Just a recipe . . . for grilled salmon salad

The other night I fixed a nice dinner for friends. And the best part was the friends brought an appetizer and dessert (thanks again, Jenny), so really I only had to think about the main dish and whatever would go with it. As I perused my recipe collection, I went through category after category thinking “what shall I fix?” And what kept nagging at me was . . . I’ve got to make something that I haven’t already blogged about. You see, as a blogger, (and likely most food bloggers agree) I feel the need to continually bring you, my loyal readers, new and interesting recipes. Not something I prepared 2 weeks ago, or 2 months ago that I’ve blogged about already. With those parameters, my possibilities were whittled down, big time.

You see, after blogging for nearly a year, I’m finally getting down to the last hundred or so recipes from my own personal collection. Sure, I’ve blogged about other recipes now and then, ones I’ve found on other blog sites or cookbooks, and I truly do still have lots of recipes to share with you. And it isn’t as if I don’t ever fix dishes more than once. I do. I just don’t blog about it when I do. But the pressure is there to post – or try to post – a new recipe and story every day. Some days I don’t . . . like everyone, I get busy, we have leftovers, or I just don’t have any “great idea” about something I choose to make or blog about. Or, I fix something new and don’t like it much, so surely I’m not going to blog about that!

So, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, we can move on to the recipe. I finally decided to prepare a grilled salmon salad that is one of our family favorites. My DH has been asking me to make this for several months. I hadn’t made it for a long time because I blogged about it last summer, when I was confined to writing, rather than cooking, when I fractured my foot and couldn’t walk or stand for nearly 3+ months. Back then I wrote up posts on some of my favorite recipes, but didn’t have pictures of them. This is one of those recipes. And now I have a picture.

But, since this one is so awfully good, I decided I’d re-post about it. It’s one of my top ten favorite recipes. And it’s one of my go-to recipes when I don’t have a whole lot of time to prepare a company-geared menu. This dish is a meal in one – a protein (salmon fillet), a salad (watercress and perhaps other greens), and vegetables (onions grilled, as well as some red and yellow peppers). Back when I was still a working woman, this was a meal I could shop for and prepare in a reasonable time after I left work, and still put a “company” meal on the table.

Here’s the gist of the recipe: it’s a large salmon fillet (we normally buy them at Costco) that’s sprayed with olive oil spray, placed on a piece of sprayed heavy-duty foil, edges rolled up to surround the fish. That sort-off foil plant is grilled on a moderately hot barbecue. Along with some red and yellow bell pepper strips too, if you’d like. Meanwhile, you prepare a simple Asian-style salad dressing with fresh ginger in it, and you mix up a big mound of watercress (I added spinach to the watercress this time because I had a bag of baby spinach on hand) with some thinly sliced red onions. I also toasted some sesame seeds too. That’s really all there is to it. You toss the dressing on the greens, carefully slide the hot, bubbling salmon fillet on top of the salad, then garnish with the red onions, grilled peppers and sesame seeds. I also drizzle a bit more dressing on top of the fish. Serve.

Cook’s Notes: you can use other vegetables (quartered red onions, asparagus, both grilled, or some steamed green beans – left whole, stems trimmed – and tossed with rice wine vinegar) but our preference is for the bell peppers and onions. Sometimes I add some halved cherry tomatoes to the salad too.

I’m not going to insert the full recipe again – just give you the link to go check out my first posting of it last July.

Crunchy Shrimp with Couscous & Sauce

You can't see the toasted couscous on the bottom, but it's there, topped with watercress, then lightly breaded shrimp, and drizzled with a delicious orange mayo sauce.

Another recipe from the "stack" I sorted through the other day. And this one is an absolute over-the-top winner. It's going into my "Top Favs" in my right column. There aren't all that many recipes in that list, but this one's going on it right now.

Ordinarily I might have passed by this recipe. We don't eat couscous, generally, because it's a high glycemic carb. Couscous is actually little tiny orbs of pasta, and takes no more than adding water (hot) to it and it's cooked and ready. But, this recipe won a cooking contest at Cooking Light in 2006. (I know, I told you, I've been behind in filing my recipes :-), and the rest of the recipe sounded so delish that I held onto it. DH and I went to a local farmer's market and had bought some fresh shrimp with no plan as to what I'd make with it.

Here's the crux of the recipe: you make a mayonnaise-based cold sauce with reduced orange juice, lime juice, cilantro, ginger and cumin. Then you toast the dry couscous in a large pan. THAT I'd never done before, but it added a wonderful taste to the simple prep of couscous. You add chicken broth and orange juice to plump up the couscous, then green onions and almonds at the last. The shrimp: rolled in egg white, then tossed around in a plastic bag with panko, cilantro, fresh ginger and some pepper. You quickly saute the shrimp, then start the artful arrangement: couscous on the bottom, a nice mound of fresh watercress, the hot shrimp, then you drizzle the whole thing with the sauce.


This is the couscous toasting golden brown in the pan.

The mayo (small amount, really) based orange ginger sauce that's drizzled over the top and becomes a kind of salad dressing.

The crunchy shrimp moments before serving. They're crusted with panko, cilantro, fresh ginger and ground black pepper.

The history of the recipe: Cooking Light - the Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest, 2006. There were several categories, but the judges were all, hands down, in love with this dish, which won first prize. The cook: Karen Tedesco of Webster Groves, Maryland.

Cook's Notes: I think next time I'd make a little more of the sauce - it was barely enough (because it's so darned good). Watch the couscous when you're toasting - it goes from normal to toasted in a matter of about 30-40 seconds. I'd chop up the watercress just a little bit. I'm kind of haphazard when I wrench off most of the stems, but even medium stems are hard to eat. This is a one-dish meal - you need nothing else with it. No salad. No side. It takes about 30-40 minutes from start to finish. Would make a lovely company meal.

Crunchy Shrimp with Toasted Couscous and Ginger-Orange Sauce
Recipe By: Karen Tedesco, Webster Groves, MO via Cooking Light
Servings: 4
SAUCE:
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon fresh ginger -- grated
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
COUSCOUS:
1 cup couscous -- dried
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons sliced almonds -- toasted
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
SHRIMP:
20 jumbo shrimp -- peeled and deveined (about 3/4 pound)
1 large egg white -- lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger -- grated
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups watercress -- washed, trimmed, coarsely chopped
1. To prepare sauce, bring 1 cup orange juice to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat; cool completely. Stir in 1 tablespoon cilantro and next 7 ingredients (through red pepper); set aside.
2. To prepare couscous, place couscous in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; cook 3 minutes or until toasted, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 cups broth, 1/2 cup orange juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork; add onions, almonds, and butter, stirring until butter melts. Keep warm. If made an hour ahead, briefly reheat in same pan until it's hot all the way through.
3. To prepare shrimp, combine shrimp and egg white in a bowl, tossing to coat. Combine panko, 1 teaspoon cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, and black pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add shrimp to bag; seal and shake to coat.
4. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; arrange shrimp in a single layer in pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side or until done.
5. Divide couscous evenly among 4 plates; top evenly with watercress and shrimp; drizzle sauce over shrimp.
Per Serving: 423 Calories; 17g Fat (34.3% calories from fat); 21g Protein; 52g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 63mg Cholesterol; 557mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 Fruit; 2 Fat.

Printer-friendly recipe, click title at top.

Crostini with Blue Cheese, Apples & Watercress

(photo from crostini.com)

I really need to get a photo of this appetizer for you all. The above photo looks sort of like it. Wish I could prepare this right now and could photograph it for real. Soon. Hopefully. The broken bone in my foot is improving, thank goodness.

Crostini is an Italian word - I think it means little toasts, or something similar. That's exactly what these are. The recipe calls for a nut or fruited bread. Here in Southern California we can buy bread from La Brea Bakery (Nancy Silverton's famous bakery, although it's been sold to a big baking conglomerate). They have a raisin and pecan baguette that is perfect for this crostini. Otherwise find some kind of nut bread or fruit bread if at all possible. You slice and lightly toast the pieces, spread on a little bit of the cheese mixture containing mascarpone and blue cheese, some thinly sliced apples, then you top each one with some watercress leaves, THEN you lightly drizzle the top with honey. Oh. My. Goodness. Delicious. This recipe is going into my TOP FAV's over on the right column.

Last Fall Cherrie and I attended a cooking class at Our House South County, in San Juan Capistrano. It was all about apples. The cooking school had about 10 varieties of apples from New England shipped to them and they developed recipes all around them. We did a tasting of 6 different apples with 6 different artisanal honey varieties. Gosh were those good. Many of the apples are varieties we can't buy here in California. They're never available in our local markets. So they have to be shipped.

Remember my adage about cooking classes - if I come home from a cooking class with even one special recipe that I'll make, then I count that class as successful and worth the class fee. THIS is the recipe from that class, and I've made them several times.

With apples, you sort of have to cut them up just before you eat them or they will turn brown. If you want to get everything ready before you serve them, you could toss the apples with lemon juice, but I'm not crazy about the lemon juice taste on the crostini. So maybe just acidulated water (a bit of lemon juice in a cup of water) would be better. You can leave the skin on the apples - in fact the crostini look prettier with it on, especially if you're using a red skinned apple. Everything else can be prepared ahead and then it's just a matter of assembling them. I've been known to ask a guest to make them for me. But, you may want to make one and taste it so you know the proportion of cheese to watercress, apple and honey. The honey helps everything stick, so usually you layer the cheese, then the apples, then a bit of watercress, then honey on top.

This is one of those recipes that had I read it in a magazine or a cookbook, I probably would NEVER have made it. Why? Well, I'm not sure I can say. There isn't anything I don't like in this combination, but I don't know that I would have bothered to layer everything up, toast the toasts, etc. Lots of detail work. And yes, that's true, there is a bit of fussy work to be done to serve these. But the end result is extraordinary. And worth it. Absolutely everyone I've served this to has raved about it. So will you, if you try it. I guarantee it.

Crostini with Blue Cheese, Apples & Watercress
Recipe from: Our House South County Cooking School
Servings: 30
BLUE CHEESE SPREAD:
1 cup mascarpone cheese -- softened
2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh thyme -- minced and crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper -- freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 cups blue cheese -- crumbled
CROSTINI:
30 slices baguette bread -- nut or raisin, toasted lightly
2 large apple -- thinly sliced
4 teaspoons honey
3 cups watercress -- leaves only
1. CHEESE: Mix mascarpone, cream, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper, cayenne together in a medium bowl. Gently stir in blue cheese. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
2. CROSTINI: Allow cheese spread to warm to room temperature, then spread it onto the toasted bread slices. On half of the blue cheese spread, place thin apple slices, and on the other half lay a few pieces of watercress, pushing it on slightly so it will adhere. Drizzle the honey over the top and serve.
Serving Ideas : You can't assemble this ahead, but it doesn't take much time to assemble if you have everything ready in small dishes. A tray of these will keep at room temperature for about an hour. AND, leftovers the next morning are just fine. NOTES : This sounds kind of ho-hum. But the combination of the mild blue cheese spread with the fresh, crispy apple slices, the watercress for crunch, and the drizzle of honey makes it sublime. I buy La Brea Bakery's pecan and raisin bread, slice it thin, toast it for about 8-10 minutes at 350. This is best with some kind of fruited bread.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 123 Calories; 5g Fat (38.1% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 280mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click on title at top.

Grilled Salmon with Watercress Salad

(Photo from livegourmet.com, a company that produces watercress.)

If I owned a restaurant, this would probably be my signature dish. I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the really pretty platter of food it makes with all the grilled vegetables around the outside. This photo above looks a lot like my grilled salmon with watercress. I've made this so often that I might be able to make it in my sleep. And it is my one-and-only recipe for which I can buy the ingredients in the late afternoon and have dinner on the table by 6:30 or 7:00 - for guests. This is a one dish meal - well, clarify that . . . it's a grill in one meal. Except for dessert and appetizers, if you're serving them, you can make this in no time at all. It may be the only recipe in my entire personal cookbook that qualifies. So, take note, if you'd like a company meal with little effort.

My friend Stacey is a good cook, but doesn't really like spending hours in prep, nor does she have time anymore with two little ones getting into mischief. But after I made this at their house in the Bay Area one weekend several years ago, she said they invited lots of friends over and she got a lot of entertaining done - serving this for every one. So, Stacey, this one's dedicated to you! You're my hero!

I've told you before about Chris Schlesinger. His book, The Thrill of the Grill, is one of my favorite cookbooks. This recipe came from there. This is the fellow I spoke to, telling him my favorite recipe from his book was the Asian Slaw and he gave me this face. If you haven't read that story, click here. When he signed my cookbook, I hadn't prepared this salmon dish yet. I just wish Chris was reading my blog and he'd know that this is my favorite recipe to date. And I've amplified on his recipe too. I've thought about writing to him tell tell him all about what I've done to his recipe. But oh well. He's a famous chef and all. I think I won't.

For awhile, some years ago, I cut down the amount of the dressing on this salad, to reduce the total fat grams, but have since decided that the full amount is needed; it's an important component of the dish so it covers the salad sufficiently and you have enough left over to pour a little over the salmon itself. And if you grill vegetables to go with, like I do, then you need a bit more for them too. Salmon has plenty of fat in its tissues, but it's good fat, so don't be thrown by the fat content on this one. I've done the math and the salad dressing is fairly inconsequential.

I do need to talk a bit about watercress. It's a little hard to find - at least it is here in California. Whole Foods sells some funny kind of young watercress still growing in vermiculite covered in a little root ball. It has different roundish leaves. And has almost no flavor. This is NOT what you want for this. You need the real thing, the kind of watercress that's actually grown in water (that's why it's called watercress, silly!). It has fattish stems (which you don't use in the salad) and wonderful crinkly leaves. The taste is peppery, not to everyone's taste, I suppose. I love it, though. So seek out good, fresh watercress.

Costco sells this huge slab of boneless salmon. It is farm-raised; not my favorite thing anymore, but I will buy it on occasion. I prefer wild caught now, and if you can find it, by all means do so! You wipe it off, spray it with olive oil spray, then place it on two large pieces of greased heavy-duty aluminum foil, crimp up the edges around the salmon (you don't seal it or cover it). Add a bit of salt and pepper. Meanwhile, you fire up your grill and start working on the vegetables, whichever ones you decide to use. I like putting something red with this dish - the color is just glorious on a large platter. So, you need red bell peppers for sure, even yellow or orange ones too. Asparagus works also. And zucchini too. In a pinch I've also thrown a large quantity of halved cherry tomatoes on the platter at the end (not grilled, of course). And DH's favorite is small red onions, halved. All the vegies need to be well oiled, then grilled. Then you put on the salmon and it's done when you begin to see some white foam seep up through the middle of the salmon. At the last minute toss the watercress salad with some of the dressing, spread it down the middle of the large platter, then slide the salmon off the foil and on top of the salad and add the grilled vegies (that you've kept hot) around the edges. Serve immediately to raves. Guaranteed.

Grilled Salmon with Watercress Salad
Recipe: adapted from "The Thrill of the Grill" cookbook
Servings: 6
2 1/2 lb salmon fillet -- max 1" thick
DRESSING:
2 bunches watercress
1/2 medium red onion -- thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root -- minced
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper -- to taste
2 tbsp sesame seeds -- toast in teflon pan
VEGIES (optional):
3 whole red onions -- peeled, halved or quartered
2 pounds asparagus
4 whole red bell pepper -- quartered
1. Heat a non-stick pan and toast the sesame seeds, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. They tend to burn quickly, so stir often when they start to brown.
Salad: wash well the bunches of watercress and pull the small stems off and discard the large stems. Dry in a towel. Place watercress and red onion in a plastic bag and keep until ready to serve.
2. Vinaigrette: combine the oil, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, vinegars, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. It is best if this is allowed to sit for a few hours, refrigerated, before dressing the salad.
3. If using vegetables, prepare them, oil them, then grill to your taste, being careful not to burn. Move to the side before they're completely done and add the salmon.
4. Fish: Spray the top of the salmon with olive oil spray. Using either heavy-duty foil, or two layers of regular foil, spray the foil with olive oil spray, then place fillet on foil and curl up edges to make a sort of a "pan." Place on grill for 12-20 minutes, or until the inner juices of the salmon have begun to bubble up in the meat (whitish fluid).
5. Immediately before serving, in a large bowl combine the watercress and onion and add most of the vinaigrette to taste - really, taste it to make sure it's right. Sometimes I add green and/or red leaf lettuce to the salad mixture as well. Pour the salad out onto a large platter and place the hot, grilled fish on top. Pour the remaining vinaigrette over the top of the salmon and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds and serve. It says this is excellent served cold although we've never done it that way.
6. NOTE: This is also excellent made with halibut or swordfish. The salmon is the best, however. Serving Ideas : Good for a hot, summer night. I've served this with asparagus, simply dressed with seasoned rice wine vinegar sprinkled over the spears, or green beans. Sometimes I also decorate the platter with halved cherry tomatoes, to give it some color. Or, more often, we grill red and yellow peppers (sprayed lightly with olive oil spray) and place them around the outside of the platter. If you do the peppers, grill them before you put on the salmon, then push them off to the side when you put the salmon on. We also like to add red onions (quartered, sprayed with olive oil) to the platter - they should go on the grill first, as they can take 30 or more minutes. NOTES : This is really a fairly simple dish. Everything can be done ahead except grilling the fish.

Per Serving: 441 Calories; 22g Fat (44.4% calories from fat); 42g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 98mg Cholesterol; 481mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 5 1/2 Lean Meat; 3 Vegetable; 3 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click on title at top.

Tex-Mex Jicama Salad

A week or two ago I mentioned Hugh Carpenter, a very talented chef, author and restaurant consultant. I think his name cropped up in the Los Angeles Times Food Section one year (this was back in the mid-80's) because he was consulting with several new restaurants, helping them develop their menus and specifically the food. Back then he was really into Asian food, but was one of the early advocates of fusion - Asian fusion - Pan-Asian, or Pan-Californian. We zipped up to L.A. on several occasions to try the food in these restaurant establishments and were very interested in the food combinations and layers of flavor. He lives up in wine country, but must spend some time in L.A. So when Carpenter began teaching at the Bristol Farms facility in South Pasadena, I drove up there to take some classes. I was impressed. He's a very engaging, entertaining guy, high energy and skinny as a rail. Still is. He must not eat a lot of the food he prepares, or else he's one of those kind of guys who has a very natural high metabolism. His wife, Teri Sandison, was there with him, and we learned that she helped in the kitchen, but her angle was pottery. More than one of the Carpenter cookbooks contains nothing but his wife's plates, platters, bowls, etc. and she's listed as a co-author.

This recipe was from one of the classes, although it could have been from a more recent one rather than years ago. I'm not sure, nor do I know which of his cookbooks this is from. I've made it several times, and it seemed very appropriate today since we're going to an afternoon barbecue with a group of friends. All I do know is that it's tasty. I happen to love watercress. It has a peppery tang that dances on my tongue. It's a little difficult to find these days . . . I don't know why, but it is. The salad is different (because of the jicama, the watercress, and the abundance of pecans), crunchy (also because of the jicama), and the dressing is a cloud of flavor with every bite (unique because of fresh lime juice and honey). But you just gotta use the walnut or pecan oil. Under no circumstances should you substitute olive oil or even vegetable oil. Actually I don't think I've ever seen pecan oil, but walnut oil isn't too hard to find these days. Just remember to keep the oil in the refrigerator - it doesn't have a long shelf life at room temp. Give yourself ample time for all the chopping and mincing. I think it takes about an hour from start to finish, but it's good to chill everything before actually serving, so if possible, allow an extra hour for that.

Tex Mex Jicama Salad
Recipe: Hugh Carpenter, cookbook author
Serving Size : 4

1 pound jicama
2 cups watercress
1 whole red bell pepper
1 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup lime juice -- freshly squeezed
3 tablespoons walnut oil -- or pecan oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 whole garlic clove -- minced
2 tablespoons cilantro -- chopped

1. Advance Preparation: Preheat oven to 325°. Using a knife, trim off the jicama skin - hold the jicama on it's edge and slice away pieces of skin. This is much easier than using a potato peeler. Cut the jicama in small julienne pieces. You want about 4 cups total. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate. Wash the watercress, discard any tough ends, and refrigerate. Char the red pepper over a gas flame or under the broiler. Just cook until the skin is charred on all sides. Transfer to a plastic bag, seal and set aside for 10 minutes. Then rub away any skin, stem it and cut into matchstick sized pieces. Refrigerate.
2. Place nuts on a baking sheet and toast for about 15 minutes. In a small bowl combine the lime juice, oil, honey, chile sauce, cumin, salt, garlic and cilantro. Refrigerate. All of the above can be done up to 8 hours in advance.
3. To serve: In a large bowl combine the jicama, watercress, red pepper, and nuts. Stir the dressing and pour over the jicama, then toss until evenly coated. Transfer to a salad platter or on individual plates.
Serving Ideas : Good with grilled meat. Since I have trouble finding watercress I have used arugula and it was just great.
NOTES : The dressing is sensational, and could also be drizzled on grilled salmon or halibut. Since jicama has very little taste, it's the dressing you DO taste. Give yourself plenty of time to julienne the jicama and red bell pepper. If you don't have Asian chile sauce, use some kind of hot sauce to give it a kick.
Per Serving: 361 Calories; 29g Fat (67.5% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 281mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 5 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
Click on the title at the top to print just the recipe.