Salmon with Tarragon

 

Beautiful salmon with garden herbs.  A quick and easy dinner when served
with steamed broccoli and brown rice.

Our garden tarragon is finally taking off after several rough starts.  Friends have mentioned how easy it is to grow but that hasn't been the case with us.  We finally found a somewhat shady spot with good soil that works for tarragon in our beds.

With that said, not everyone loves tarragon.  I grew up with it and it is an intuitive herb for me.  Bernaise sauce is an amazing, yet indulgent, treat as is tarragon cream over chicken or fish.  Tarragon may be used in teas and soft drinks, and has medicinal and industrial purposes as well.  I hope to make a big batch of tarragon vinegar before the end of the season to use throughout the year.  With a distinctive sweet anise scent and flavor, it is found in cuisines around the world. 

Now that our tarragon plant is thriving, I am excited to use it in our recipes.  This one is super simple!

Serves:  4 - 5
Prep time:  5 minutes

Parchment paper or foil
1 large fillet of salmon, about 1-1/4 pounds
butter or oil, as needed
several sprigs tarragon. about 2 Tbsp chopped leaves
Two lemons, zest the peels then slice fruit into wedges
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.



Zest the lemons, yellow part of the peel only.  The white pith is bitter.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Brush fish lightly with oil or butter then top with tarragon and lemon peel.

Season with pepper and a pinch of salt.

Cook salmon about 8 minutes.  Let set for a few minutes before serving.

Squeeze fresh lemon juice over to finish the dish.

Each 4-ounce serving of salmon offers approximately 175 calories, your entire daily need for vitamin B-12, and over half your daily need for niacin, selenium, and phosphorous.  We used Coho salmon for this recipe as it is fresh and in season through October.  It offers an ideal ratio of 3:1 parts omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids.

 

My Buddha lemon

Every late autumn/early winter I look forward to finding Buddha's Hand lemons in the Farmer's Markets.  They don't have pulp, juice, or seeds, but their zest is incredible.  When in season, substitute them for regular lemon zest.  I like to keep them on the counter because they exude an amazing citrusy yet floral aroma and my kitchen smells so good.  The zest and peel may be used in a variety of ways to include candied peel, flavored sugars or salt, baked goods, and infused in vodka.  They may be a little pricey, but they are a special treat.  Explore!

 

- Kim Fielding

Salmon with Spinach Sauce and Toasted Walnuts

A simple twist on our favorite salmon.  Top with pureed spinach and toasted nuts.

I am quite enamored with Placer County and their produce.  Two wonderful cookbooks have been published by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenney to demonstrate how to use produce in season.  The Art of Real Food has brought eating within the season to another level.  The cookbooks published by these thoughtful women are worth adding to your cookbook collection.

Cooking like this doesn't happen over night.  As we adjust to local produce available, we need to make plans for future meals with freezing, canning, pickling, and dehydrating.

The most vivid recollection I have of eating in the season comes from my neighbors in Moraga, the Tysons, who baked everything from scratch.  They canned and pickled, and did everything they could to preserve what was fresh and local.  I have a memory of driving to a farm in Lafayette to pick plums at sundown so Eleanor could make jam.  Those were sweet times.  We climbed through those trees, ate plums until we almost exploded, and brought back baskets-full of fruit to the cook. 

This recipe comes from the same experience.  We picked spinach from the garden, used local walnuts instead of the pine nuts originally asked for, and otherwise adapted the recipe to our Bay Area climate.

Serves:   4
Prep and cook time:  30 minutes

3 C.  spinach leaves, blanched
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese, fnely grated
1/4 C. sour cream or Greek yogurt (a little more tang if you use the yogurt)
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tblsp. butter and 1 Tblsp. oil
4 fillets salmon, cut into equal-size pieces
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted  (or pine nuts as the original recipe suggests)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend the spinach, Parmesan, and sour cream or yogurt in a food processor or blender.  This is spread on the salmon just prior to baking.

Wring out excess water from the blanched spinach and puree with cheese
and yogurt or sour cream until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix butter and oil in a skillet and sear the salmon.

Season salmon with salt and pepper and cook in butter and oil
until just cooked on the edges.

Spray a foil-lined pan with Pam.  Place salmon pieces, skin-side down, on the foil.

Parchment paper also works well.

Top salmon with spinach mixture.  Bake until salmon is just cooked through, at most a few minutes.

Sprinkle toasted walnuts over cooked salmon with spinach and serve with
 brown rice and salad.

My audience was surprised at how good this tasted. Simple food.

Each serving of 4 oz. salmon and 3 tablespoons spinach sauce provides approximately 290 calories, 3 g fiber, and a full compliment of vitamin B 12.  Over two-thirds of your daily requirement of protein, vitamin A, vitamin b-6, manganese, phosphorous, selenium, and niacin are included in this healthful recipe. 

- Kim Fielding

Thai Green Curry with Salmon

This one-pot stew took all of 15 minutes to prepare.  Serve over
your choice of rice or rice noodles, or by itself.

While on vacation, I love to browse through cooking magazines which I never seem to have time to do when at home.  One of my favorites is The Best of Fine Cooking, Cooking Fresh which is a seasonal publication.  In this spring's edition, there is a recipe for Thai Green Curry Shrimp.  With just seven ingredients, this sounded like the perfect recipe.  My cabin's pantry however didn't offer all the exact items listed.  No worries.  Substitutions were made and the result was a flavorful and colorful stew.  Although I didn't add it here, cubed butternut squash, sliced onions, and other vegetables may be added to the mix after the sugar.  Just make sure they are almost tender before adding the salmon, basil, and peas.

serves:  4             prep and cook time:  15 minutes

1 can lite coconut milk

Several tablespoons Thai green curry paste

2 tablespoons Tamari lite-sodium sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 pound salmon, skinned and cut into cubes

1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, torn into smaller pieces

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Bottled curry paste comes in several varieties:  green, red,
yellow, and others.

In a large pan, heat the coconut milk until simmering.  Add the curry paste and stir until mixture is blended and smooth.  Cook for about 3 minutes.  Add the Tamari and sugar and simmer another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in the salmon and raise the heat to medium-high.  Cook and stir until the salmon is almost done, another few minutes.  Stir in the basil and peas and cook, stirring, until the salmon is done and the peas are heated through. 

Calories for the stew alone is approximately 270.  Add one cup of cooked rice noodles and this is another 190.  Or, 1/2 cup cooked brown rice adds 108 calories.  Offer a tangerine for dessert.  The entire meal with green curry salmon, brown rice, and tangerine offers 415 calories and over 5 grams of fiber.

Note:  Fat in foods adds flavor.  So does salt.  These are facts.  In real life, we as cooks are both aware and cautious of how much to season the foods we offer you.  Some of the recipes we offer may seem bland because they are lightly seasoned with salt.   The benefit of cooking this way is that our taste buds adapt to the flavors of real foods.  If you buy fresh foods several times a week, everything will taste good!

- Kim Fielding

Simple Salmon Dinner

One of the nicest things about salmon is the ease in cooking it. You can buy it in filet or steak form (or even the whole fish if you would like). Salmon is low in calories and saturated fat and provides a great source of protein and the very important omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids which means that the body cannot make them and they must be ingested via good natural sources. Chinook and sockeye salmon have a higher fatty content than other varieties and therefore are richer in omega-3 fatty acids. A 4 ounce serving of salmon provides 100% RDA of vitamin D and 87% of your required omega-3s. In addition, salmon is a great source for several of the B vitamins. Other types of oily fish that provide a good nutrient source include bonito, mackeral, trout, tuna, farmed Arctic char, and sardines to name a few.

Broiled Salmon Filet
This simple preparation of salmon provides a standard by which you can cook other oily fishes as well. Alternate toppings may be used, such as fruit salsas or herb dressings, but the basic lemon wedge squeezed over top is best to bring out the delicious flavor of a wild-caught salmon.

serves:  1                    prep and cook time:  15 minutes

1 -4 oz. salmon filet (salmon steaks are okay too)
Salt and pepper
Lemon wedges

Set oven temperature to broil. Place the salmon, skin side down, on a piece of foil on a pan suitable for broiling. Season the fish lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until fish flakes at thickest part when prodded with a fork. For a ½-1 inch thick filet that is about 3 inches from the heat source, the cooking time is about 5-10 minutes and you don’t need to turn the fish. The skin often sticks to the foil, so this makes for easy clean-up. Carefully lift up the salmon leaving the skin behind. Plate the salmon and serve with lemon wedges.

Calories offered are approximately 245 calories.

You can use the same foil technique for the outdoor barbecue. Place your salmon skin-side down on a piece of foil. Squeeze lemon juice over the fish and season with salt and pepper. You may use other herbs or spices as you wish. Fold up the foil around the fish and seal it to enclose the fish. Place on a hot barbecue grill and cook for about 10 minutes. Wait until it cools slightly before opening the foil packet. Enjoy your salmon!

Menu Suggestion:

4 ounce salmon filet seasoned with salt and pepper,

broiled, lemon juice squeezed over top
1 cup cucumber slices, sprinkled with rice vinegar

and seasoned with salt and pepper
5 asparagus spears, grilled or steamed, seasoned
½ cup carrot coins sauteed with 1 teaspoon olive oil

and gresh garlic, broth added to pan if needed
½ cup steamed brown rice or

½ cup steamed sliced new potatoes

 

Calorie count: 430 calories

- Kim Fielding