Herb and Potato-Crusted Salmon with Italian Sauteed Spinach Salad

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Commercially prepared shredded potatoes, sold in plastic bags in the supermarket frozen-food department, usually end up as hash browns. This recipe suggests an entirely new use for them: seared onto fat fillets of salmon to form a fantastic crisp crust. Serve up the salmon with a side of sautéed spinach, onions, garlic, and fresh tomatoes is beyond delicious and extremely easy to make.

 

Serves 4

Ingredients
For the Salmon:
4 cups frozen shredded potatoes (hash browns), thawed and squeezed dry
2 tablespoons snipped chives
2 tablespoons minced dill
2 tablespoons potato starch
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Four 8-ounce skinless salmon fillets
2 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the Spinach:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 peeled and julienne red onion
3 finely minced cloves of fresh garlic
2 each tomatoes cut into wedges
10 oz  fresh baby spinach
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

 

Directions:
For the Salmon: In a medium bowl, toss the potatoes with the chives, dill and potato starch and season with salt and pepper. Lay the salmon fillets, skin side down on a work surface and season with salt and pepper, then evenly spread on the mustard. Next, evenly add a layer of shredded potatoes onto the top of each fillet. Pat the potato down on the salmon to make sure it stays in place.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil and melt the butter. Carefully add the salmon fillets to the skillet, potato side down, and cook over moderately high heat, undisturbed, until browned, about 8 minutes, or until a dark brown crust has formed on the potatoes. Carefully flip the salmon and cook for 1 minute longer. Using a slotted spatula, transfer the salmon to plates. Using a clean paper towel, blot off any excess oil from the salmon.

For the Spinach: Heat a large sauté or frying pan over medium to medium-high heat and caramelize the onion and garlic, until the garlic is golden brown, about 2 minutes, add in tomatoes and sauté for 2 to 3 more minutes. Lastly, place in the spinach and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

To serve, transfer the spinach salad and salmon to plates and serve.

 

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Chilean Sea Bass with Shiitake Mushroom Broth

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This dish is the kind that, with a little experience, many good home cooks could assemble from scratch, without consulting a recipe. The aromatic triumvirate of garlic, ginger and scallions is matched with soy sauce, rice vinegar and fish sauce. Shiitake mushrooms give substance and flavor, cornstarch thickens and sesame oil adds a taste of toasty richness.

You can spoon the sauce over the poached fish, but it will also work just as well with grilled, pan-seared or broiled fish, or on stir-fried strips of chicken breast, slivers of pork or beef, shrimp or scallops. Steamed rice could help soak up the sauce as well.

 

 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 ⅓ pounds sea bass or gray sole fillets
  • 2 tablespoons peanut oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon minced ginger
  • ½ cup chopped scallions
  • 7 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Vietnamese fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, or snipped chives (Optional)

 

 

 

Directions:

Heat oven to 175 o F. Place chicken stock in a wok or skillet, and bring to a simmer. Cut fish into pieces about 3 inches square, place in stock, and simmer until just cooked, about 5 minutes. Use spatula to transfer to heatproof platter, cover loosely with foil, and place in oven. Drain and strain stock, and reserve. Wipe out pan with a clean paper towel.

 

Heat peanut oil in pan. Add garlic, ginger and scallions. Sauté briefly, and add mushrooms. Sauté until wilted. Add soy sauce, vinegar and fish sauce. Cook 30 seconds, then add reserved stock. Bring to a simmer. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tablespoons cold water, and add, stirring. Simmer until sauce has thickened. Add sesame oil.

 

To serve, transfer fish to a shallow bowl and spoon mushroom sauce over the fish. Gransih with a scattering of with cilantro or chives. Serve hot.

 

 

 

 

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Roasted Golden Beet & Yellow Tomato Pizza

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IMG_2641 Pizza

Pizza Arrosto Di Barbabietola Dorata e Pomodoro Giallo is what this pizza is called in Italian….

I was looking for something different in terms of making a healthy pizza. I had an abundance of golden beets. So I roasted them and made pizza dough that was topped off with red onions onions, lots of roasted golden beets, a little fresh mozzarella and a little bit of crumbled goat cheese. A little salt and a little honey added the sweet and savory taste that made this almost vegan pizza, Oh so good! And of course a glass of Chardonnay went perfectly with this pizza. A glass a wine is optional, but I highly recommend it!

And if you know someone who doesn’t like beets, this pizza might convert them.

Makes One 10-inch Pizza, Serving 8

Ingredients:

One 4-ounce golden beet
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound Basic Pizza Dough
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
cup goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 pint yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon honey
Fresh basil leaves, for garnish
Fresh snipped chives, for garnish

Special Equipment:
Parchment Paper
Pizza Stone

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Leave root and 1 inch of stem on beet; scrub with a brush. Wrap beet in parchment paper and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 450°F for 40 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool. Trim off beet root; peel off skin. Cut beet in half crosswise; thinly slice halves.

Position an oven rack in the lowest setting. Place a pizza stone on lowest rack. Increase oven temperature to 500°F.

Preheat pizza stone 30 minutes before baking pizza.

Gently brush oil over Basic Pizza Dough. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top of the dough, followed by beet slices,red onion and yellow tomatoes, evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Slide dough onto preheated pizza stone, using a spatula as a guide. Bake at  500° F  for 8 minutes or until crust is golden.

Remove from pizza stone. Sprinkle with salt  and drizzle with honey. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and snipped chives.

Cut into 8 wedges and serve.

Cook’s Notes:
If you can substitute shallots for the red onion, if desired. A commercially prepared pizza crust also works in a pinch when there is not enough t time to make the pizza dough.

Hello Friends!

All photographs and content, excepted where noted, are copyright protected. Please do not use these photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this photograph and all other contents, then we kindly ask that you link back to this site. We are eternally grateful and we appreciate your support of this blog.

Thank you!