Fancy encrusted salmon recipe from "gluten free 'Every Day'" Cookbook

The Recipe: Hazelnut-Encrusted Salmon with Cilantro-Lime Creme

• serves 4
• *Fancy Enough to Impress your In-Laws* Alert
• I served it with a side of salad and millet flavored with bouillon powder and assorted herbs.

The Ingredients:
1/4 c. sour cream
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp minced fresh cilantro
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. tapioca flour
1/2 c. hazelnuts, ground
1/3 c. gluten-free dried bread crumbs
2 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
2 large eggs
olive oil, for panfrying
4 (6-oz) salmon fillets, skin and pin bones removed

The Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. For the creme: In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lime juice, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate until needed.

For the salmon: In a shallow bowl, combine the tapioca flour and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Set aside. In a 9-in. pie plate, combine the hazelnuts, bread crumbs, and rosemary; stir to blend. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until pale and frothy.

In a large ovenproof skillet, heat 1/4 inch olive oil over med-high heat. Dredge both sides of the salmon fillets in the tapioca flour, then in the eggs, and then in the hazelnut mixture. Place the salmon fillets in the skillet and cook until lightly browned on the bottom, 2 to 3 min. Flip the salmon over and repeat on the other side. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast until the salmon is flaky and slightly translucent, 5 to 7 min. Serve with a dollop of cilantro-lime creme.

The Elegant Evidence

My Take on the Bake
This was a very tasty dish! We couldn't find hazelnuts anywhere in the grocery store, so we used pecans instead, which tasted fabulous. We also couldn't find tapioca flour anywhere, so we substituted with gluten-free baking flour, a mix of different gluten-free grain flours, which we found in the normal flour aisle at Meijer's. It did take me a minute to get used to eating nuts on a meat, but I was won over by the end of eating my fillet. Add in the cilantro-lime creme and you've got an interesting medley of flavors for your tongue to play with.

My mom was surprised, however, to find this recipe in my cookbook titled "gluten free Every Day." She says nice restaurants serve this dish, and it certainly wouldn't be an every day meal. Unfortunately, most of the meals in this book are fancier dishes that take a long time to prepare. I think sometime soon I'm going to experiment with making some simple quinoa and polenta dishes that won't take long, because I do really need to learn how to make quick easy dinners for most days of the rest of my life when I don't live in a dorm *college ends sometime, really?*