2 boneless salmon filets, about 6 oz each
1 lemon, zested, then halved
1 lime, zested, then halved
1 orange, zested, then halved
2 Tbsp cilantro, divided, finely chopped
1 cup French green lentils
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
5 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
salt
freshly ground pepper
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add lentils. Cook until soft but still slightly firm in the center, about 20-25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cut two large pieces of parchment into a heart shape and place one piece of salmon on the right half of each heart.
3. Squeeze about a tablespoon each of lemon, lime, and orange juice over the salmon and season with salt, pepper and the lemon, lime and orange zest. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp cilantro over salmon (reserving the other tablespoon for the lentils) along with one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil per fillet.
4. Fold empty parchment half over the salmon. Starting at the top of the heart, crimp edges with small, overlapping folds to seal package tightly. If you can't secure the end closed tight enough, use a paperclip. Place packets on a baking sheet and then into the oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on how you like your salmon (I like a 10-12 minute salmon, which is about medium).
5. While the salmon cooks, drain the lentils and whisk together the mustard, olive oil, vinegar and the remaining cilantro. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the lentils, tossing to combine. Add green onions and toss to combine.
6. When the salmon is done, remove it from the oven and serve still in its paper container, or remove to a plate along with any accumulated juices. Serve with warm lentil salad and enjoy!
-Laura
As I alluded in an earlier blog, I spent the week prior to Christmas working on an exciting photo shoot that I can't wait to share with you all. Although it kept me busy and on my feet--one whole day of shopping, prepping and cooking plus another day of cooking and styling on set--it was also inspiring in countless ways despite all the work involved. The recipes I styled were tailored towards the winter season so it was nice to actually work with the foods and vegetables that are currently in stores and at the market (often times publications shoot stories with a lead time of 2-4 months, so working in relative "real time" is a rarity). One dish I worked on utilized salmon, a protein that I am sad to say I do not cook nearly enough of these days despite how incredibly good it is for you (in addition to being delicious). I've been so focused on vegetables as of late that my once meaty ways have appeared to be a thing of the past. But I do still love my proteins, and it's nice to be reminded once in a while of how good some can actually be for you.
Once I was reminded of how tasty salmon was, the undeniable health facts came flooding to mind: it's packed with omega-3 fatty acids (especially the wild varieties) which are healthy, unsaturated fats that are great for your heart and even better for your skin and hair. The American Heart Association recommends eating these "fatty" fish (and others like mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna) at least twice a week, especially as a replacement for proteins packed with saturated fats. Unfortunately for all of us, the mercury levels found in some fish have deterred people like me, who used to eat fish 1-2 times a week from continuing to do so. I've instead turned to lean cuts of pork (remember when it was "the other white meat"?) and mountains of protein-rich grains like quinoa, but I'd like to once again give fish the old college try. The truth is that fish like salmon are filling and meaty without feeling heavy, and healthy preparations like oven roasting, poaching and steaming are often the way they're most delicious (try steaming that rib-eye and tell me how it tastes).
A healthy and filling portion of salmon generally weighs in at 6 ounces, which initially didn't sound like much to me, but after researching in several supermarkets and cookbooks it became clear that 6 ounces was plenty when served with a side of, well...pretty much anything. In fact, most supermarkets will get you by packaging one piece that's twice as large (and thus twice as expensive), and selling it to you as one portion. I've found that getting your portions cut at your fish counter is usually a better bet than getting the pre-packed pieces in the refrigerator case. Not only can you dictate the portion size, but you can often verify that a piece you see cut from a whole fish has not been previously frozen. Some higher-end markets like Whole Foods even have special deals on "healthy" portions of certain types of fish, which are worth taking advantage of, especially if you're only cooking for one.
Once I had salmon on the brain I knew exactly what to serve with it. I love the classic French pairing of salmon over lentils (talk about a health wallop), and there just happened to be enough French green lentils leftover from my photo shoot to round out the meal. These are small, dark lentils, which I really like because you can cook them fairly quickly (about 30 minutes) without having to let them soak in water overnight like larger lentils or dried beans. While they cooked I melted some butter and olive oil in a non-stick skillet and added the salmon, skin side down. Once it was browned I flipped it over and cooked it on the other side until the fish was medium and still slightly pink in the very center (which is my personal salmon preference). Then I removed it to a plate, lowered the heat and added the tiniest splash of white wine and the juice of 1 lemon. I let the mixture cook down a minute or two, then added one pat of butter, a little parsley and pulled it off the flame. While the salmon rested for a minute I sauteed the cooked lentils in olive oil with green onions, shallot, salt and pepper, then finished with a tiny splash of red wine vinegar. I plated the lentils with the salmon on top and a nice little arugula salad on the side. It was a perfectly filling meal which despite my lemon-butter sauce, I would consider relatively healthy and certainly affordable. I'll bet you could even entertain with this meal and only spend about $15 total for four people. Here's my final recipe.
Lemon-Butter Salmon with Lentils
(4) 6 oz portions of boneless salmon
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup white wine
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley, divided
salt
pepper
1 1/2 cups french green lentils
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 Tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar
1. Add lentils to a large pot with 2 tablespoons of salt and cover generously with water. Bring to a boil and cook until done (soft but not mushy--I prefer mine a bit al dente), stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and add to the pan, skin side down (if all four pieces don't fit, do it in batches to avoid crowding the pan). Cook until crispy and flip to cook on the other side to your desired doneness is achieved. Remove salmon to a plate to rest.
3. Reduce the heat to low and add the wine, allowing it a minute or two for the alcohol to cook off. Then add the lemon juice and allow the sauce to thicken and reduce slightly. Finish with the last tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of parsley.
4. Add shallot, green onion and extra virgin olive oil to a non-stick skillet and cook on medium low heat for 30 seconds. Add lentils and toss to combine. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and fresh black pepper as necessary. Remove pan from heat, add vinegar, toss to combine and plate with salmon, drizzling salmon with lemon butter sauce. Enjoy!
-Laura
It's funny sometimes what you find when taking inventory of your pantry. Even more interesting is what you may find when taking inventory of your fridge ("I don't remember putting something green and fuzzy into this Tupperware container..."). This weekend I randomly decided that I would be making a nice simple salmon dish for Sunday dinner. I'd spent the entire weekend running errands of various kinds, including a very unpleasant trip to my personal hellhole, The Home Depot. Somewhere between trying to find someone who knew something about lighting (apparently this person doesn't exist), trying to install various gadgets and gizmo's in my bathroom (slightly more successful), and hand laundering my unmentionables, I found a moment of peace to think about my salmon dinner.
Clearly deserving of a no-fuss but still comforting meal, I got to thinking about how I might prepare the fish. Having overdosed on miso glazed, maple glazed, mustard glazed and honey glazed salmon in the last 10 years (seriously chefs, let's work on something new, K?) I decided that I would just let the lovely fish speak for itself, and just marinate it in a mix of mild Asian flavors. Not wanting to create a smoky, smelly situation in my apartment by grilling the salmon, I figured I'd quickly broil it (it only took 6 minutes). This meant that there wouldn't be much of a crispy crust, so whatever I paired the salmon with would need to have a bit of bite to it. That meant salmon and spinach was out, as was salmon and any kind of purée. At this point, I was settling on salmon and green lentils, a classic French combo, when I realized that there wasn't much in the way of originality there, even though I liked the textural contrast.
Stumped and exasperated, I swung open the doors to my pantry in the hopes that the answer would just spill out onto my cutting board. With no such luck and no answers at eye level, I pulled over my stepladder and took to climbing. Somewhere on the top shelf behind a box of popcorn and a bag of bonito flake, I finally found the answer: forbidden black rice. I'd bought a small package at Kalustyan's before moving to Hell's Kitchen and somehow during my unpacking, had lost sight of it. Black rice is an heirloom variety of rice and is incredibly good for you. It's super high in iron (great for anemic's like me) and also has a very high fiber content. The flavor is like a deeper, nuttier version of brown rice, and the texture is a bit more firm.
It was absolutely the perfect foil for the soft and luscious salmon, which was slightly sweet and had a hint of nutty sesame oil, echoing the flavor of the rice. It takes a bit longer to cook than white or brown rice, but really needs very little attention, and the flavor is worth the wait. Here's the final recipe for the dish, which turned out great:
Salmon with Forbidden Black Rice
Salmon
1/4 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
Black Rice
1/2 cup black rice, rinsed under cold water until it runs clear
1 2/3 cups of water
1 tsp salt
3 scallions, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced or grated
1/2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
olive oil
pepper
1. Combine all of the salmon ingredients in a shallow bowl and marinate salmon in mixture, skin side up. I marinated for 2 hours, but 10-20 minutes will do if you don't have time.
2. Preheat broiler. Bring water, rice and salt to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook covered 35-40 minutes or until rice is tender. Set aside, still covered for 10 minutes.
3. Place salmon on a greased baking sheet and broil until cooked, about 6 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet and cook scallions, ginger and garlic until just starting to brown. Add rice and sauté until combined and warmed through. Season with salt and pepper to taste, plate and serve topped with salmon. Enjoy!
-Laura
I generally don't make New Year's resolutions. I find them a bit limiting since you only get to make one a year, and it's usually a cop-out involving chocolate or the gym. Instead, I try to make several small concerted efforts as the year goes on so I don't allow myself the inevitable, "But I already gave up ______!" excuse. My most recent and most successful "concerted effort" began in the fall of last year, and was to try and cook for myself as often as possible. After a particularly sad period of time involving four days of rice and beans, however, it became clear that I needed to more concretely define the meaning of "cook for myself." I decided that every meal I made had to be one that I was proud of, and that the best way to enforce this plan would be to share it with the world, and thus, a food blog was born.
After several days of gathering scraps and eating out of cans while preparing for my move across town last week, I was reminded of last year's non-resolution. Although I gave myself some leeway the last few weeks regarding the quality of my homemade meals, it occurred to me that my newfangled resolution hasn't evolved since I put it into practice. Although I'm proud of everything that I've made in the past few months (including several truly terrible recipes), I must admit that I have managed to fall into a variety of culinary ruts. To remedy the situation, I've decided to add a caveat to my original goal by venturing into cooking with proteins and veggies that I for some reason have avoided in the past.
The addendum went into effect two days ago as I wandered through the aisles of my new neighborhood supermarket. To my surprise, the fishmonger had fresh, affordable pieces of salmon, cod and tilapia, all of which made their way into my cart, much to the chagrin of the lady in line behind me. The produce was amazing, plump and juicy, and not at all the charming shade of brown I was used to seeing in the produce aisle of my old supermarket. So I set aside two nice thick slabs of wild salmon for dinner and tried to come up with an uncomplicated recipe that would compliment the fish without masking it's lovely flavor. After flipping through a few books for inspiration I decided on a really simple preparation of white wine with lemon and butter. I usually make this type of sauce for a white fish, but the super clean and bright flavors worked really nicely with the salmon. The tartness of the lemon and white wine were a great compliment to the sweet, pink flesh of the salmon, and as an added bonus, it's all cooked in about 10 minutes in one skillet. With meals this easy, I may actually keep my resolution (from 2004) to always do the dishes after cooking. Maybe :)
Salmon with Lemon Butter and White Wine
2 pieces salmon
3/4 cup white wine
4 lemon slices
1/4 tsp ground sage
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
salt
cracked black pepper
parsley (for garnish)
1. Add 1/2 cup of wine to a large skillet with a lid. Season salmon with salt, pepper and sage, top with lemon slices and arrange fish in the skillet.
2. Bring wine to a boil, cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer until salmon is cooked to desired doneness (about 5 minutes for medium). Remove salmon from skillet and set aside.
3. Add remaining 1/4 cup of wine to the skillet and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and remove from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the salmon. Garnish with chopped parsley. Enjoy!
-Laura
