failed miserably. Once, I found a list of 50 top mashed potatoes. It took one basic mashed recipe and had a whole bunch of add-ons/variations to make the spuds turn to studs. Now there are 51.
Today I got motivated to create my own variation. Lately, fresh garlic has found its way into most of my recipes. Don't know why, but  it has. This particular recipe was actually inspired by my mom.  She's a great cook and someone who showed me the joy of roasted vegetables. She also makes great roasted garlic. Just make sure you're using real fresh garlic.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
-6 or 7 large Yukon Gold potatoes. (Don't use Idaho)
-1 cup milk
-1/2 stick of butter
-salt
-pepper
-2 cloves of fresh garlic
-handful of chives
-olive oil

Put a pot of water up to boil. Wash and peel potatoes.

Once the water boils, submerge potatoes for about 30-35 minutes until you can easily stick a fork in them.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take 2 cloves of garlic and cut off the top so each head has the top removed.

Drizzle olive oil onto garlic cloves, then wrap each in tin foil and roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Drain potatoes

Put potatoes back in pot and mash half way. Add butter and milk.

Take out garlic from oven and once it's slightly cooled, squeeze garlic out of its skin.

Mix garlic into mashed potatoes, making sure you don't leave big chunks.

Chop your chives and add them to your finished product and salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Salmon and Squid Ink Pasta

I got backlogged again, so I'm playing catch up. As you can probably guess, I love seafood. Sundays at the fish counter are always a favorite time of mine. Is it weird that I'm excited to see what new an interesting types and flavors could be waiting? I'd like to think not, but who knows?
Anyway, I saw a beautiful piece of salmon in the case. Bright and not overly thick. Perfect for a quick roast.
Now, we're big pasta fans as well. Usually we do whole wheat to keep healthy, but often we try to find fresh pasta with a good flavor. We once took a fresh pasta cooking class and it made it very hard to go back to the box. There's nothing like making your own and hanging it to dry. Makes for a great dinner. We found a great middle ground while shopping  at Garden of Eden, a gourmet market with sensational produce, pasta and fish/meat selection. Not to mention the bakery. But I digress.  We found an al dente squid ink pasta that hits the right spot and consider it a treat every once in a while.  And it's black. How cool is that??!?! Looks great on the plate too.

Roasted Salmon and Squid Ink Pasta-
-1 salmon fillet
-2 tablespoons olive oil (I used a roasted garlic infused one)
-Salt
-Pepper
-1 tablespoon chopped chives
-1 tablespoon chopped  tarragon
- al dente squid ink pasta.
-jar of marinara sauce

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and put on a pot of water to boil for the pasta

Spray a tin foil coated baking sheet for the salmon. Rub olive oil into salmon fillet, but not too heavily. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Rub that in as well.

Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, sprinkle chives and tarragon on the salmon and put back in the oven for 5 more minutes.

Once water is boiled, empty contents of the bag of pasta into the water. Cook pasta for a total of 7-10 minutes depending on how soft you want it. Let it go any further and it will start to break down. For the first minute, let the pasta sit and then stir.

Strain into a colender and serve.

Add marinara to pasta and enjoy. I also sometimes grate a little fresh parmesan cheese to the pasta.