Greg's Birthday: Salmon Fillets with Mango Salsa and Yellow Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting

So Lena, Alex, and I made dinner for our friend Greg for his birthday last weekend. I made my favorite salmon dish, which features a zesty mango salsa. I had originally imagined this salsa myself, then input all the ingredients into the search site on Epicurious and adapted their recipe.

Salsa recipe:
2 mangoes, diced (should not be fully ripe yet)
1 large red onion, diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/4 C lime juice, freshly squeezed
2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in large bowl, adding last four ingredients last. Start with adding only a portion of the onion and jalapeno pepper, and add more to taste.


Salmon:
2lbs salmon fillet
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup mango salsa, above

Lay fillet(s) out on foil-covered cookie sheet or broiler pan. With brush, lightly coat fillets in melted butter. Spread salsa over salmon, massaging lightly into fillets. Be sure to rub salt and pepper into fillets for flavor. Can add more salt, pepper if there's not enough from the salsa.

Bake at 350 F for roughly 15 minutes. I suck at this part and compulsively check the salmon with a fork to check if it flakes. When it flakes, it's done.

Serve with mango salsa. Pairs nicely with wild rice, spinach salad, and white wine (I think chardonnay goes well).

So I also made a yellow cake with lemon cream frosting, as per Greg's request. I used a yellow cake recipe from Epicurious:

2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, kept at room temperature for 30 minutes
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup whole milk ... I didn't have whole milk so I used 1/4 C heavy cream and 1/2 C skim milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 13- by 9-inch metal baking pan (not dark) or 2 (8- or 9-inch) round pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla, and beat until thoroughly incorporated, about 5 minutes. Mix in flour mixture in 4 batches alternately with milk at low speed, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until batter is just smooth, then spread evenly in pan.
Bake cake in middle of oven until it begins to pull away from sides of pan and a tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes (cake will be pale in color, not golden brown like a cake-mix cake). Cool 5 minutes in pan, then invert onto a rack and cool completely.

The frosting I made from a recipe on Epicurious. I only used half the amount the recipe called for and had more than enough frosting.

So, adjusted to the amount I used is the recipe:

1 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until just firm enough to spread, about 15-20 minutes.