Yellow Curry Salmon with Terriyaki Glazed Soy Beans

 

First off, I know it doesn’t look like salmon. In fact, from this angle it looks like either chicken or a slice of a quiche. This dish was truly put together at the last second. Believe me, underneath that seared curry is salmon.

I cheated by using a pre-made yellow curry sauce that I found in my supermarket and baked it for 20 minutes…for some reason, it didn’t cook so I blasted it with the broiler for a bit.

What I wanted to give you a recipe for was the soybeans. They were so amazing! I made them using frozen soybeans in a pan with:

• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 teaspoon of ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon of garlic paste
• 2 tablespoons of mirin
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons of terriyaki sauce
• a dash of sesame seeds (toasted and untoasted) 

Basically, sautee the ingredients and leave for about 10 minutes until the terriyaki forms a glaze. I topped it off with lemon shavings for a bit of extra zing.

Crispy Salmon with Gnocchi

       

So a friend of mine sent me a link to this blog called veganyumyum.com and I was mesmerized by this gnocchi with Thyme Vinaigrette and Cashew Cream dish. Obviously, there was no salmon involved….only gnocchi. The salmon was added as a main course with the gnocchi on the side, although gnocchi alone would be good enough!

The original recipe and beautiful step-by-step photos are here.

I think the only problem I encountered was the consistency of the cashew cream. I didn’t use the blender and that’s probably where I messed up. I used a small food processor which is on it’s last leg (or blade, rather)! I was feeling kinda lazy and didn’t want to use our blender because we were going to have a protein shake afterwards and we need our blender for that and all the cleaning involved…ugh, no thanks. If I could do it all over again, I’d definitely try out the blender to see if I can get a smoother texture, although the chunky texture wasn’t really all that bad. I mean…okay, it looks pretty bad in the photo, but it was actually quite good overall. I added a clove of garlic to the cashew cream in a small last minute deviation from the original recipe.

As for the salmon, I added some salt and pepper on each side of the salmon filet and then cooked them in a pan with some olive oil until each side had a nice crispy cooked feel to it.I added some of the cashew cream and a drizzle of lemon juice to the salmon. Lastly, I grated some fresh lemon and orange over it for color (and taste). 

This weekend

I tried the Salmon and Avocado Remoulade recipe over at Simply Recipes. I didn’t pan sear it because the salmon fillet I bought was so large it wouldn’t fit in the pan(thanks Costco).

I decided to broil it instead.

I served it with brown rice and haricort verts (with a bit of butter, garlic and s&p).

It was pretty good, but Rus isn’t a huge fan of avocado to begin with…He did eat his fair share of the remoulade though.

The only weird thing about it was that it sort of tasted like a smooth guacamole…and I was having that natural urge to scoop the remoulade up with a nacho. I think next time I try this out, I’ll add a bit more olive oil because it was too thick.

Barbecued Buffalo Burgers

I recently went to Trader Joes and perused the frozen food section. I found some frozen buffalo burger patties and I instantly became curious. I’ve never had buffalo and I love burgers…so why not try it out?

Firstly, let me just I’m not particularly fond of frozen burger patties…I always think of big barbecues and people slapping them on to the grill straight from the package with no seasoning, no nuthin! The end result: a burger with no flavor. You sort of stand around all the other guests, eating a basic ground beef patty with no flavor BUT ground beef and dry bread…You try to drown it in ketchup and mustard and mayo, but it doesn’t help. It makes your bread soggy and the patty slides all over the place. You become sad inside and start thinking about becoming vegetarian.

I refused to let this happen to me…not with my first buffalo experience!

I bought a bottle of barbecue sauce, Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce, to be exact.

I also bought some Yuca Croquettes as sides instead of French Fries. I thought this would be a nice compliment…Yuca is a typical ingredient in Cuban cooking. I grew up on Yuca. Fried Yuca is exceptionally good especially with a side of garlic dipping sauce. The croquettes were not as crispy as the Yuca Fries would be but they were just as delicious. You can pick these up in the frozen food isle in the Goya section or you could try to make your own with a Yuca Root…but that could be a lot of work!

I added some adobo to the burgers beforehand and then we added the bbq sauce as we were cooking them.

They turned out to be extremely delicious and contrary to what I’ve heard, did not taste gamey.

I would definitely buy them again.

Grilled Salmon

Grilled Salmon with sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes.

I marinated the salmon for a few hours in a marinade that took me approximately 2 seconds to make…Paul Newman’s Sesame Ginger dressing.

Yes, folks…it took me 2 seconds to open the bottle. I learned this shortcut of using salad dressings as marinades from my mother, who likes to find the easiest way to make something taste good without having to work too much.

I decided to also add some freshly sliced ginger to the marinade as well.

Set up a large pot with water and cut potatoes.
Boil potatos until soft. Just like the infamous saying “Stick a fork in me, I’m done,” if you can poke a potato with a fork and it’s soft enough, they’re fully cooked.
Drain water.
Add 2 tablespoons butter.
Add 2 tablespoons sour cream.
Add salt and pepper.
Slowly mash the potatoes and add milk depending on how you like the consistency of your mashed potatoes.
Top mashed potatoes with chives.

Grill the salmon and ginger.
I don’t have a bbq, so I use a cast iron grill pan to grill things over the stove.
While grilling, slowly pour some of the marinade over the salmon.

Sautee olive oil and finely chopped garlic in a seperate pan and then add the fresh spinach. It will wilt very quickly. Add salt and pepper to taste.