I'll tell you a secret. Even foodies like convenience foods from time to time. It's true. Some of it is actually good. Now don't tell anyone I told you. On the topic of convenience foods, there are also convenience ingredients, meaning, an ingredient with some of the prep work done for you. Now, I'm no Sandra Lee (thank god); I'm not going to make a Margherita Pizza out of store-bought biscuits and get you to eat it because you're blitzed on a mysterious blue cocktail I made up. No. What I am going to share with you is my favorite weeknight convenience ingredient: individually-frozen, boneless, skinless salmon fillets. You thought I was going to say chicken breasts, huh? Boring. Get them at Costco and you can choose between the cheaper farm-raised Atlantic salmon or the wild-caught sockeye. I won't hold it against you if you go the obvious cheaper route--I do. This Costco purchase is completely worth the freezer space.
I love salmon, and so does Jeremy, and fish is fast and EASY to cook--much easier than anyone will have you believe. One of my favorite recipes is a Korean one-pot dish called Bibimbap. It's easy, but takes a little more than an hour from start to finish. I'll share that later. Today, though, I'll share with you a freakin' awesome 30 minute meal you'll actually want to eat (sorry R.R., those "stoups" are less than appetizing).
You'll find the salmon recipe below, but let me tell you a little about the remixed part of the meal. The blog is called Mix and Remix but heretofore I haven't given you any remixes. That all changes now. A remix is taking leftovers and changing it into a new meal or meal element. It's good and makes your life easier. A few nights before the salmon meal in question, I made Coq au Vin (chicken, red wine, mushrooms: yum) and I made it because I wanted something saucy to go with a recipe for a creamy polenta (like cream of wheat, but with corn and a generous amount of grated parmesan). I forgot to mention one more recipe source in the last post. I have a subscription to Cooks Illustrated Magazine (the BEST bridal shower present; seriously, keep that in your back pocket for the future). The difference for me, though, is that with CIMag, I start with the recipe, rather than the ingredient. They make some great food and know what they're doing. Anyway, they came up with a polenta recipe that requires almost no stirring and about half the cooking time. Trust me, getting perfect polenta before this recipe meant an hour of almost constant stirring. No fun. Unfortunately, CIMag is SUPER proprietary and you have to subscribe to either the magazine or their site. Because I like them and want to continue a relationship with them, I'll have to say subscribe, or make polenta otherwise, but I can't give you the recipe here. ANYWAY, the deal with polenta is that leftovers in the fridge solidify. It's not bad, it's just not going to be a creamy porridge when you reheat. If you try, it'll be lumpy and yucky. Thus, the remix below. Finally, done with the babble.
Butter Roasted Salmon with Broiled Polenta and Pea Greens (adapted from Bittman's How to Cook Everything)
serves 2
3 tablespoons butter
2 boneless, skinless, salmon fillets (about 4 ounces each)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
leftover, cold polenta
cooking spray or oil
pea greens, or your fave fresh greens
a couple good squeezes of lemon juice (~2-3 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1. Preheat broiler. Slice your solid polenta into about the size of your palm, or the size of the salmon fillets, and to a little less than an inch thick. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and lay the polenta on the sheet, salt lightly keeping in mind how much you salted the original dish. Most people have a combined broiler/oven. However, if you're like me and they are separate, you can cook the polenta and fish at the same time. As I'm assuming you have a combined apparatus, we'll continue as such. Broil (SUPER hot heat, applied only from the top) the polenta for 4-5 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn't get more than a couples dark spots. Flip the slices and broil for another 4-5 minutes. Remove to two plates. The outside will be lightly crisped, while the inside is soft and creamy.
2. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. (Cooking anything at over 400 degrees is considered "roasting," while anything less is "baking;" incidentally 350 degrees is considered the "universal baking temperature.") Put the butter in a baking dish just large enough to fit the fish with space around each. Stick the dish in the oven while it preheats. While you continue with the next steps, keep your nose and ears open. You'll know to take the dish out of the oven when you hear a bit of crackle AND you start to smell the butter (hot butter is one of my favorite smells). As it melts, the butter will "foam" and this is the milk solids separating from the fat. When the foaming has stopped, that's technically when you should remove the dish from the oven--but I think the nose/ears test is pretty solid. Whatever you do, don't let the butter burn. It's okay if it starts to brown around the edges before you take it out, but any black will just make the dish taste bitter; if this happens it's worth it to wipe out the dish and start over with new butter. Phew, all that just for melting butter. :)
3. Remove the fish from the packaging, rinse under cool water, and dry with a paper towel (remember to wash out your sink with soap and hot water, we don't want food poisoning from later contamination). Place on a plate and salt and pepper both sides. When the oven is preheated, place the fish in the baking dish and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn the fillets and cook for another 3 minutes or so--until you reach the doneness you like. Salmon is really great medium-rare. The above time will get you there, as long as you IMMEDIATELY remove it from the pan when it's finished cooking, and serve right away. Adding just a minute more for each side will get you to a nice moist medium. Salmon is too good to cook anymore, so don't do it.
4. While the salmon cooks, rinse and dry the greens and remove any tough stems. Toss with a couple squeezes of fresh lemon juice, oil, and a bit of salt. Pea greens are super trendy right now, I picked them up at the farmers market after seeing them mentioned in a food blog. They have a nice chew to them and a very light fresh pea flavor. I actually dressed them with a shallot vinaigrette (see recipe below), but it overwhelmed the flavor of the greens. If you can't find these (and unless you are doing the SF farmer's market thing regularly, you won't), use your favorite green. I love arugula (aka rocket, in some places), and the vinaigrette would be more appropriate for this strongly flavored green.
5. To plate, place the broiled polenta in the center of the plate, stick the fish on top of the polenta and place a large fistful amount of the dressed greens on top of the fish. The heat of the fish will lightly wilt the greens; this is what we're going for and is really pleasant. But if you don't like a wilted green, just serve the greens on the side.
Check out those flowers. Who says you can't buy happiness? I love whomever decided carnations were unpopular, makes my happiness cheap. :)
A basic vinaigrette is really simple: 1 part acid, 2 parts mustard, 3 parts oil. The acid can be anything from vinegar (balsamic, rice wine, apple cider) to citrus juice (lemon, lime, orange, or go wild and squeeze several dozen kumquats, etc.). I typically go for dijon mustard, but you can use any kind you like, even mustard with whole seeds. The oil will usually be extra virgin olive oil with its clean fruity taste, but you can use specialty nut oils; I love hazelnut oil (find it on the cheap at TJMaxx, no kidding). Or, to make a creamy vinaigrette you can use mayonnaise as the oil. Then you can add aromatics to vary the flavor. Try garlic, onion, shallots, or any kind of herb.
Shallot Vinaigrette
dresses enough salad for 2-3 people
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white balsamic or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2-3 generous pinches of kosher salt
1-2 grinds fresh pepper
Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until emulsified with a fork. Taste and add more salt or a pinch of sugar, if you like. Done. Now you'll never have to buy salad dressing again, nor will you want to.
That's it. A really easy, tastey dinner. Please leave your comments. Tell me what you're making, or if you have ideas for how I can improve my food. Also, let me know if there's a particular dish or inspiration ingredient you want to see.
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