38 posts tagged “salmon”
I normally do these with shrimp, but this time I tried salmon. As much as I love salmon, I'd say I definitely prefer shrimp, though. The Béchamel-style sauce gets its flavors from butter, onions, scallions, celery, cream, lemon (or in this case, lime) juice and cayenne pepper, so the flavors of salmon (or shrimp) aren't very noticeable -- but shrimp at least has an interesting texture.
Still, I had originally intended to blacken the salmon before adding it to the sauce -- I just ran out of time -- so I might yet have another attempt at this.
Still, I had originally intended to blacken the salmon before adding it to the sauce -- I just ran out of time -- so I might yet have another attempt at this.
My third go at this dish, and I'm becoming very comfortable with it. I had the dough for some naan to go with it -- cooking it isn't a big deal (not anymore, at least, now that I've got the hang of it), but I knew I was gonna be pretty tired, so I wanted something easy, and that's Meen Kari in a nutshell.
1 Tbsp ghee or butter
6 shallots (Occasionally I use a red onion, since I always have them on hand)
1 1/2 tbsp AP flour
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 finely diced Serrano chili
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
3 cups of water
1 lb. Salmon fillet or steak, deboned, skinned and cut into 1" pieces
1 cup thick coconut milk (make sure to include the thick bits of the milk)
1 tsp white wine vinegar
Freshly crushed black peppercorns
Chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves
1. Sautée shallots in ghee/butter until browned.
2. Add flour, tomato paste, chili powder, coriander, turmeric and salt. Mix well.
3. While stirring constantly (to avoid lumps), slowly add the water and bring to a boil.
4. Add fish, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the fish is cooked.
5. Remove from heat and stir in coconut milk and vinegar.
6. Sprinkle with crushed black pepper and chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves and serve.
If you don't have naan, some plain rice in the bottom of the bowl would work very nicely for soaking up the juices, too. And of course, there's no strict need to stay on an Asian theme, either: you could just get a baguette. After all, the Vietnamese learnt to make a baguette from the French -- theirs is made from rice flower, and called Bánh mì.
Every now and then, I cook something really good. Every now and then, I cook something that's pretty awful. The more I cook, the more frequently my grub ends up being good. And when that happens, I try to expand my horizons. I try to cook unusual things.
The last three meals I made were great. So I got a little ambitious and went for something unusual. I tried to create a galette -- well, hell, to cut to the chase: a tandoori spiced salmon pizza with pâte brisée in lieu of the pizza dough. It didn't turn out too good, though. The pastry wasn't cooked through -- only the edges had that lovely crispy crust... The tandoori paste was overwhelming. It looked good, but the taste -- not so good.
Considering the rather obvious (in retrospect) fact that short crust pastry is very rich, maybe I should have done something to the tandoori paste, to lighten it. I don't know.
This is a tricky one. But I still think the overall idea is sound, though.
And yeah, the rice is the same as the last dish I made. I guess I can be a bit predictable.
The last three meals I made were great. So I got a little ambitious and went for something unusual. I tried to create a galette -- well, hell, to cut to the chase: a tandoori spiced salmon pizza with pâte brisée in lieu of the pizza dough. It didn't turn out too good, though. The pastry wasn't cooked through -- only the edges had that lovely crispy crust... The tandoori paste was overwhelming. It looked good, but the taste -- not so good.
Considering the rather obvious (in retrospect) fact that short crust pastry is very rich, maybe I should have done something to the tandoori paste, to lighten it. I don't know.
This is a tricky one. But I still think the overall idea is sound, though.
And yeah, the rice is the same as the last dish I made. I guess I can be a bit predictable.
This recipe has seriously started to grow on me. Having done this thing a couple of times before -- and having been very happy with the results, I can't help but wonder about what I can do to improve it. Hey, I'm a nerd, what can I say...
The original recipe didn't use salmon, as far as I can remember. But salmon is the obvious choice here -- not just for the sake of the taste, but the colors. The colors are just excellent. Radiant.
You can find the recipe in the above links. "Hearty" style mashy taters (ie., washed and scrubbed and cleaned -- but with the peel on), and some microwaved, frozen peas. And a bit of lime, for a squeeze. Oh, and a bit of dill over the salmon (my only modification of the original recipe).
The original recipe didn't use salmon, as far as I can remember. But salmon is the obvious choice here -- not just for the sake of the taste, but the colors. The colors are just excellent. Radiant.
You can find the recipe in the above links. "Hearty" style mashy taters (ie., washed and scrubbed and cleaned -- but with the peel on), and some microwaved, frozen peas. And a bit of lime, for a squeeze. Oh, and a bit of dill over the salmon (my only modification of the original recipe).
A remake of this one. This is a really simple way to get all those nice, complex tandoori-style flavors onto a fish fillet...
Here's the recipe:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2" ginger, chopped
2 tsp garam masala
1-2 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
Chopped dill for garnish
1) Toast the coriander and cumin seeds a few minutes, until they become fragrant, and grind them up with the salt (I use a mortar -- the salt helps pulverize the spices).
2) Blend everything else together (I use a stick blender, since this makes a relatively small amount).
3) Smear over salmon fillet and sauté in non-stick pan over medium heat till done (start smeared-side down).
4) Serve, optionally sprinkled with chopped dill.
The original recipe used paprika, but the paprika I use had no effect on the flavor. Also, the original recipe used lemon juice, but I think lime juice creates a much more interesting, zesty flavor. The only spiciness comes from the chili powder, so you can adjust according to your heat preferences. I think this dish is best with a pretty modest level of heat -- but I'm biased, because I love the taste of salmon.
This would probably work really well with shrimp or crayfish. I might try that next time around. Or fry some toast with it and top with smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and chives -- I could git me some of that there fusion cuisine and whatnot, heheh.
(The side dishes are just plain rice, and a spinach curry that didn't turn out too good.)
A few things about portions, servings and sizes: I tend to use anything from 1/4 lb. to 1/2 lb. of salmon fillet (or any other boneless protein) per person. It depends both on how big an appetite people have, as well as how filling the side dishes are. And also, to be quite honest it depends on whether I'm familiar with the side dishes (and the starches) and feel confident that they'll be tasty. If I'm doing a side dish I know will be good, I've got no problem using a little less protein -- people can fill up on some tasty veggies... But if I'm doing a side dish for the first time, it's different -- I don't want to give someone a small piece of tasty salmon, with a side dish that (big or small) isn't too good, leaving people to fill up on the starch.
The tandoori paste makes enough to cover about 6-8 portion of salmon. I didn't need that much, but it's hard to properly blend anything smaller (besides, you can always find more use for the leftover paste -- which I hopefully will, this week).
Here's the recipe:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2" ginger, chopped
2 tsp garam masala
1-2 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
Chopped dill for garnish
1) Toast the coriander and cumin seeds a few minutes, until they become fragrant, and grind them up with the salt (I use a mortar -- the salt helps pulverize the spices).
2) Blend everything else together (I use a stick blender, since this makes a relatively small amount).
3) Smear over salmon fillet and sauté in non-stick pan over medium heat till done (start smeared-side down).
4) Serve, optionally sprinkled with chopped dill.
The original recipe used paprika, but the paprika I use had no effect on the flavor. Also, the original recipe used lemon juice, but I think lime juice creates a much more interesting, zesty flavor. The only spiciness comes from the chili powder, so you can adjust according to your heat preferences. I think this dish is best with a pretty modest level of heat -- but I'm biased, because I love the taste of salmon.
This would probably work really well with shrimp or crayfish. I might try that next time around. Or fry some toast with it and top with smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and chives -- I could git me some of that there fusion cuisine and whatnot, heheh.
(The side dishes are just plain rice, and a spinach curry that didn't turn out too good.)
A few things about portions, servings and sizes: I tend to use anything from 1/4 lb. to 1/2 lb. of salmon fillet (or any other boneless protein) per person. It depends both on how big an appetite people have, as well as how filling the side dishes are. And also, to be quite honest it depends on whether I'm familiar with the side dishes (and the starches) and feel confident that they'll be tasty. If I'm doing a side dish I know will be good, I've got no problem using a little less protein -- people can fill up on some tasty veggies... But if I'm doing a side dish for the first time, it's different -- I don't want to give someone a small piece of tasty salmon, with a side dish that (big or small) isn't too good, leaving people to fill up on the starch.
The tandoori paste makes enough to cover about 6-8 portion of salmon. I didn't need that much, but it's hard to properly blend anything smaller (besides, you can always find more use for the leftover paste -- which I hopefully will, this week).
Yeah, it's a mess... And strangely enough, it's from The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2007 -- these guys are normally dead on, but not in this case. They actually suggested flipping the salmon fillet with a pair of tongs! I used two big, lubricated spatulas, and it still fell apart -- the damned thing woulda turned into salmon mousse if I'd tried it with a pair of tongs.
This is one of the situations where a salmon steak would have worked much better -- skin off, debone and wrap some butcher's twine around it. Much better structural integrity than a fillet.
The taste was okay, but nothing noteworthy.
This is one of the situations where a salmon steak would have worked much better -- skin off, debone and wrap some butcher's twine around it. Much better structural integrity than a fillet.
The taste was okay, but nothing noteworthy.
This is fantastic. I do a lot of salmon, but it's rare that I find a truly different way of preparing the noble fish... This is from an episode of Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen (the British one). I'm not a fanatic, but trying to learn Indian cooking (and to learn about the cuisine, and its history), I don't like it too much when words like "curry" and "tandoori" is thrown around without much regard for what they actually mean. Like that Top Chef star Marcel (or whatever his name was -- the arrogant dweeb with the Wolverine-caught-in-a-wind-tunnel hairdo) who was totally on the ball with almost everything he did, but then presented a dish with the words, "Oh, just some Madras curry powder." Not that Indians themselves are too clear on things either -- Garam Masala can almost mean anything...
Not that Ramsay needs my forgiveness, but I don't care if this thing is called tandoori -- it's absolutely excellent. And it has a far more appetizing color than that unnatural red (food coloring) that is normally used for tandoor style food. Oh, and Ramsay used halibut for this -- but as I said, I love salmon. And it worked out great.
Roast some cumin and coriander, and grind it with some salt. Add chopped garlic and ginger (those four are like Indian Mirepoix, kind of, heheh), garam masala, chili powder, turmeric and paprika, and grind some more. Add lemon juice, a bit of tomato purée, some sugar, and mix it in with some plain yogurt. The dill was my own idea -- and it was an excellent addition, if I do say so myself...
You don't have to marinate it -- you can just pan fry it straight away. But you do need a decent non-stick pan, mind you (although it would be very interesting to marinate it for a while, scraping it all off, brushing with some oil and then grilling it).
Not that Ramsay needs my forgiveness, but I don't care if this thing is called tandoori -- it's absolutely excellent. And it has a far more appetizing color than that unnatural red (food coloring) that is normally used for tandoor style food. Oh, and Ramsay used halibut for this -- but as I said, I love salmon. And it worked out great.
Roast some cumin and coriander, and grind it with some salt. Add chopped garlic and ginger (those four are like Indian Mirepoix, kind of, heheh), garam masala, chili powder, turmeric and paprika, and grind some more. Add lemon juice, a bit of tomato purée, some sugar, and mix it in with some plain yogurt. The dill was my own idea -- and it was an excellent addition, if I do say so myself...
You don't have to marinate it -- you can just pan fry it straight away. But you do need a decent non-stick pan, mind you (although it would be very interesting to marinate it for a while, scraping it all off, brushing with some oil and then grilling it).
I make a lot of salmon fillets, and this one's covered with a panko crust with grated orange zest and ginger, salt and pepper, and baked in the oven during the end of the cauliflower's baking process.
In truth, the cauliflower is the star here. Roasted cauliflower is unbelievable. I don't know of any food substance that is even remotely as severely improved by roasting, as cauliflower. It's almost scary. As much as I love Indian food, Aloo Gobi can't hold a candle to this (and I love aloo gobi). Exotic spices and fancy sauces can can obviously improve cauliflower, but they cover up the vegetable's natural taste. Roasting it keeps the natural flavor -- and makes it taste fantastic. I like to add some sliced onions also -- they'll get completely charred, and you dispose of them, but they impart an extra level of intensity on the cauliflower.
The recipe is very simple: Slice the cauliflower into 1/4" slices, drizzle in olive oil, salt and pepper. Place them in a baking tray, and add some sliced onion in between. Bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes -- until the edges starts getting browned. Amazing.
In truth, the cauliflower is the star here. Roasted cauliflower is unbelievable. I don't know of any food substance that is even remotely as severely improved by roasting, as cauliflower. It's almost scary. As much as I love Indian food, Aloo Gobi can't hold a candle to this (and I love aloo gobi). Exotic spices and fancy sauces can can obviously improve cauliflower, but they cover up the vegetable's natural taste. Roasting it keeps the natural flavor -- and makes it taste fantastic. I like to add some sliced onions also -- they'll get completely charred, and you dispose of them, but they impart an extra level of intensity on the cauliflower.
The recipe is very simple: Slice the cauliflower into 1/4" slices, drizzle in olive oil, salt and pepper. Place them in a baking tray, and add some sliced onion in between. Bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes -- until the edges starts getting browned. Amazing.
- Panko-crusted baked salmon, marinated with a paste of orange rid, galangal and habanero, on top of boiled rice, on top of sautéed spinach with garlic.
- A relish of homegrown orange and grapefruit suprêmes coarsely chopped, in white wine vinegar, soy sauce and grated ginger.
- And oyster sauce.
I caught an episode of Iron Chef America (Battle beet, against Homaro Cantu) where Morimoto made oshizushi -- pressed sushi. This stuff dates back to the origin of sushi when fish would be packed together with rice, which would ferment and produce vinegar, and preserve the fish. That might sound a little weird, or even nasty, but it's no different from French confit, which is considered pretty good eats.
Now, I don't have the wooden box that is used to create it (oshizushihako!), so I had to make do with a couple of pyrex baking dishes. I guess Morimoto would be mortified, but this isn't actually sushi anyhow, so hey -- why not?
The salmon, rice and spinach kinda makes up the Irish tricolor -- the orange and the green represents the British and Irish alliances of Irish society, with the white representing peace between the two.
Oh, and there's also some oyster sauce (that's the Dubh Linn part of the title -- Dublin: Black Water). I got that from a Chinese style steamed fish recipe from the California Culinary Academy.
Wasn't too happy with the results, though: the oyster sauce was a little too heavy. I should have drained most of the liquid off the relish. I scraped the paste off of the salmon before baking it, since I was concerned about the extreme heat of the habanero (I thought a half hour "marination" would leave plenty of flavor, but it left nothing). There were just too many flavors; too much of a mess.
The structural integrity of the thing wasn't very good either -- I pressed the spinach and rice down, but didn't want to do that to the salmon. The spinach just doesn't lend itself well to this -- it tends to cling together and sort of rips things apart when you cut into it.
But I still like the idea of pressing rice together like this -- I just need to find something more suitable to go along with it. And then I need to calm down and not add half a dozen flavors to it, heheh... Well, you live and learn...
- A relish of homegrown orange and grapefruit suprêmes coarsely chopped, in white wine vinegar, soy sauce and grated ginger.
- And oyster sauce.
I caught an episode of Iron Chef America (Battle beet, against Homaro Cantu) where Morimoto made oshizushi -- pressed sushi. This stuff dates back to the origin of sushi when fish would be packed together with rice, which would ferment and produce vinegar, and preserve the fish. That might sound a little weird, or even nasty, but it's no different from French confit, which is considered pretty good eats.
Now, I don't have the wooden box that is used to create it (oshizushihako!), so I had to make do with a couple of pyrex baking dishes. I guess Morimoto would be mortified, but this isn't actually sushi anyhow, so hey -- why not?
The salmon, rice and spinach kinda makes up the Irish tricolor -- the orange and the green represents the British and Irish alliances of Irish society, with the white representing peace between the two.
Oh, and there's also some oyster sauce (that's the Dubh Linn part of the title -- Dublin: Black Water). I got that from a Chinese style steamed fish recipe from the California Culinary Academy.
Wasn't too happy with the results, though: the oyster sauce was a little too heavy. I should have drained most of the liquid off the relish. I scraped the paste off of the salmon before baking it, since I was concerned about the extreme heat of the habanero (I thought a half hour "marination" would leave plenty of flavor, but it left nothing). There were just too many flavors; too much of a mess.
The structural integrity of the thing wasn't very good either -- I pressed the spinach and rice down, but didn't want to do that to the salmon. The spinach just doesn't lend itself well to this -- it tends to cling together and sort of rips things apart when you cut into it.
But I still like the idea of pressing rice together like this -- I just need to find something more suitable to go along with it. And then I need to calm down and not add half a dozen flavors to it, heheh... Well, you live and learn...
A friend recently lent me a book called "Curry Cuisine: Fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia." I'm normally a little weary of the use of the phrase "curry" -- it's just not accurate, nor fair -- to describe the enormous variety in Indian cuisine (or the rest of South East Asia for that matter) as simply "curry." But I'm no fanatic, and this book looked very promising.
This is the first dish I tried: a Sri Lankan fish stew called Meen Kari, along with a very simple, unleavened bread called Tawa Paratha. The bread was unremarkable, but the stew was excellent. It was also very simple, and quick (if it wasn't, I'd never dare try baking bread along with it, heheh).
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp ghee or butter
12 shallots (I used 6)
1 1/2 tsp AP flour
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp chili powder (I used a full teaspoon, which was a little too much -- but that all depends on how hot your chili powder is, of course)
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
salt to taste
14 oz kingfish or salmon fillet (I used the latter), skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup thick coconut milk
1 tsp wine or cider vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)
pinch of crushed black peppercorns
1. Sautée shallots in ghee/butter until browned.
2. Add flour, tomato paste, chili powder, coriander, turmeric and salt. Mix well.
3. While stirring constantly (to avoid lumps), slowly add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
4. Add fish, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the fish is cooked.
5. Remove from heat and stir in coconut milk and vinegar.
6. Sprinkle with crushed black pepper (I also added chopped cilantro) and serve.
The flavor of this dish wasn't hugely different from anything else I've had, but it was definitely a new taste -- and an excellent one, at that. The sweetness of the shallots and coconut was perfectly balanced against the heat of the spices and the sharpness of the vinegar. I tasted the sauce before I added the vinegar, and found that it was really pretty spicy, so I decided to go with the mildest vinegar I had on hand -- rice wine vinegar. I think that was a good decision. A sharper vinegar would have bumped the heat up even more.
Serving this over rice would be good -- so it could soak up the sauce. Also, I think adding some potatoes to the stew would be a good idea.
As far as the paratha goes -- I used kosher salt, but not enough. When I use kosher salt, it seems like I almost have to double the amount, compared to regular salt. So it was very bland. Also, it was too thin to be able to soak up the sauce. I didn't have time to rise a leavened bread, but a naan would have been far better.
Well, Meen Kari is definitely gonna see some repeat play.
This is the first dish I tried: a Sri Lankan fish stew called Meen Kari, along with a very simple, unleavened bread called Tawa Paratha. The bread was unremarkable, but the stew was excellent. It was also very simple, and quick (if it wasn't, I'd never dare try baking bread along with it, heheh).
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp ghee or butter
12 shallots (I used 6)
1 1/2 tsp AP flour
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp chili powder (I used a full teaspoon, which was a little too much -- but that all depends on how hot your chili powder is, of course)
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
salt to taste
14 oz kingfish or salmon fillet (I used the latter), skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup thick coconut milk
1 tsp wine or cider vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)
pinch of crushed black peppercorns
1. Sautée shallots in ghee/butter until browned.
2. Add flour, tomato paste, chili powder, coriander, turmeric and salt. Mix well.
3. While stirring constantly (to avoid lumps), slowly add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
4. Add fish, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the fish is cooked.
5. Remove from heat and stir in coconut milk and vinegar.
6. Sprinkle with crushed black pepper (I also added chopped cilantro) and serve.
The flavor of this dish wasn't hugely different from anything else I've had, but it was definitely a new taste -- and an excellent one, at that. The sweetness of the shallots and coconut was perfectly balanced against the heat of the spices and the sharpness of the vinegar. I tasted the sauce before I added the vinegar, and found that it was really pretty spicy, so I decided to go with the mildest vinegar I had on hand -- rice wine vinegar. I think that was a good decision. A sharper vinegar would have bumped the heat up even more.
Serving this over rice would be good -- so it could soak up the sauce. Also, I think adding some potatoes to the stew would be a good idea.
As far as the paratha goes -- I used kosher salt, but not enough. When I use kosher salt, it seems like I almost have to double the amount, compared to regular salt. So it was very bland. Also, it was too thin to be able to soak up the sauce. I didn't have time to rise a leavened bread, but a naan would have been far better.
Well, Meen Kari is definitely gonna see some repeat play.
