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Salmon Dinner

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Warning: This is no ordinary recipe blog post. This time I went all out and make a complete meal, and boy was it tasty!

I’m more of a baker overall. Most of the time I’m just making dinner for myself, so it seems a little pointless to go all out on a big dinner for one (one of my roommates is a vegetarian and the other isn’t home much). So, to solve this eating alone problem, I invited my friend/eating/cooking assistant over. We made a Salmon Dinner, complete with delicious new potatoes and a salad. I’ve only cooked salmon once before and the results were less than desirable (there was salmon all over that darn BBQ!), so I was a little apprehensive to try it again. But the end result was delicious and we both had fun doing it!

Please note that we stopped making the salmon before we put it in the oven so we could prepare the rest of the stuff 🙂

Salmon Steaks with Savory Blueberry Sauce

I found the original recipe for this on Allrecipes.com. It had high reviews and sounded like an interesting twist to salmon. Some of the reviewers had mentioned an overly vinegary taste to the sauce, and suggested reducing it (I had to look up exactly what “reducing vinegar” was…).

Reducing the Vinegar

Measure out double the amount of vinegar you need for the recipe (in this case, 1/2 cup)
In a small pot, bring the vinegar to a boil on a high heat and let it simmer for about five minutes, lowering heat if necessary. The vinegar should now be reduced, measure out required amount.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey (buy here)
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries (buy here)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
  • 4 (6 ounce) salmon steaks ** I only used three, due to number of people (buy here)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
Recipe: Check! (By the end of the night it didn't look nearly as pretty, orange juice and chicken stock all over it!)
Combine Orange Juice, (newly reduced) vinegar,
honey,
and 1/2 cup of chicken stock
in a saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium.
In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of chicken stock.
Stir into the simmering sauce. Cook and stir until sauce thickens. Only about one minute or so.
Cut up chives into small pieces.
Add chives and blueberries to sauce and keep warm over a low heat. **This is where we stopped to prepare the rest of our meal**
Preheat broiler and coat salmon with olive oil, and salt and pepper for taste.
Put in oven and cook for 5 minutes each side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Done! Serve and enjoy!

Potatoes

We made super simple potatoes, only boiling them and then adding chives, butter and salt and pepper for taste. They we’re really good and complemented the rest of the mean well.

Ingredients 

  • 2 lb bag of potatoes (buy here)
  • butter
  • salt and pepper
  • chives
After washing your potatoes, cut the bigger ones in half.
Boil for about 20 minutes, until soft.
Once boiled, drain water and mix in butter. Then add chives (we just cut up three of four and threw them in) and add the salt and pepper for extra flavor! And you're done!

Spinach Salad

At the market on Thursday, I still wasn’t quite sure what I was going to make to go with my salmon. So, when I was buying the potatoes, I bought a bunch of my favorite vegetables and ended up making this salad with them. It’s a little random, but we liked it!

Ingredients (all can be bought from here or here)

  • Spinach
  • Cucumber
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
Wash, dry and rip up one head of spinach.
Cut up cucumber.
Cut up broccoli.
Grate carrots.
Mix everything together and enjoy! Yum!

Meal Completed!

It took us about an hour overall to make this (it might have taken a little longer then usual because we are chatty ladies). But it was so worth it, everything turned out great!
Nomnomnom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegetarian Kale Lasagne

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Bunches of kale for sale. Photo: Kelly Kiss
Bunches of kale for sale. Photo: Kelly Kiss

This post is by Kelly Kiss, RHN, one of RCFM’s super amazing volunteers. Stay tuned for more by Kelly as she shares her nutritional knowledge and love of cooking with us all.

I love kale –its rich green colour and beautiful texture. This summer it is growing in my backyard garden like a weed, probably from the cool weather we have been having, but when I saw the large freshly picked bunches at Glen Valley Organics last Thursday, I could not pass up an opportunity to try a new variety!

I like to chop up fresh kale and add it to my soups and bean dishes during the last five minutes or so of simmering. This way it is gently steamed –keeping it tender and retaining its bright colour and maximum nutritional value.

Kale is part of the cabbage family (Brassica vegetables) and has been around for thousands of years. It has a strong upright growing stem and is naturally rich in minerals such as calcium and magnesium. It’s the perfect alkaline-forming vegetable for building strong bones. As my son does not like to drink milk, I am always trying to include foods rich in these minerals from other sources. Kale is a healthy alternative but I have to get creative as he does not like eating it raw. I don’t blame him actually, as it does have a strong sharp taste when eaten on its own without any other flavours. But when you have fun in the kitchen playing with whole food combinations you would be surprised with what you can come up with!

My seven-year old loves lasagne so this week I decided to enlist his help in the kitchen making a vegetarian version using the kale and some other ingredients (carrots, basil and eggs) we had purchased from the Farmer’s Market. Here is the recipe we had fun creating together:

 

Vegetarian kale lasagne. Photo: Kelly Kiss
Vegetarian kale lasagne. Photo: Kelly Kiss

Vegetarian Kale Lasagne

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp of coconut oil
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2-3 carrots (you can also use some mushrooms in place of some carrot)
  • 1 red pepper
  • ½ large bunch of kale (about 3-4 cups)
  • 2 handfuls fresh basil
  • 1 large can of whole tomatoes (or 2 cans of tomato sauce) both versions work well
  • 1 small can of tomato paste
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 3 cups of cottage cheese
  • 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ¼ cup of fresh chopped parsley
  • Salt (Celtic sea salt) and pepper to taste
  • 10-12 oz package of lasagne noodles (I use the oven ready brown rice noodles by Rizopia so there is no cooking of the noodles –you can naturally use a different kind)

Gently cook chopped onions in coconut oil for several minutes on low to medium heat. Then add the garlic and stir. In a food processor chop the carrots, pepper and basil and pulse until finely chopped. Add this to the onion mixture and stir together; put kale into food processor and finely chop into very small pieces then add this to the vegetable mixture and combine well. Add the whole tomatoes (or tomato sauce), tomato paste and oregano and stir well; let this simmer for about ½ an hour. In a separate bowl combine 2 beaten eggs, cottage cheese, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and set aside. In another bowl, shred the mozzarella cheese and set aside.

Place ½ of the noodles on the bottom of a 13x9x2” baking dish then add:

  • ½ of the cottage cheese filling
  • ½ of the mozzarella slices
  • ½ of the vegetable sauce

Repeat this one more time finishing with the vegetable sauce on top. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes; then uncover for last 15 minutes of baking. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Another great way to use fresh raw kale is in smoothies, pestos and salads with yummy dressings. A delicious recipe that I found in the book, “More Vegetables Please!” by Elson M. Haas, MD and Patty James, MS., is called “The Best Kale Salad Ever”. The dressing marinades and softens the kale making it easier to chew as well as digest; the vitamin C (in the lemon) aids mineral absorption and the enzymes in the raw foods help the digestive process. I even discovered that it is okay overnight in the fridge as it does not get soggy and limp like most leafy green salads with dressing do.

 

 

 

The Best Kale Salad Ever
Ingredients

Kale salad. Photo: Kelly Kiss
Kale salad. Photo: Kelly Kiss
  • 1 large bunch of kale washed and dried
  • 2 tbsp of fresh lemon
  • 1 whole avocado, peeled and chopped
  • ½ medium red onion chopped
  • 1 medium apple cored and chopped (I prefer it without)
  • 1-2 cloves of minced garlic
  • 2 tsp of fresh grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp of Tamari soy sauce
  • ½ cup of chopped cashews (optional)

Tear the kale leaves away from the large stems and chop into small bite-size pieces; place in a large bowl. Add the fresh lemon and avocado and gently mix together. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Serve immediately.

There is so much more to say about this wonderful vegetable! For those who are interested, I found a site (written by a Dietician) completely dedicated to kale with information and recipes (including vegan), check out: www.365daysofkale.com and enjoy the many health benefits and tastes of kale!!

~Kelly Kiss, RHN

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