Prepping dinner in a small galley

Galleys are much smaller than kitchens!

One thing you will learn very quickly on a boat our size, is that there is NOT a lot of room to make any kind of gourmet meals.  I love to cook and entertain, and I couldn't wait to do that on our boat. Soon I realized things had to be very simple and pre-planned.

This is our "kitchen", which includes a microwave and a two burner stove top.

Elliott Bay Marina, is located just down the road from Whole Foods and Wild Salmon Seafood Market at Fisherman's terminal (great FRESH fish daily!)

We bought a grill that fits perfectly on the side of the boat and I'm amazed as to how much food we can cook on it.  Last week we bought "marbled salmon", which I had never had before from Wild Salmon and it was fantastic! Because it has a higher fat content, it stays moist when you grill it.  The grill does have larger grates, so we typically will use our lava stone or foil to keep things cleaner.

Since we are buying super fresh fish, you only need a few spices on hand. We simply used garlic salt, Italian seasoning and pepper with some olive oil for this salmon.

Pair it with a pasta and green salad, which you can make ahead and you have the perfect dinner for hot weather!

 Sweet Chopped Kale Salad with Beets

1 Bag of Taylor Farms Sweet Chopped Kale Salad kit
1/4 cup of chopped red onion
1/2 cup of sliced English cucumber

3 small roasted red beets, sliced & cut in half

Mix all the ingredients when ready to serve. The kit comes with cranberries & poppy seed dressing.

Pesto Pasta Salad

Box of your favorite cooked pasta (we used a "pantry" combo of rotini & ziti)

1/4 cup (or more if needed) prepared pesto

fresh mozzarella (we used medallions sliced, but you can use any type)

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1 cup heirloom cherry tomatoes sliced in half

1 cup sliced English cucumbers

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients and chill for at least 1 hour. We transferred the salad to a zip lock bag for compact storing on the boat. It was great for another two days!

Many times weekends, we'll go down and stay on the boat on Fridays. Since we work on Fridays, we don't have time to prep for dinner. That's when we will swing by Alberton's grocery store (they have the best fried chicken) and buy their six piece chicken dinner with the side dishes. It transports easy and there's no cleanup!

If you are searching for ideas, two of my favorite cookbooks for the galley are One-Pan Galley Gourmet and Six Ingredients or Less cookbooks. Simple and perfect for a boat!

When in doubt and it's a hot day, you can always fall back on a fresh tomato salad with mozzarella! It only has four ingredients and tons of flavor!

Heirloom Tomato Salad

Heirloom cherry tomatoes

Mozzarella Balls

Fresh Basil

Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing- see below

Dressing:

1/4 cup red-wine vinegar.

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.

1 teaspoon sugar.

Salt and black pepper, to taste.

N/A black pepper.

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil.

Use as much of any of the items as you wish and mix the ingredients about one hour before serving.

We haven't been entertaining that much this summer on the boat, since we have such a great restaurant at the marina, Maggie's Bluffs. But as Fall arrives, we'll be spending more time on it and we'll share some of the great recipes with you!

Cheers, Scott and Ally