Found two really good recipes today that I felt I had to try. One of them is so good I made it for lunch and dinner today... Dinner version which I will describe here was a slight mash up with another recipe though, but main inspiration came from Pille over at nami-nami.
Tonight's dinner creation is aptly named "Grilled pastrami salmon with brussel sprouts and carrots fry up" and turned out really well if I may say so myself (which I just now decided I may, so there).
It is a very spicy dish without being hot, suitable to serve with a not too heavy red wine or some light beer. Beer of choice tonight was Carlings, simply because someone had left a few in the fridge after last Friday's slumber party.
Enough already, here are the recipes. After the recipes, a step by step photo walk through, how about that!
Grilled pastrami style salmon
I found this recipe over at My Adventures in the Breadbox, and I completely agree with the author in this most likely being the best salmon evah! So simple to make too.
Ingredients
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 (1 1/2-pound) center-cut salmon fillet
1/2 tsp olive oil
Method
Start oven, set it to broil. Mix all the spices in a bowl. Place fillet on a cutting board skin side down. Gently and evenly brush some olive oil on top of the fillets and then sprinkle the blend of spices over them. Pat the fillets, rubbing the spices into them, then cover with saran wrap and chill for about 15 minutes.
Place fillet skin side down in a buttered / oiled pan and then broil for about 10 minutes until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
Brussel sprouts and carrots fry up
Here I am combining two completely different recipes (from here and nami-nami) since I found both and didn't know which to choose... The ingredients work really well together, and I just love brussel sprouts.
I ate all of this myself, but to be honest this is just about enough for two people.
Ingredients:
2 tsp mustard seeds
10 brussel sprouts, quartered
1 red chili, sliced
5 carrots, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sea salt
2-3 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tbsp powdered coconut
salt and pepper
butter (for frying)
Instructions:
Cut all the vegetables according to the list of ingredients. Heat butter in a wok or frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Let the seeds fry until they start popping, then add the chilis and the brussel sprouts. Let fry for five to seven minutes while stirring now and then, then add the carrots and garlic and fry for another five to seven minutes still stirring occasionally. Add the onion, continue frying until onion is soft and sprouts and carrots are al dente.
Season with powdered coconut, ginger, parsley, salt and pepper.
Step by step
There was a few things confusing me in the recipes, like the use of a spice called "allspice"... But yes, there actually is a spice named like that and it is very aromatic. The term "broil" also confused me somewhat, sometimes it isn't easy not being a native English speaker, living in London and trying to dabble with cooking.
(Try asking for something you don't even know the name of at Tesco's next time, much less what the packaging looks like, and you'll see. Charades are always fun.)
Found a good explanation of broiling though, and one was even salmon specific with some good salmon tips as well. Take a look at those if you are as easily confused as I.
Didn't find any powdered coconut, but luckily I had some powdered lemon-grass mixed with coconut at home (don't ask me why) and that worked fine (I simply used less ginger and more of the powdered stuff).
1. Start the oven and set it to broil / grill (you know, that jagged little sumbol on the dial). Cut all the vegetables. I cut the carrots in ovals instead of circles, I simply think that looks better. Sprouts were quartered to make them small enough to cook faster, and not have to fry them for so long.
2. Then place the fillets, skin side down, on a cutting board and apply oil and the spice mix. Rub spices in gently, cover in plastic and place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3. Start frying the vegetables. I used an unhealthy slab of butter since I love the taste of butter and carrots... First add the mustard seeds and let them fry until they start popping. They add a lovely taste to the whole dish.
4. Then add the chilis, stir them in the butter with the seeds, and add the brussel sprouts. Let the sprouts fry for about five minutes, until they start going light brown. Stir now and then, but not too often. Treat them gently, or they may break apart.
5. Push the sprouts aside, add some more butter if necessary (I know I did, and some more mustard seeds too) and add the carrots and garlic. I love the smell of garlic frying in butter... Let them fry in the middle for a few minutes (while you take the fish from the fridge and place it in the oven, see below), then stir it all together and fry for another five minutes before adding the onions.
6. Place the fish on a buttered pan and place it in the oven. Put the pan on a rack about 5 to 6 inches (that's ten to twelve centimetres for those of us using a modern and standardised unit system) from the top heaters in the oven. Cooking time is seven to ten minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.
7. Add the onions to the stir fry, mix it all together and let it fry (still stirring occasionally) until the onion is soft and glistening and the carrots are firm and crunchy. This should take another five to six minutes, meaning the stir fry and the salmon are done just about the same time.
8. Take the fillets out of the oven and test them with a fork, if the top flakes easily they are done. Remember to serve immediately when you take them out since they still cook on the after heat.
Place on a plate and scoop some of the vegetables next to the fillet. If I had some baby tomatoes I would have served it with those (cut in half, baby tomatoes add such a fresh taste to anything spicy) but since I forgot to buy some a few slices of red bell pepper had to do as decoration.
This turned out really tasty. Definitely something I would do again, and certainly not afraid to serve with guests around the table. In fact, this is a really easy dish to make, the salmon definitely takes care of itself in the oven, and stirring the vegetables isn't very hard either. I think our kitchen will see more of this dish.
Big thanks for the inspiration to nami-nami and Breadbox Adventure Woman! Uh. Can't believe I ate all of that myself though. So uncalled for... But my tastebuds are extremely happy!
URL: My Adventures in the Breadbox
URL: nami-nami
URL: Howstuffworks - broiling and baking
URL: Salmon cooking tips
URL: Wikipedia on allspice
URL: My "cooking" album over at flickr
