Mushroom Stuffed Salmon February 4, 2009

Another tasty way of cooking salmon: stuff it with mushrooms, olives and green onion! To preserve the flavor, cover the pot with aluminum foil when you put in the oven.

Ingredients: 1/2 salmon (the fish, not fillets or anything else, so that you can stuff it), 200 gr mushrooms, 1 bunch green onion, 100 gr pitted black olives, bread crumbs, oil, 1/2 lemon, cooking wine, salt, pepper, and any spices (like basil, parsley, oregano, thyme…).

Instructions: Wash fish, season with salt and pepper, a bit of olive oil and the juice from the lemon. Set aside. Wash and cut green onion, mushrooms and olives. In a frying pan (large enough to put all ingredients in), fry the green onion for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms, salt, pepper and other spices. Add a bit of cooking wine. Leave for 5-7 minutes. Add black olives, remove from stove and incorporate enough bread crumbs to make the mixture sticky. With a spoon, stuff the salmon with the mixture. In an oven-proof dish, sprinkle a bit of olive oil and add cooking wine (just enough to have a liquid film covering the dish). Place salmon, add any remaining mixture on the fish, and cover with aluminum foil. Put in the oven (350F) for20-30 minutes, or until fish is ready.

Basil Mustard Salmon with Green Beans and Polenta January 8, 2009

Now that the winter holidays are over, my body needs to recover from all that pork I’ve been ingesting. Craving some fish, I got some salmon from T&T and looked for a quick recipe for it. The BC Salmon Marketing Council webpage offers quite a range of easy recipes for salmon, so I got some inspiration from them. I had some frozen green beens and decided to use them. Here are the instructions:

Basil Mustard Salmon: You will need a chunk of salmon, Dijon mustard, dried basil, oil, vinegar or fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.

1. In a small bowl, mix together oil, fresh lemon juice (or vinegar), dried basil, salt and pepper.
2. Pour the marinade over the salmon, then spread a teaspoon of Dijon mustard on top of it (enough to cover the salmon chunk). Leave to marinate for 1 hour – 24 hours in the fridge.
3. Place salmon in a tray and cover it with aluminum foil. Put in the oven (350F) for 20 minutes or until done.

Garlic Green Beans Salad: You will need frozen green beans, oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.

1. Boil the green beans.
2. Drain and put in a deep bowl.
3. Add oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, and a crushed garlic clove. Mix well.

Polenta: Really easy to make and a good substitute for bread. You will need the yellow cornmeal you find in SuperStore or Safeway in the bulk section. It’s pretty hard to give precise instructions on the quantities needed, but try it once and you’ll know how you want it done.

1. In a large pot, heat water.
2. Just before it starts boiling, start adding the cornmeal. I usually use some 5-10 tablespoons for 1 L of water. Add salt.
3. As you add the cornmeal, you will need to mix constantly. Use a wooden spatula. Put a lid on and let boil for 5-6 minutes.

Polenta comes in various consistencies. If unsure, check this link.

Steamed Salmon with Asparagus November 4, 2008

There’s a lot of salmon available in Calgary. This is an easy and very tasty way of cooking it. You’ll need:

A piece of salmon, 1 bunch asparagus, lemon juice, 2 garlic cloves. For the sauce, you’ll need: 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 tablespoon dill, 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Steamed salmon and asparagus

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Wash and trim asparagus. Steam it in the steamer with salt and pepper and 1 garlic clove.
2. Wash the salmon, then sprinkle salt and pepper. Squeeze half lemon on it, then pour a bit of oil. Store in fridge for some 30 minutes to marinate.
3. Steam salmon. For enhanced taste, crush 1 garlic clove on top of the salmon.
4. Start preparing the sauce which you’ll pour over the salmon: mix Dijon mustard, lemon juice, honey, dill, olive oil, salt and pepper.
5. Serve salmon on top of asparagus, with a bit of the sauce.

I’ve got the recipe from the World Healthies Foods, so if you want more ingredients or more precise instructions, check them out. I had the fish today, with the Moroccan-Style Carrots as a side dish, and it was just amazing!

Fish souffle – could this count as a quiche? October 27, 2008

After a recent discussion with about quiches with As of Now, I stumbled across this fish souffle recipe. Since tasty fish is a rarity in Calgary, and since I am quite bored with the usual baking/ frying, I thought I’d try something else. This recipe is a bit more time consuming, but well worth it if you’re determined to eat something good…

This is what you’ll need:

Veggie mixture you can add to this recipe

Fish (say 400-500 grams), 2-3 eggs, 1 tablespoon of butter (margarine works too), some cheese (anything you like), 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 cup milk, and extra: garlic, olives, capers, red pepper (or any other veggies you like with fish).

1. Steam the fish – I got some salmon from Superstore, and steamed it.
2. Once the fish is done, remove skin and bones, and place in an ovenproof dish. Use a fork to separate it into small flakes.
3. Optional: cut veggies into small pieces and add to fish: try green/ black olives, garlic, capers, bell peppers etc.
4. In a small pan, melt one tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon of flour. As soon as everything is mixed, add one cup of milk. Stir constantly to make sure the sauce doesn’t thicken. Pour it over the fish and let it cool down a bit.

The end result: fish souffle

5. Add 2-3 egg yolks, one at the time (and mix). After that, add all egg whites (thoroughly mixed). Don’t forget to add salt and pepper.

6. Add cheese (any variety really… I had some grated cheese from Superstore).

7. Put it in the oven (350 F) for 45-60 minutes.

8. Eat it… but not all at once!