Salmon with Whole-Wheat Spaghetti

I was hesitant on trying this recipe because the thought of salmon with pasta didn't sound appealing to me. I'm glad I gave it a try anyway because it tasted great! The salmon itself is pretty oily, but overall, this dish not only tastes good, but it's also good for you. The fish and olive oils are great for you as long as you don't consume too much of it.



Original recipe from Food Network:

Ingredients1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons capers
1 lemon, zested
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

DirectionsBring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Add the fish to the pan and cook until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove the salmon from the pan.

Add the basil, capers, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the spaghetti mixture and toss to combine. Set out 4 serving plates or shallow bowls. Place 1/2 cup spinach in each bowl. Top with 1/4 of the pasta. Top each mound of pasta with a piece of salmon. Serve immediately.

Salmon in Lemon Brodetto with Pea Puree

Here's another salmon recipe I tried many weeks ago. I used to just bake my salmon in the oven, but I like it so much pan-fried. I like the crispiness of the fried filet portion. I like my salmon well done, so this may appear overcooked to some. I remember this recipe had a lot of steps, but it was quite good. It tastes similar to the one with the pasta I just made today. If you must have some rice with it like me, then you can make it with the herbed rice pasta featured below. Both went well together.

Original recipe from Food Network:

Ingredients
Lemon Brodetto:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, diced
2 lemons, juiced
1 lemon, zested
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves

Pea Puree:
2 cups frozen peas, thawed (about 10 ounces)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Salmon:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 (4 to 6-ounce) pieces salmon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
To make the Lemon Brodetto, warm the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the lemon juice, zest, and broth. Bring to a simmer, and keep warm, covered, over low heat.

To make the Pea Puree, combine the peas, mint, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor and puree. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a steady drizzle. Transfer the pea puree to a small bowl and stir in the Parmesan. Set aside.

To make the Salmon, warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Season the salmon pieces with salt and pepper. Sear the salmon until a golden crust forms, about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side. Flip the fish and continue cooking until medium-rare, about 2 minutes more depending on the thickness of the fish.

To assemble the dish, add the tablespoon chopped mint to the Lemon Brodetto and divide between 4 shallow dishes. Place a large spoonful of Pea Puree into the center of each bowl. Place a salmon piece atop each mound of Pea Puree. Serve immediately.

Herbed Basmati Rice:
Original recipe from Foodnetwork



Ingredients
1 cup uncooked long-grain (white) basmati rice (recommended: Texmati)
1 3/4 cups water
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced fresh curly parsley leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh scallions, white and green parts
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Combine the rice, 1 3/4 cups water, the salt, and butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to low, stir once, and simmer, covered tightly, for 15 minutes. (I need to pull the pot half off the burner to keep it from boiling over.) Turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit covered for 5 minutes. Add the parsley, dill, scallions, and pepper. Fluff with a fork, and serve warm.

Thai Crispy Fish Salad

To me this dish sort of resembles "laab" or "larb" except for a few different ingredients and that the fish is fried. It is a good-tasting salad; I just hate to deep fry, but I gave it a try anyway. I probably over chopped the fish with the food processor because when I fried it, it didn't turn out like I thought it would. The fish crumbles were a little too crumbly for me, so I made fish balls with the remainign fish, and actually liked it better that way. I would also recommend using the full tablespoon of salt as recommended. I initially thought one tablespoon of salt was too much and only used about one teaspoon, but one tablespoon is necessary as too little salt may disappear between baking and deep frying. I usually follow recipes to the core and then make changes later to my liking, but I've been afraid to do so ever since I tried this one Laotian recipe and I almost threw up from it. This dish is definitely not gross IMO, otherwise I wouldn't post it. This salad can be served with fresh green mangoes and I know it would taste really good along with the other ingredients. I didn't have any turmeric on hand, and the dressing tasted fine without it.

Serves 4

Method:

Dressing
1 lemon grass stalk, white part only, roughly chopped
4 Thai chillies
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp palm sugar
1/4 tsp ground turmeric

10 oz skinless white fish fillets (traditionally catfish is used in Thai, but I used Tilapia this time)
1 tbsp sea salt
peanut oil, for deep frying
3 tomatoes or large cherry tomatoes, each cut into 4 or 6 wedges
2 Asian shallots
1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
16-24 mint leaves, chopped
2 tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

1. To make dressing, use a pestle and mortar or food processor to pound or blend the lemon grass, chillies and garlic to a paste. Transfer to a bowl and add the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and turmeric. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat dry the fish fillets, then toss them in the sea salt. Place them on a rack in a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Remove, allow to cool, then transfer to a food processor and chop until the fish resembles large breadcrumbs (or fluff fish with a fork).

3. Half fill a wok with oil and heat over high heat. Drop a small piece of fish into the oil. If it sizzles immediately, the fish is ready. Drop a large handful of the chopped fish into the hot oil. The fish will puff up and turn crisp. Cook for 30 seconds and carefully stir a little. Cook for another 30 seconds until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat to cook all the fish.

4. Put the tomatoes, shallots, red onion, cilantro, mint and peanuts in a bowl with about half of the dressing. Transfer the salad to a serving plate. Break the fish into smaller pieces if you wish and place on the salad. To ensure that the fish stays crispy, pour the remaining dressing over the salad just before serving.


I had some left over fish crumbs, so I turned them into fish balls simply by deep frying them until crispy.

Asian Grilled Salmon

I made this for dinner the other night. I was actually too full and didn't eat this right away. Instead I had it for lunch the next day. It was still good. My husband did eat it right away and he enjoyed it. I used a grill pan to "grill" this indoors and it still turned out.

Spicy Pan-Fried Tilapia

I actually made this dish by accident. I was trying to make fish by cooking it in the oven, but it didn't turn out like I wanted it to. Instead of wasting the fish, I ended up frying the fish and it turned out pretty good. I've been making my fish this way ever since. By covering the fish in foil and then cooking it in the oven helped the fish soak up all flavors from the marinade. Pan frying it gave it that nice, crispy and fatty taste that I like in fried fish.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Marinade:
2/3 cup of cilantro, chopped
2/3 cup of green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp of chopped Thai chili peppers
Juice from 1 large lime, about 1/4 cup
1/3 cup of fish sauce

4 tilapia filets
Oil for frying
Optional: Panko bread crumbs



Chili peppers chopped:



Method:
1. Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
2. Combine all the marinade ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
3. Line a cookie sheet with enough foil to cover 4 fish filets. Place filets on foil and pour marinade over fish. Be sure to turn fish over so both sides are covered with marinade. Cover fish with foil into a pouch.



4. Bake fish in oven at 365 for about 25 minutes.
5. After fish is cooked in oven, remove fish from foil and place on wire rack so juices run off. [Note: If you would like this fish to be even more crispy, skip step #5 and simply dip the filets in Panko bread crumbs and then pan fry them. I just avoided this step to avoid extra calories ;) ]

6. Prepare a plate with paper towels to use when fish is done frying.
7. Heat about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in frying pan on medium-high heat. When pan is hot, place two filets in the pan and fry each side for about 2-3 mins or until browned. When fish is browned on both sides, transfer the fish to the plate of paper towels and finish cooking the rest of the filets. Add a little more oil if needed. The fish should not be too oily. The marinade mix that is fried with the fish should be crispy.



My favorite part about this fish is actually what's left on the pan! :P




I served this dish with a side of garlic and ginger baby bok choy. Here is the recipe for that:

1 1/2 pounds very baby (dwarf) bok choy, each one halved lengthwise

Flavoring sauce:
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
11/2 teaspoons canola oil or sesame oil
2 teaspoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
11/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the bok choy. When the water returns to a boil, let the vegetables cook for another minute, until just tender. Drain, flush with cold water and set aside.

2. Combine the flavoring sauce ingredients. Taste and make any adjustments needed. You want a savory-briny-sweet taste. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, ginger and garlic. Cook for about 30 to 45 seconds until aromatic. Add the bok choy, give things a stir and cook for about 2 minutes, until heated through. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the flavoring sauce and keep cooking for another minute or so, stirring, to coat the vegetables well. The bok choy will weep a bit of water.

4. Give the cornstarch a stir before adding it to the vegetables. Cook for another 30 seconds, or until thickened, and glossy. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.