I was looking for a dish that would go well with our Korean pancakes, and after a quick interwebs search I came across this dish at epicurious. Rather than the usual sirloin, this recipe uses salmon as the lucky recipient of a tasty, spicy marinade made with soy sauce, onions, ginger, sesame oil, and more. It’s served over a bed of baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. I only made slight modifications to the recipe — I doubled the marinade and upped the number of mushrooms. The sauce/glaze is deeelicious.

Yum, this is really good!

Chris says:

Yeah, I really like how the salmon is cooked.. super tender on the inside. And I think that’s the first time our oven’s been set at 500.

Lisa says:

Well mark it in the calendar.

Chris says:

… anyway … I loves me that marinade/glaze. It’s good on the veggies and the salmon.

Lisa says:

You know, that spicy red sauce from the pancakes is good on my salmon, too.

Chris says:

I’m sure that’s good on cardboard. I think we’re going to have to do more Korean recipes soon.

Bulgogi-Style Salmon with Bok Choy and Mushrooms
2 large garlic cloves, peeled, divided
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Asian sesame oil
1 tsp chili-garlic sauce
2 6-oz center-cut skinless salmon fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
5-6 baby bok choy, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips (about 3 1/2 – 4 cups)
8 large fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced

Blend 1 garlic clove and next 7 ingredients in mini processor. Arrange salmon in a small glass baking dish. Spoon marinade over, and let marinate 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 500°F. Transfer the fish, with some marinade still clinging, to a rimmed baking sheet. Roast the fish until just opaque in center, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, transfer any remaining marinade to a small saucepan. Bring marinade in saucepan to boil; set aside and reserve for glaze.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add bok choy and mushrooms; using garlic press, press in 1 garlic clove. Stir-fry until mushrooms are tender and bok choy is wilted, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Divide vegetables among two plates, top with the salmon, and brush with the glaze.

2 Servings

I came across this recipe a few days ago on the Mixed Greens Blog, and it really caught my eye. Not only because it can be completely made with local ingredients, but because of the addition of pork to the salmon. It seemed that the ground pork would make for a really juicy burger, and it certainly did! Interestingly, a single mashed potato also plays a role in this burger and provides additional texture. The recipe originally comes from Harumi’s Japanese Cooking.

These are awesome — so juicy!

Lisa says:

Wow, yeah, what’s in them?

Chris says:

Pretty simple, mostly salmon, onion, potato… ground pork…

Lisa says:

Ground pork? Hmmm… I like them better before you told me that.

Chris says:

What? Why? You know that directly contradicts the title of this post.

Lisa says:

I don’t know, it just sounds weird.

Chris says:

Well, just let your tastebuds be your guide.

Lisa says:

Obviously my tastebuds didn’t find it to be a strange combination. My plate’s looking pretty bare now.

Chris says:

Great success!

Salmon Burgers
12 oz. salmon
4 oz. ground pork
1/2 small onion
1 tbsp butter
1 small potato, peeled
1 small beaten egg
salt & pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Remove bones and skin from salmon and chop until it is almost ground.
Chop the onion finely and cook lightly in the butter. Leave to cool.
Steam the potato for 15-20 minutes until soft enough to mash. Mash with a fork and leave it to cool without adding anything.
In a large bowl mix the chopped salmon and ground pork. Add cooked onion, mashed potato, beaten egg, salt & pepper.
Shape the mixture into 8 small burgers. Heat oil in a frying pan and cook burgers for ~3 minutes on each sides. Serve with your favorite toppings. We enjoyed them with wasabi mayo and sweet/spicy chili sauce.

4 Servings

A very special guest post this evening from Lisa’s brother Chris (yes, another Chris…) and his girlfriend Jenn — a delicious Salmon Chowder from The Ultimate Soup Bible. C&J made an enormous cauldron of the chowder that fed nine or ten lucky souls over the course of two nights. I only had my point-and-shoot camera with me, so I wasn’t able to get as good a picture of the chowder as I normally would — guess, we’ll just have to make it ourselves! (As if we really needed an excuse…) We served the chowder with a few sides and salads we’ve made before, including these roasted yams, a salad featuring arugula and roasted bell peppers, and one featuring layered beets and avocados.

This is wonderful, who made this?

I really like that the broth isn’t super-thick like in a lot of chowders.

Tell Chris this chowder is better than a few others I’ve had recently…

Oooh, I like the corn in this. Good addition!

The dill is great — perfect amount.

Great success!

Salmon Chowder
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
1 small fennel bulb, finely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
7 cups chicken stock
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 can corn, drained
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
salt and freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onion, leek, and fennel and cook for 6 minutes until softened. Stir in the flour and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock and potatoes to the mixture in the pan. Season with a little salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat , cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the salmon and simmer gently 3-5 minutes until just cooked. Stir in the corn, milk, cream, and chopped dill into the pan. Cook until just warmed through, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. To thicken, smash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot. Adjust the seasoning to taste, then ladle into warm bowls.

4 (large) Servings

A new, tongue-tingling recipe for us tonight from Fitness Food. Kedgeree is an Indian-inspired British dish of eggs, fish, and rice — you can read a detailed history here. Apparently it’s a popular breakfast/brunch dish, but for us it made sense as yet another way to have salmon for dinner.

Lisa says:

That book has really given us some winning recipes.

Chris says:

Tell me about it! I’ve never heard of this dish before…

Lisa says:

Me neither! It’s really different.

Chris says:

Yeah, that combo of hard-boiled eggs along with the salmon is unexpectedly delicious!

Lisa says:

I actually like the raisins in this, too. And there’s just enough spice.

Chris says:

The spicy mango chutney goes well with it. But you know what I like best about this?

Lisa says:

Hmmmm… what?

Chris says:

The portion size… not going hungry here!

Poached Salmon Kedgeree
2 eggs
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 lemon, sliced
2 x 7 oz salmon fillets, at room temperature
1 tsp low-fat butter spread
1 large red onion, chopped
2 tbsp mild curry powder
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 cups basmati rice
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Hard-boil the eggs, peel, and roughly chop. Set aside.
Heat a heavy-base frying pan that it at least 3 inches deep and 10 inches in diameter. Add the stock, wine, and lemon slices and heat to a simmer, then add the fish. Simmer for 8 minutes, or until just cooked through. You’ll want the cooking liquid to completely cover the fish. When fully cooked, move the fish to a plate, remove the skin, and use a fork to roughly flake. Set aside, and cover with plastic wrap to prevent drying out. Strain the stock into a large container to measure 3 cups and set aside. Wipe out the pan.
Heat the butter spread in the frying pan, add the onion, and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the curry powder, turmeric, and rice. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the reserved stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the liquid absorbed.
Carefully stir in the chopped egg, salmon, raisins, and half the parsley. Divide among 4 bowls. Top with the remaining parsley. Serve with a fruit chutney and lemon wedges.

4 Servings

We’re continuing detox week here at We Heart Food, so tonight we made this light salmon dish as prepared in How To Eat Supper. Salmon is pan-roasted with garlic and basil and then placed over a bed of fresh greens. A simple and very quick preparation; the salmon is the star of the show here!

Chris says:

This salmon is slammin’. What the — what’re you doing with that bread?

Lisa says:

Making a Slammin’ Salmon Sandwich, obviously.

Chris says:

Obviously. What’s your favorite part of the dish?

Lisa says:

One guess.

Chris says:

Gotta be the garlic. Those paper-thin slices just melt on your tongue!

Lisa says:

Ding ding ding! My only problem is that there aren’t more of them.

Chris says:

I really like that you have both the cooked and the fresh basil. I also think this would also be good with some asparagus.

Lisa says:

Ooooh, good idea!

Pan Roasted Salmon over Fresh Greens with Garlic and Basil
1/2 bag fresh spring greens or mesclun mix
1/4 lb sugar snap peas, roughly chopped
12 fresh basil leaves, torn into large pieces
2 salmon fillets, skinned
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 large garlic cloves, sliced paper thin
1/3 cup dry white wine
lemon wedges

Divide the greens between two dinner plates, then scatter the snap peas and 1/2 the basil leaves over them. Rinse the salmon, pat it dry, then salt and pepper both sides of the fish. Set aside.
Add enough olive oil to a 12-inch skillet to leave a light film, and heat to medium-high. Add the salmon to the pan and sear for one minute, flip, and sear for another minute on the other side.
Sprinkle the garlic and remaining basil around the fish in the pan, lower the heat to medium-low, and cover. Cook for 5-6 minutes, flipping the salmon once, until just done. The fish should be barely opaque in the center.
Remove the salmon from the skillet and set aside, keeping warm. Add the wine to the skillet, set the heat to high, and scrape the garlic and basil from the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the juices thicken and sizzle.
Drizzle the hot sauce over the greens and top with the salmon. Serve with lemon wedges.

2 Servings