Salmon Salad – Plated

Posted on May 23, 2014 by makehastenotwaste

Last year, I ordered a box from Hello Fresh so I could test out the recipe-kit home delivery service. These types of meal kits are now delivered by a growing number of companies, suggesting that the model appeals to a substantial number of people. Or perhaps it is a fad. It would be great if these were an answer to the question I often hear from my single, on-the-go friends: if I buy ingredients to cook at home for myself one night, what am I supposed to do with all the excess? I’m only one person! I’m not so sure these boxes are the perfect solution. My conclusion about Hello Fresh was that its meal options were good and the prices fair, but the ingredient ratios were off, the instructions incomplete, and the serving count questionable. I also wished that Hello Fresh could somehow consider the fact I have a more well-stocked pantry than most.

A friend of mine had high praised for Plated, another service aimed at simplifying home cooking. Taking advantage of a promotion, I decided to give this one a try as well. I selected a seafood choice for one of my meals, once again, since fish is expensive. I’m also trying to incorporate the recommended two servings of healthy fish per week. My second meal choice was a pulled barbecue chicken with a pico de gallo salsa.

To assess Plated, let’s start with the packaging. The box is lined with an insulated bag.

The meat and fish are stored in the bottom of the box, covered with frozen packs that are reusable.

I will add these to my growing collection of ice packs!

Then there’s the produce, some of which is in its own packaging, and some of which I find in the larger bags labeled by recipes.

The fresh tomatoes didn’t fare too well with this; they were packaged near a heavy can of beans and ended up bruised.

I saw that these bags were labeled “Greenbags,” which sounded familiar to me but I couldn’t recall the features.

I got excited when I thought they might be biodegradable, but when I looked them up I didn’t see that in the description–they are meant to absorb the ethylene gas that can make produce ripen and rot too quickly. At least I can reuse them for other fruits and vegetables.

I wasn’t ready to cook the day the box arrived, but it was easy to transfer the individual packages to the refrigerator. The next day, I pulled out my ingredients and recipe card for Seared Salmon Salad with Tomato Sherry Vinaigrette.

Seared Salmon Salad with Tomato Sherry Vinaigrette
From Plated

1 medium tomato, seeded and minced
1 shallot, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 bunch of chives, minced
1 Tablespoon honey
1/4 Cup sherry vinegar
3 Tablespoons of olive oil, divided
1 Cup arugula
3 ounces frisée
3 ounces radicchio
1 small head butter lettuce
2 fillets wild Alaskan salmon
salt and black pepper

The first step on Plated’s card is “Prepare ingredients.” This is where it provides instructions such as “Rinse X. Rise and Mince X. Slice X.” I included some of those directions in my list of ingredients, like I usually do. Basically, the salad dressing is made first, and then most of that is tossed with the greens.

Right away, I made some disappointing observations. The shallot was fairly large, and the tomato was not. They were basically the same size. I made the executive decision to use 2/3 of the shallot, which was probably still more than necessary.

Seeding the tomato.

To make the dressing, combine tomato, shallot, chive, juice of one lemon, honey, and sherry vinegar.

You can see that the tomato is a little mushy.

Really, this is how the honey comes? Normal people don’t have honey at home?

Gradually add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, whisking to emulsify. Taste and add salt and pepper to season.

The next set of challenges involved the salad greens, which are to be combined in a large bowl. After everything is washed, the frisée is to be trimmed first to discard root (I didn’t seem much of a root), the radicchio needs its core removed and a thin slice, and the arugula can go in as is.

The instructions for the butter lettuce were “rinse and tear into bite-size pieces.” The problem: the head of butter lettuce was very, very sandy and gritty. That is not going to dissipate with a “rinse”–the only way to get rid of the grit is to slosh the separated leaves in a bowl of cold water, lift them out (leaving the dirt behind), and then rinse again in a colander/salad spinner. Unless you’re sure that people ordering this plate know about the persistent grit, I think it’s important to include cleaning tips like this.

In addition, this was a massive amount of salad. I started with one bowl, but had to switch to a larger bowl to accommodate it all. I still had trouble keeping everything contained during the next step, which is to pour in half of the dressing and toss to coat.

Bowl attempt # 1.

I’m pretty sure this is the LARGEST bowl I have.

Time to prepare the salmon. The instructions say to rinse and pat dry with paper towels. I’ve never been a rinse-r of meats and fish, but since the salmon was sealed in some kind of liquid, I followed directions. The fillets were very soggy, so the drying step was key.

Season with salt and pepper.

Heat about 1 Tablespoon of olive or other vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat–something nonstick but heavy would be best. When hot, add salmon, flesh-side down, and cook until golden on the outside, 3-5 minutes. Repeat on the other side, careful not to overcook beyond medium-rare.

Arrange salad on two plates and place salmon on top. Spoon over some of the reserved dressing.

Do you see how much salad this is? The plates would have to be massive to hold all of the salad.

My husband joined me for dinner and suffered through some of the bitter elements of the salad. Perhaps this recipe wasn’t the best choice for us because of the salad; I could have done without the frisée myself, since I find its frizzy texture only appropriate in very select dishes, and I already knew the radicchio would be strong. Of course, I could have easily left those parts out. The salad dressing was tasty and paired well with the salmon, but it needed more tomato and could have had more honey or sugar to balance all the bitterness.

As you may have guessed, I reached a similar conclusion for Plated as I had for Hello Fresh: it may not produce the best results for newbie cooks, or those who tend to follow recipes word-for-word. It certainly doesn’t guarantee proper portions for the selected number of “plates,” which means that people aren’t cutting back as much on food waste as they might think. As long as you keep that in mind, you might enjoy the healthy, high-quality ingredients and the convenience of avoiding a trip to the grocery store.

Plated Rating (sample size of 1, on a scale of 1-5):
Packaging: 3
Ingredients (freshness): 3
Recipe accuracy (quantities, ratios): 2
Instructions: 2
Recipe uniqueness: 4
Accuracy of portion sizing: 1
Taste: 3

Spice-Roasted Salmon with Green Beans and Rice

Posted on March 19, 2014 by makehastenotwaste

The whole spring-forward-daylight-savings-thing is a killer. In spite of the fact I tried to go to bed early last Saturday night, I was dragging every morning thereafter. My distaste was only slightly dampened by noticing sunlight later in the evenings. If only there was a way to experience the thrill of extra daylight without losing sleep. Can’t the clock switch from 4:00 to 5:00 pm on a Monday?

I really didn’t feel like cooking when I got home from the gym last Tuesday evening. I was tempted to make my dinner out of a mishmash of snacks and cheese; maybe I’d go as far as to open some boxed pasta or a can of beans. The fact that I had fresh fish in the refrigerator, waiting to be cooked, meant I needed to overcome these impulses.

I’m glad I sucked it up. It doesn’t take long to put together a fresh, complete weeknight meal like this, getting in my omega 3s and vitamins. Green beans and salmon cook quickly (especially with subjective measures of done-ness, so you can be even quicker if you want) and rice is hands off. I only had to chop 3 small things and measure a couple of others. Easy breezy!

The spice seasoning for the fish is garam masala. I have been making garam masala by toasting fresh whole spices at home, and one of the last times I made it, I made a pretty large batch.

While we’re on the topic of spices, I have a reason to mention my spice cabinet organization.

As you can imagine, it can be hard to keep track of a dozen little by-the-ounce plastic baggies of spices. Occasionally I relocate them to other empty spice containers, but they take less space in the bag. I found stackable plastic flat containers at the Container Store which have 6 shallow compartments. I can arrange several spices front to back in the compartments. Then I label the front with dry erase marker with each item in order. This way, I can see what I have with a quick glance, and I’m maximizing the space.

What’s my organizational scheme for the rest of the spices? Well, you know how it is with your own kitchen. I just have a feel for where to find certain ones, particular ones that are used together in the same recipes. This is one of the reasons it is so utterly challenging to cook in someone else’s kitchen, isn’t it? (At least, the majority of someones who don’t alphabetize their spices.)

Back to the cooking! A note on timing and temperature: the steps to this meal include boiling some basmati rice, blanching the green beans, sautéing the green beans, and pan-roasting the fish. My husband will tell you, I have a “thing” about my food being served at the proper temperature (and I pay close attention to this at restaurants). That usually takes the form of me wanting hot food to be served noticeably hot. You’re going to want to eat your salmon freshly cooked, so it should be the last thing you finish, obviously. I wanted to minimize dirty dishes, so, while the rice was cooking, I blanched the green beans and then sautéed them first in the same pan I planned to use for the salmon. While the salmon was finishing up later, I gave the beans a quick reheat in the emptied blanching pot.

Then everything got cold as I was taking pictures, of course. No one ever mentions that!

Spice-Roasted Salmon with Yogurt Sauce
For 2
Adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 sustainable salmon fillets, 6 ounces each
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
about 4 Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt, 2% preferred
1 Tablespoons green onions, thinly sliced, plus extra to garnish rice
1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat.

Sprinkle fillets evenly with garam masala and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add fillets to pan, skin side down. Cook about 7 minutes; turn over, and cook 1-2 minutes or until desired degree of done-ness and temperature.

While the salmon is cooking, combine ingredients for the sauce. Whisk 2 1/2 teaspoons oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt, yogurt, green onions, and lime juice in a small bowl.

The original recipe called for a combination of creme fraiche or sour cream and yogurt for the sauce. I only had Greek yogurt, which is my go-to substitute for creme fraiche and sour cream anyway, so I used the yogurt alone. It still tasted great to me.

Dollop mixture onto fillets, when serving, along with lemon wedges on the side.

Indian-spiced Green Beans
From Martha Stewart Living

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1 pound string green beans, stem ends trimmed
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1/2 large or 1 small yellow onion (about 4 ounces), thinly sliced into rounds or half-moons
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced

Remember, you can keep your fresh ginger in the freezer to make it last so much longer!

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Once water is boiling, add 1 teaspoon salt and string beans.

Cook about 3 minutes (the beans should turn bright green), and drain into a colander. Transfer to ice bath and slosh the beans around. Drain again.

Set the large skillet over high heat, and add vegetable oil. When hot, add mustard seeds, and cook about 30 seconds, until seeds start to pop.

Add onion, and cook, stirring until they begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add ginger, and cook 1 minute more. Add reserved string beans, and cook, stirring until hot. Season with salt to taste.

Dinner is served! I realized later that my salmon was incorrectly placed here with the skin side up.

Mmm, that’s better.

Make it quick and make it quality

Posted on May 25, 2013 by makehastenotwaste

Last week I let someone else do the meal planning for me. I complained that the recipes were a bit of a hassle, and the dishes didn’t even come out that well. But the result was a balanced plate of food. This week, I challenged myself to plan a satisfying meal that would come together fairly quickly. And I would do the shopping myself.

As you should know this is not my strength: I often end up spending more than an hour, somehow, bringing together a single dish. Yet the April issue of Cooking Light was jam-packed with recipes for 80 meals under 40 minutes, and I was inspired (not so inspired that I could resist substituting in a recipe that I know would add to my clock time…but at least I acknowledge my silly ways). The meal was assembled in one hour, with only a little grilling help from my husband. So here it is! Protein (yes, fish again), vegetable and starch.

Grilled Sea Bass with Tarragon Beurre Blanc
Raw Shaved Asparagus With Lemon Dressing
Rosemary-Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Game plan: Prepare the potatoes and garlic; preheat the oven. If you’re going to use this ambitious asparagus recipe (simpler alternative from CL: Asparagus with Lemon and Pecorino), start shaving the stalks and do about half before you put the potatoes in the oven. Finish shaving the asparagus, then preheat the grill/grill pan for the fish. Make the sauce while grilling the fish.

Raw Shaved Asparagus With Lemon Dressing
Adapted from Jonathan Waxman’s recipe in his cookbook Italian, My Way
Check out my signed copy! ———->
Serves: 4 to 6

¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted and crushed
1-1 1/2 pound asparagus, ideally from a local farm
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
Toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet for 5–8 minutes in a preheated 350° oven; cool and then crush in a towel using a rolling pin (which helps remove the skins).

Wash and snap the asparagus spears at their base, setting bases aside for another use. Upend a small bowl, place a spear on the flat bottom and, using a vegetable peeler, gently shave long thin slices.

Eventually, I discovered that it was easier to do my first shaves with the asparagus pressed flat against the cutting board. Once it got thinned, I moved to the bowl. Be patient and forgive yourself if you can’t get all long, perfectly thick slices.

In a separate bowl, mix the lemon juice with the olive oil and add sea salt and black pepper. When the rest of the meal is ready, toss the dressing with the hazelnuts and asparagus. Serve with Parmesan sprinkled around.

Rosemary-Garlic Roasted Potatoes
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves: 2

several large garlic cloves
1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
14 ounces baby potatoes
1-2 small thyme sprigs
2 rosemary sprigs
1/4 teaspoon kosher or ground sea salt, divided (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, if you have it

Directions
Preheat oven to 450°. If the potatoes are larger than fingerling potatoes, cut in halves or quarters. Smaller potatoes can be kept whole, but medium sized ones benefit from more surface area for crisping!

Place unpeeled garlic cloves, olive oil, potatoes, thyme sprigs, and rosemary sprigs in a large bowl; toss to coat. Arrange potato mixture on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Bake at 425-450° for 25 minutes, stirring halfway and then checking for doneness toward the end of cooking time. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves out of their skin and return to potato mixture. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt and parsley.

Grilled Sea Bass with Tarragon Beurre Blanc
Adapted from Cooking Light again
Serves: 2

Sauce:
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 large tarragon sprig
1.5 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped

Fish:
2 (6-ounce) meaty white fish fillets, without skin — The recipe suggested halibut, but my grocery store didn’t have it. It also said cod or tilapia could be substituted (and would save money), but I couldn’t imagine how those would stand up so well to grilling, which I had my mind set on. The meatiest looking fish they had was the sea bass.
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Cook until liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons. Remove from heat; strain through a fine sieve over a measuring cup, pressing mixture with the back of a spoon or spatula to release liquid.

Discard solids. Return liquid to pan. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, stirring with a whisk until butter is incorporated. Stir in tarragon.

Even at $19.95 a pound, I ended with a piece with a bunch of bones. Grrr.

Sprinkle fish evenly with salt and ground pepper. Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Note: grill pans are great, but ours can be a beast to clean up. That’s why I like about the outdoor grill. It either doesn’t need cleaning…or maybe the grill fairy takes care of it?

Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with sauce.

There it is–the makings of a great meal!

Hello fresh – hello leftovers!?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by makehastenotwaste

The business of meal home delivery service seems to be thriving. Public interest in food is ever-growing, and while that is often manifested by people eating out or watching others cook on TV, some are genuinely interested in getting their hands dirty. And sometimes they just don’t know where to start. This seems to have fueled the creation of a number of new companies that deliver hand-picked weekly recipes along with nearly all the required ingredients for several home-cooked meals. Do you have trouble keeping your pantry, fridge and freezer consistently stocked? Have you discovered at times that you have four different types of bread but no protein? Overwhelmed by all the choices in the supermarket? Feel stumped by the 15 steps of instructions in a recipe? No worries, we have it all worked out for you.

I may not fall precisely within their target audience, as I do plan ahead for meals, I love grocery shopping, and I have binders and bookcases full of recipes to serve as starting points. But listen to what they are promising – proper quantities of produce, meat, grains, etc. to create precisely 3 meals for precisely two people (or 4 people, or 6 people) per meal – sounds efficient, right? Fits right in with my philosophy, right? So, when the opportunity came to try HelloFresh at a discounted price (AmazonLocal deal), I decided it was my duty to give it a try.

Special delivery!

These plastic bags are solid–I tried and failed to rip them open by hand. Only scissors would do.

My three meals were Sautéed Trout with Radicchio & Oranges, Beef and Noodle Soup in Soy Sauce Broth, and Creamy Penne with Edamame, Chicken and Crimini Mushrooms. Since fresh fish spoils the fastest, I decided to start with that.

Sauteed Trout with Radicchio & Oranges
adapted from HelloFresh
Serves: more than 2!

2 trout fillets
Salt and peper

Radicchio & Oranges:
2 oranges
1 small head radicchio, thinly sliced
1 oz pecan halves, toasted
2 oz goat cheese
1 Tablesoon olive oil

Rice & Sweet Potato:
1 chicken stock cube and 2 Cups of water,
OR 2 Cups chicken stock (would taste better)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Cup basmati rice
Salt and pepper

Finish touches:
2 Tablespoons of chives, finely chopped

Begin preparing the rice, before all the chopping: take 2 medium saucepans. In one, put the stock cube into a pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and dissolve the cube. Or, heat 2 cups chicken stock. Heat the second pan over medium-high heat and toast the pecans, shaking frequently, about 5 minutes until fragrant. This can also be done in a oven at 350 degrees, if watching very carefully. Remove pecans and chop when cool. Set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add rice, cooking for 1 minute over medium heat. Add stock to the pan with the rice with a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, get those sweet potatoes, radicchio and chives chopped.

Doesn’t it look like I have way more radicchio and chives than I need? Also, in their picture on the recipe, it all fit on one cutting board.. mine is running out of space!

After 5 minutes, add the chopped sweet potato to the rice and cook, covered, for 10 more minutes.

Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes with the lid on.

Prepare the radicchio and orange: slice the ends (the poles) off of 1 orange. Carefully follow the curve of the fruit to cut away the peel and white pith. While holding the orange over a medium bowl, cut along both sides of each membrane to remove the segments into the bowl. Juice the other orange into the bowl. Add the radicchio, crumbled goat cheese, toasted chopped pecans, and 1 Tablesoon of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Season the trout with salt and pepper. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, cook the trout, skin-side down, 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Don’t try to turn it early or disaster will ensue! Carefully flip and cook the other side for less than 3 minutes, until the trout is cooked through and flakes easily.

Do you see how much trout this is?

On the plate, either place the radicchio salad underneath or on top of the trout fillets (it is supposed to be trout THEN vegetables…whoops I, I misread that). Sprinkle with chives. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve on the side.

Looking back, I’m pretty embarrassed about the appearance of my chives in this picture. To be fair, later in the week I realized that my knife was in desperate need of honing (it makes a big difference) Also, this is what happens when you are rushing and trying to use only the corner of space left on the cutting board!

I prepared this dish on a time crunch, somewhat intentionally, because I thought that the prearrangement of ingredients would translate to speedier prep. Unfortunately, the chopping took quite some time. I had my plate of food ready in 45 minutes.

I love trout. I don’t love bitter radicchio, but it is more than tolerable with delicious goat cheese, sweet orange, and crunchy pecan–indeed, I have taken this approach before when radicchio appeared in my farm share. The rice was very blah and boring. It tasted like the salt and pepper I added to it–not impressive. I encourage creative additions….cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper perhaps? Not only did I have bland rice, but I had CUPS of leftover bland rice, after serving two people dinner! There was also radicchio salad a-plenty (of course, my husband doesn’t eat that).

Let’s evaluate HelloFresh overall. First of all, I have serious questions about their process for testing recipes. Every recipe I received was far from fool-proof. For example, the quantities of the ingredients they gave me for the Beef and Noodle Soup were way off. Though the recipe simply said to use “one thumb of ginger,” the hunk of ginger they provided was clearly too much for a recipe for two, so I guessed about a tablespoon and a half; also, there was almost no broth once everything was added together so I had to add water. Yet, even with my tweaks, the resulting dish had a pretty interesting and complex flavor, with the different components. The creamy pasta was delicious, though simple. Cooking the chicken was time-consuming — I would have been happy to have it as a vegetarian meal. As for value: the full price comes to about $11.50 per meal. I don’t think that is exorbitant, because quality meat and fish like this are expensive. It’s true, one would have a hard time finding a complete and filling meal made from such “fresh” ingredients at $11.50. However, it required me to do all of the work, and all the dishes too. Moreover, I was misled to believe that the food I was making would feed two people – no waste.

I’m encouraged by this idea of ingredients portioned for recipes. It looks like for now, though, ~~I’m going to stick to~~I prefer shopping for myself and buying the quantities available in stores, and discovering creative ways to use everything up.

Hello Fresh Rating (sample size of 1, on a scale of 1-5):
Ordering: 4
Packaging: 3
Ingredients (freshness): 4
Recipe accuracy (quantities, ratios): 2
Instructions: 4
Recipe uniqueness: 4
Accuracy of portion sizing: 2
Taste: 3.5

Healthy Choice

Posted on April 2, 2013 by makehastenotwaste

Remember the leeks from the broccoli soup recipe? Well, the store doesn’t sell leeks individually — you have to buy several — so I had some left over. I also wanted to use fish in a meal I cooked one of these days. As you may know, one of the those recommended habits for healthy eating is incorporating 2-3 servings of fish per week, to gain the benefits from healthy fats. This meal was going to be shared with my husband for once, and while quite fit in general, Matt’s blood work has shown that he could improve his cholesterol levels.

I came across a recipe on the Food Network website by Ina Garden for “Salmon with Lentils.” Subsequently, while searching for a particular recipe among my saved selections and reading through several, I discovered that leeks and salmon and leeks and lentils are common combinations. I am going to try to store this tidbit in my memory for future planning. This recipe also used–surprise surprise–more celery and carrots from my refrigerator stock.

Salmon with Lentils

adapted from Ina’s Barefoot in Paris

Serves 2 plus 1-2 servings of leftovers

Ingredients
6 ounces lentils (I had this much left of black beluga lentils I bought in a whim with a gift card to Williams Sonoma. These are great lentils though, if you can find them, and they work well in place of green lentils, which could also work here).
a few tablespoons of olive oil
1.75 cups chopped yellow onions
1.5 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only (Leeks can acquire a lot of dirt and grime during harvest. To prepare, cut to separate white and light green part from green leaves. Cut once lengthwise. Submerge in a bowl of cold water and slosh layers around. Drain and then arrange pieces together to chop crosswise).
3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup homemade chicken stock, or good canned broth
1.5 tablespoons tomato paste (Hint: when you open a can of tomato paste, which rarely needs to be used in its entirety, measure individual tablespoon amounts into small pieces of plastic wrap or into ice cube trays and freeze. Keep scoops together in a container for later use)
1.5 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or to taste
6-8 oz center-cut salmon fillets, in the quantity of the number of people you are serving (in my case, 2, wild-caught all the way)

Place the lentils in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 15 minutes, then drain.

Heat oil in a medium-large saute pan. Add the onions, leeks, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the drained lentils, celery, carrots, chicken stock, and tomato paste. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add the vinegar and season to taste.

While the lentils are simmering, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

For the salmon, heat a cast-iron or other oven-proof saute pan over high heat for 4 minutes. Rub both sides of the salmon fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

When the pan is very hot, place the salmon in the pan and cook over medium heat without moving them for 2 minutes, until very browned. Flip fillets, and move pan into preheated oven. Cook 5-7 minutes, until the salmon is cooked rare and still moist. Scoop lentil-vegetable mixture on plates and place a salmon fillet on top.

Enjoy your meal, and look forward to the dessert you can afford to have because you made a healthy choice for dinner! 🙂

An effort to make efficient use of every last drop, stem, crumb, and moment.

Category Archives: Fish