Phyllo-Wrapped Salmon with Leek, Mushroom, Goat Cheese Cream Sauce

Phew, that was a long name for a recipe. And I guess I lied when I said that I wouldn't be posting until next week. But after this one, next week for sure. I got a request for a salmon recipe, which intrigued me as I hadn't cooked salmon in a while. I finally decided to combine a couple of interesting ideas (wrapping in Phyllo) and a Leek Cream Sauce. Let me know what you think!

PHYLLO-WRAPPED SALMON WITH LEEK CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:
3 Phyllo sheets
5 oz skinless Salmon (<1 inch thickness)
1 leek, halved and thinly sliced, discard the tough (upper) part of the leek
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
1/2 c. whipping or heavy cream
1 mushroom, chopped
1-2 T goat cheese
herbes de provence
about 2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F. To a pan, add olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add leeks and spring onion.

Cook until tender. Add some salt and pepper. Add heavy cream and reduce by a quarter to a half. Remove sauce to a bowl, add in the mushrooms, goat cheese, herbes de provence, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Taste and reason as needed. Have a sheet of the phyllo, brush with butter or spray with Pam, repeat x2. Add salmon, and salt and pepper the fish. Over this, add 2/3 of the leek mixture, keep 1/3 for the plating. Fold over the phyllo dough to create a packet. Spray a baking sheet with pam, place the salmon packet on it and bake for 25 min.

Alternatively, if you don't want the hassle of the phyllo, broil salmon for 10-15 min or until done. Spoon mixture over salmon and serve.

Time for prep: 10 min
Total Time: 35 min
Serves: 1 (sauce can serve 2)



This recipe is pretty delicious, if I do say so myself. And easy to make! Really! Sorry the plating is not the best, I will have to work on the presentation aspect of this recipe, but the flavors of this were wonderful and the salmon was tender.

Short Hiatus

Sorry, I know I haven't posted in a couple days and probably won't post again until next week. Too much going on! But come back next week and look for some new yummy posts (including a salmon recipe :)).

White Wine Sauce

I had one more piece of fish to eat, this time a Hake. I was excited, haven't actually used Hake in my own cooking. I decided to change up how I normally cook my fish (broil) and instead simmer it in a pan and then use the yummy leftover sauce/oil to make a white wine sauce.

WHITE WINE SAUCE

Ingredients:
1 shallot, chopped
a little butter, or in my case, earth balance butter!
1/4 c white wine (I used my pouilly fuisse)
1 T sour cream
salt
pepper
tarragon (I could see sage being good too) - normally fresh, but in my case, dried!
1/2 - 3/4 tsp Honey

After cooking the fish (salted and pepperized) with olive oil, white wine, rosemary, and a dash of peach chardonnay vinegar, I removed the fish. To the pan, keep what is there, add butter (very little) shallots and cook until soft. Then add white wine and sour cream, stir. Add seasonings and honey. Reduce until thickened to desired consistency. Taste and reseason as needed.

Time to prep (not including the fish): under 5 min
Servings: 2


And, of course, you guessed it! Cauliflower puree for a side vegetable. I perhaps shouldn't have been quite as ambitious and should have considered halving my recipe the first time around. Good thing it tastes good reheated in a microwave! :) I almost also thought about pureeing some broccoli and adding that to the cauliflower to give a different color (and taste) that would compliment the fish and white wine sauce. But nah, too much work. I have work to do tonight!

The meal itself was... well, let me try to explain. I added a bit too much peach chardonnay vinegar with the fish which in of itself, for the fish, just made it yummier. However, that did affect the sauce. When I initially wrote the recipe, it didn't have the honey portion. But after tasting the sauce, it was a bit too tangy and needed something else. Honey! I added just a bit, but boy did it make the difference. Don't get me wrong, the sauce was still a little tangy at the end, but on top of the fish? And with the cauliflower? It was actually kinda nice! Next time, a little less peach chardonnay vinegar and/or using cream instead o the sour cream and it will all be perfect!

Dan Dan Mein revisited

Just a quick note to let you know my thoughts on my Dan Dan Mein recipe, which I changed at the end. I liked it better today, less peanut buttery and I think that the addition of even that little bit of honey made a world of difference. More ginger was also a good thing.

Banana French Toast

I had a banana that was slowly dying and I wanted to eat it, but not just eat it plain and outright. And this morning, I was in the mood for an actual breakfast, so I decided to make something new. After making it, I definitely saw where I could improve in the actual cooking method, so this is the improved recipe!

BANANA FRENCH TOAST
(no special utensils)

Ingredients:
1 banana, sliced
2 slices bread (I used Pepperidge Farm 7 grain Light Style - Healthy and low cal!)
1/4 c egg beaters
2 T skim milk
dash or two of ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp flour
salt, a dash or two
pepper, a dash
cooking oil

Mix the egg beaters, milk, cinnamon, sugar, salt, pepper, and flour together in a flat bowl. Don't be worried about the flour lumping, but big lumps should be mixed in and small lumps are all ok. Heat pan (should be able to fit 2 pieces of bread) with 2 T cooking oil, coat bottom of pan. Use medium heat. When cooking oil has heated some, dip one piece of bread into mixture (all of it!) and place in pan. Let one side brown/cook and flip. Once you have flipped the bread, dip your other piece of bread and add to pan. On the first slice of bread, start stacking your banana slices. I used 2 layers. When the second slice of bread has cooked, place cooked side onto the bananas. Then, carefully flip the entire "sandwich" over so the last side of bread can be cooked. When this is done, plate, sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top, add some banana slices.

Time from start to finish: about 7 minutes
Serving size: 1 person


This was pretty delicious and considering I used bread that between the 2 pieces were only 90 calories, egg beaters, and skim milk, this was pretty healthy!

Guacamole

Some people like their guac with onion, cilantro, tomatoes - the whole shebang. Me personally, I am not a raw onion fan, rarely keep cilantro in the fridge just to have it, and definitely like my tomatoes - they are a must. Others really keep it simple by just adding bottled salsa to avocado. I personally say ewww - especially if you have at least fresh tomatoes on hand. So, I decided to spice up my fish dinner tonight with some guac - gives the dish color, is healthy, and tastes oh so yummy!

GUACAMOLE
(No special utensils required)

Ingredients:
2 avocados
1-2 T sour cream
tomatoes, chopped (i used grape tomatoes)
salt
cayenne or chili powder
lime juice (1-3 tsp, depends on your preference)
garlic powder

It's easy - cut your avocados in half lengthwise and scoop out the avocado into bowl and mash. Chop up your tomatoes. Add the sour cream, lime juice, salt, chili powder, and garlic powder (all to taste). Mix. Re-season as needed.

Time to prep: Under 5 min
Servings: 4-6, depending on how hungry you are!

Now, what I did, after eating some for an appetizer :), is broil my arctic char as I did yesterday. For plating, I used some leftover cauliflower puree as the base, put the artic char on top of that, and topped the fish with guacamole. Healthy and with good flavors. Oh, and a glass of Pouilly Fuisse to top it all off.


You know, I just thought of a yummy small plate I may just have to try. Cook some shrimp and then chill. For plating, on a tortilla chip, place the chilled shrimp, and top with a dollop of guac. Alternatively, chop the shrimp. Then, on the tortilla, spread some guac and top with a few pieces of the shrimp. To make it REALLY pretty, adding some fresh cilantro on top would be delish!

BTW, discovered the foodie nyc blog (blog.foodienyc.com) the other night and spent hours perusing it. Pretty fun place to get some ideas and think about being creative food-wise!

Dan Dan Mein (Noodle)

So... My sister and I recently talked about the Dan Dan Mein that our mom made when we were young. Back in the day, I wasn't so keen on the dish, but for some reason, I have been craving/wondering about it. So, I decided to give it a shot today. It was semi-successful, but... I have never been a huge fan of peanut butter, just never developed a taste for it! So, I have to wonder, is my lack of enthusiasm for the end result because I didn't get it quite right or because I just found it too peanut buttery? In any case, here's how I made it and then how I've decided to modify it.

DAN DAN MEIN
(No special tools required)

Ingredients:

Peanut butter, approximately 1/4-1/3c (I used reduced fat)
Water
Ginger, grated
Garlic Powder
1-2T Cooking or Olive Oil
Salt
Fried shallots (optional)
approx. 1 tsp red chili flakes in oil
1-2 T soy sauce
Pepper
Sesame Oil
chopped spring onion

Noodles!

Start cooking your noodles ahead of time, as the sauce doesn't take very long to cool. Take your peanut butter some water and make a smoother peanut butter paste. I didn't add much in the beginning, probably a little less than a 1:1 ratio. In a small pot, add oil, grated ginger (I don't believe that you can really have too much ginger, but maybe a 1/4-1/2 tsp?), garlic powder, fried shallots, and the red chili pepper flakes with oil and heat over very low heat. Be ready to add your peanut butter mixture quickly as the oil will heat quickly. Once you have added the peanut butter, stir. You may need to add more water at this point, depending on how thin you like the sauce. I didn't need to add too much, maybe a couple of tablespoons. I then added the soy sauce, a little green onion, and salt as needed. When your sauce is done, add a little sesame oil for flavor and texture. For serving, add some sauce to the bottom of a bowl, the noodles on top, mix, put a little spring onion on top for aesthetics and viola - done!

Cooking Time: 4 min for sauce. With noodles, 10 min.
Serves: 4 people



So, after eating my meal, I thought it was okay. (Again, was it the dish or the peanut butter? Not sure.) So, I decided to make a few changes. First, I thought to add more water to try and cut some of the peanut buttery-ness. Not sure it will help, but ended up adding another 1/4 c. or so. Then, thinking about Honey Roasted Peanuts, I decided to add some honey to the mixture. Not too much, about 1-2 tsp. Also, after adding all that extra water, I decided that it needed more salt, ginger (another 1/4 tsp), red chili pepper oil (1/2 tsp), and garlic powder. We'll see how it fares tomorrow as I can't eat any more right now!

Cauliflower Puree

I had this wonderful cauliflower puree side dish at A Mano in Chicago the other day and it inspired me. I like cauliflower, but I must admit, I just don't cook it much! So, I decided to try and recreate, or at least model after, the recipe. I like to make things easy to cook and, since I am cooking for one, try to not make too much or else I'm turned off the food for a long long time thereafter. Oh, and I am asian, so don't be mad if measurements are approximate or to taste. :)

Let me know what you think if you try this!

CAULIFLOWER PUREE
What else you'll need: food processor.

Ingredients:
1 16 oz bag of frozen cauliflower
2-3 shallots ("clove")
chicken stock - not too much, maybe 1/4 cup?
1-2T sour cream
olive oil
salt to taste
garlic powder to taste
ground ginger to taste (optional, i only tried a dash or two 'cause I have it!)

Start a pot of water to boil. While the water is boiling, clean and cut your shallots - thick slices are fine as this will be cooked and pureed later! When you add the cauliflower to the boiling water, saute your shallots in olive oil. When this is done and the shallots are soft to browned, put this in the food processor. You can also start adding some salt, garlic powder, and chicken stock to the processor. When the cauliflower is done, add half the batch (try to drain as much of the water as possible) and start the processor! When it is coarsely pureed, stop, add some sour cream, chicken broth as needed, and the remainder of the cauliflower. Puree again and the consistency should start to come together as a thicker white puree. Open periodically to taste and add more of the spices, sour cream, and chicken stock (be careful about this one!) as needed. I waited until the end to add a little olive oil (maybe 1-2 T) as well as that dash of ground ginger.

Time to Cook: 10 min max.
Serves about 4-6 people


I gotta say, pretty good! I ate this with broiled Artic Char (lightly salted and peppered, broiled approximately 6-8 min, but just take a look, and use a fork to see if the inside is done!) and with a little Sweet Ginger Chili sauce (The Ginger People, available at Whole Paycheck) on top. Oh, and an Arugula salad with pecans, torta with Cranberries, and tomatoes.