Charmoula-Spiced Salmon with Za’atar Roasted Vegetables

I am always thrilled to make a healthy and flavorful dish that incorporates TONS of vegetables from my CSA share. This recipe seemed to be created for the box I had just received which contained kohlrabi, baby bok choy, parsley, and cilantro. This dish was loaded with wonderful spices as well. It truly was one of the best salmon dishes I’ve ever prepared.

This recipe was adapted from Food and Wine, contributed by Chef Jared Wentworth of Chicago’s Longman & Eagle. I used one large piece of salmon instead of fillets, grilled the fish instead of pan-cooking, modified the oven temperature, used potatoes and kohlrabi instead of beets, whole carrots instead of baby carrots, and modified the proportions in the sauce. It was beyond delicious!

For the Roasted Vegetables:

• 1/2 pound red potatoes (5) or baby golden beets, scrubbed and quartered
• 1-2 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into medium-pieces (I used 1 1/2)
• 3 large carrots, halved lengthwise and quartered
• 1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons za’atar
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound baby bok choy, chopped into ribbons (I used 9 heads)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the Charmoula
:

• 1/2 cup lightly packed parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 4 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 T fresh lemon juice
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper

For the Salmon:

• 1 1/3 pound whole wild salmon fillet (or four 5- to 6-ounce salmon fillets)
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional (I omitted it)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

To Make the Vegetables:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°, preferably on convection roast.
2. On two large rimmed baking sheets, toss the beets or potatoes, kohlrabi, carrots and mushrooms with the olive oil and za’atar and season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
4. Immediately transfer the vegetables to a large bowl and fold in the bok choy until just wilted.
5. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

To Make the Charmoula:

1. In a food processor, combine everything except the salt and pepper and puree until nearly smooth. (I used a mini-food processor.)
2. Scrape into a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.

To Make the Salmon:

1. Season the fish with coarse salt and black pepper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the ground coriander and cumin with the paprika and crushed red pepper. Season the salmon with the spice mixture.
3. Meanwhile, preheat a grill set to moderate heat.
4. Place the fish on the hot grill skin side down and press gently with a spatula to flatten. Cook the fish over moderate heat until the skin is golden, about 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Flip the fish and cook until medium within, about 3 minutes longer.
6. Serve the fish topped with charmoula over the roasted vegetables. Serve extra charmoula on the side, as desired.

Note: The charmoula can be refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.

One Year Ago:

• Shrimp a la Mexicana Tacos

Two Years Ago:

• Pork Tenderloin with Warm Harissa, Couscous, & Roasted Vegetable Salad
• Spaghetti with Corn Carbonara & Crab

Three Years Ago:

• Grilled Pork Chops with Fried Sage Salsa Verde & Sage Potatoes
• Milk-Braised Pork Loin

Four Years Ago:

• Pinchos Morunos or Pork Kebabs with Moorish Seasonings

Seared Scallops with Bacon-Braised Chard

More CSA chard! Just when my husband thought that he couldn’t eat any more greens, I cooked them with bacon and topped them with scallops. 🙂 I served this dish with corn muffins on the side too- just to be absolutely sure that he would be happy.

This recipe was adapted from Food and Wine, contributed by Top Chef Stephanie Izard. The scallops are first pan-seared and then basted with butter halfway through the cooking process over lower heat. Rich and delicious!

Yield: Serves 3 to 4

• 2 thick slices of bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
• 1 small yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
• 1 3/4 pounds rainbow chard—stems sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick, leaves cut into 1-inch strips
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 12 large sea scallops (1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 T unsalted butter

1. In a large, deep skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat until crisp, 4 minutes. Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.
2. Add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, 3 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and stir until tender but not browned, 2 minutes.
4. Add the tomato and cook until it begins to break down, 2 minutes.
5. Add the chard stems and cook until crisp-tender, 4 minutes.
6. Add the chard leaves and cook over moderately high heat, tossing, until wilted, 5 minutes; drain off any liquid.
7. Add the soy sauce and cook until the leaves are tender, 2 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
8. Dry the scallops and season with salt and pepper.
9. In another large skillet, heat the oil until just smoking. Add the scallops and cook over high heat for 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook until golden on the bottom, about 3 minutes.
10. Turn the scallops and add the butter. Cook, spooning the butter on the scallops, until just white throughout, about 3 minutes.
11. Spoon the chard onto plates, top with the scallops and serve.

One Year Ago:

• Ottolenghi’s Sweet Corn Polenta with Eggplant Sauce
• Broiled Salmon with Asparagus & Shiitake Mushrooms

Two Years Ago:

• Milk-Braised Pork Loin
• Grilled Pork Chops with Fried Sage Salsa Verde & Sage Potatoes

Three Years Ago:

• Warm Lentil Salad with Seared Tuna & Fresh Herb Vinaigrette
• Pork & Green Chile Stew

Shrimp a La Mexicana Tacos

Let me tell you something… (This information may actually be quite obvious to some of you…) Cooking the shrimp in bacon drippings made this dish ultra-delicious. ULTRA. 🙂

I usually cook bacon in the microwave. (gasp!) I know that this may not be the best cooking method, but, as a complete neat freak, this method does eliminate a major cleanup. Fortunately, I pan-cooked a serious amount of bacon at some point in time and reserved the drippings. Yay! Perfect for these wonderful summertime tacos.

We ate these as a belated Father’s Day celebratory meal with skillet creamed corn, brown rice, and refried beans. The skillet corn consisted of fresh corn kernels which were also sautéed in bacon drippings. The mixture was then combined with a little bit of sour cream and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. SO good.

My husband is a great dad and deserved a super tasty celebration. He always selects his menu and really wanted tacos on his special day for two reasons. Not only does he absolutely love tacos, but, after a thorough search, he gave me fabulous taco racks as part of my birthday gift- he really wanted me to use them ASAP. 😉

He found a local company that makes functional and pretty stainless steel taco racks: www.TacoRack.com. The racks make assembling and serving tacos so much easier. I have always needed such an item in my kitchen! A great birthday gift for me turned into a yummy Father’s Day meal for him. 😉

This recipe was adapted from Rick Bayless.com. Great.

I’m sharing with Angie’s Fiesta Friday #129 co-hosted by Jhuls @The Not so Creative Cook and Colleen @Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck. Enjoy!

Yield: Serves 4 generously

• 3 T lard, vegetable oil, bacon drippings, fat rendered from chorizo, or even butter
• 3 serrano OR one large jalapeño, stemmed
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 ripe medium-large tomato, cored and diced
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed, and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (I used large/21-25 per pound shrimp)
• a few sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
• a big squeeze of fresh lime juice
• 10-12 corn or corn & wheat tortillas, for serving

1. Melt the lard or other fat in a medium-size skillet set over medium heat.
2. Seed the chiles then chop them finely and add to the skillet, along with the onion and tomato. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened but is not brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
3. Add the shrimp to the skillet, letting the shrimp cook until they’re almost done through, about three minutes.
4. In the meantime, warm the tortillas in a tortilla warmer or on a plate covered by a moist paper towel and plastic wrap. (I place a damp paper towel over the tortillas in my tortilla warmer, cover, and microwave for 1 minute.)
5. Add a big handful of chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice, then scoop into a warm tortilla.

One Year Ago:

• Greens & Chayote Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

Two Years Ago:

• Chipotle Shrimp Tostadas
• Shortcut Enchiladas Verdes

Three Years Ago:

• Mexican Scrambled Egg & Bacon NYSSMA Celebration Tacos
• Cinco de Mayo Chicken Tinga Tacos

Lobster & Corn Chowder

This chowder tastes so luscious and rich but it is completely creamless. It doesn’t even have any butter! The “creaminess” is from puréed corn. Its rich and intense flavor is from the homemade stock which is made from the lobster shells and corn cobs. Mmmm. 🙂

This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart Living. I used 2 lobster tails instead of 1 whole lobster, increased the amount of corn, and added leeks. We ate it with French rolls and green salad. Healthy and wonderful!

Yield: About 6 cups, Serves 4 to 5 as a main course

Total Time: about 2 hours

• 3/4 to 1 pound lobster tails (I used 2)
• 8 fresh corn cobs, kernels removed and cobs reserved
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 leeks, halved and cut into 1/2-inch moons
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 5 large garlic cloves, minced
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• vegetable stock, chicken stock, or clam juice, as needed
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives

1. Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring 8 cups water to a boil in a large stockpot. Reduce heat to medium-low. Place lobster into water, and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. (Do not let water boil.) Transfer lobster tails to ice-water bath using tongs; reserve cooking liquid. Let stand for 10 minutes to cool.
2. Crack lobster tails and remove meat; reserve shells. Coarsely chop meat. (You should have about 1 cup.) Refrigerate until ready to use. (Note: At this point, the lobster meat can be refrigerated overnight.)
3. Return shells to pot with cooking liquid. Add reserved cobs. Simmer, covered, over medium-low heat for 35 minutes. Strain stock through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard solids.
4. Meanwhile, soak the leeks in a bowl of cold water. Swish to clean. Remove leeks from the top allowing any sand or grit to settle on the bottom of the bowl.
5. Heat oil in a medium stockpot over medium heat. Cook corn kernels, leeks, onion, garlic, and 3/4 teaspoon salt, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 15 minutes.
6. Add 5 cups lobster stock, and cook for 15 minutes. (I had to supplement with chicken stock because I didn’t have 5 cups of lobster stock! Clam juice would also work well as a supplement.) Let cool slightly.
7. Using a slotted spoon, set aside 1 1/2 cups corn mixture.
8. Purée remaining corn mixture and strained liquid in a blender or Vitamix until smooth.
9. Working in batches, strain soup through a large fine-mesh sieve, and return to the pot with reserved corn and lobster meat.
10. Cook over medium heat until warmed through.
11. Stir in chives, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and some pepper. Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with additional chives, if desired.

Note: The soup can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

One Year Ago:

• Rick Bayless’ Classic Ensenada Fish Tacos

Two Years Ago:

• Escarole, Feta, & Shrimp Pasta

Three Years Ago:

• Cheddar Corn Chowder

If you like this you may also like:

• Spaghetti with Corn Carbonara & Crab

Basil Baked Salmon with Tomato Salad

It’s the last official weekend of the summer. 😦 As much as I love autumn, I know that the change of season also means we are getting closer to cold weather… which I absolutely dread. Ugh.

This meal bridges the summer and fall seasons. It was as torn as I am to leave summer behind and embrace the cooler weather! The salmon is smothered with summery fresh pesto accompanied by autumn-esque roasted sunshine squash and potatoes, as well as fabulous sautéed CSA chard on the side. The tomato salad was literally the icing on the cake (salmon)! 🙂 It was great to make with late summer tomatoes, backyard basil and fresh CSA vegetables.

This recipe was adapted from Food and Wine, contributed by Ian Knauer. I increased the proportion of sauce to salmon and used grape instead of cherry tomatoes. I am always a little bit nervous when cooking fish… I cooked the salmon for the 15 minutes as specified in the recipe, but next time would start checking the fish at 10 or 12 minutes. Such a healthy and fresh meal. 🙂

Yield: Serves 2

• 2 (8 ounce) wild salmon filets
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup basil leaves, plus 2 to 4 more leaves
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, separated
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. ( I used the convection setting.)
2. In a food processor with the motor running, drop the garlic clove into the feed tube and run the motor until it is finely chopped.
3. Add the 1 cup of basil, pine nuts, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper, then pulse until finely chopped.
4. With the motor running, pour in 3 tablespoons of the oil until combined.
5. Place the salmon on an oiled baking sheet, then divide the basil mixture between the salmon, then top each filet with 2 small or one large basil leaf.
6. Bake the salmon until just cooked through, about 10 to 15 minutes.
7. While the salmon bakes, in a bowl, stir together the tomatoes, vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper, and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil.
8. Top the salmon with the tomato salad and serve.

One Year Ago:

• Baked Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes & Feta
• Grilled Cilantro-Lime Shrimp Tacos with Cabbage & Corn Slaw

Two Years Ago:

• Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa