Straying away from the sweeter side of life and moving on to the savoury:
Another hectic week has passed. This time it was back to the books. My entire week was spent prepping for my French elementary exam. (OK, I may have exaggerated a little) so lets say maybe half the week or 2/7 of the week?
Anyway on a happier note- I cooked salmon for dinner. Fish is like the best thing to eat for an everyday meal. You see: it is rich in protein, high in Omega 3 fatty acids, good for complexion, healthy, good for the memory and brain and to top it all- I am 100% and 1 in love with it. So if you see me ordering fish ( like 99% of the time that sometimes my friends mistake me for not eating meat) instead of chicken, beef, pork etcc it's not that I don't like meat, it's just that I prefer fish.
I've watched way too much top chef seasons that one day it just got hold of me and I somehow decided to make a pea puree with something. Something like what?? was the question. How about fish.....
So here's a Pan seared Salmon with Cheesy Spinach and a pea puree underneath all that fat, juicy abundant goodness.
Ingredients:
Salmon
One salmon fillet ( Bought one first to test)
pepper and salt( to taste)
1) Heat a pan with olive oil till hot
2) Season fillet with pepper and salt on both sides
3) Sear salmon 2 min on each sides ( mine wasn't too thick but if you're using thicker salmon, maybe can fry 1 min longer)
4) Baked at 160 until cooked ( took me about 10 mins)
Pea Puree
1 cup peas
2-3 tbsp ( or more) chicken stock
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp oil
salt (to taste)
1) Boil peas till cooked.
2) Put drained peas, chicken stock, garlic, oil and salt into food processor and process until smooth paste
3) Taste and add more salt/ chicken stock if desired
4) I passed the entire mixture through a mesh to get a smoother texture.
Cheesy Spinach Topping
This was honestly the best part because I just mix everything according to how happy I was at that particular time.... That's the advantage of cooking over baking. You get to add, mix and add, mix. Everything is practically trial and error. Baking on the other hand is precise. You don't try to reduce something because it can severely alter how your final product would turn out. (Ehs, they have a formulae for calculating the proportions of one ingredient to another. They call this the baker's percentage) If you're interested you can go read up more on it. Wayne Gisslen- Professional Baking is a pretty comprehensive book which I would recommend.
-One portion of spinach
-2 slices cheese ( cheddar and pepperyjack )
Cayenne pepper ( Optional but I added a little of this to give that little spice to the dish- what was lacking in the ordinary cheese.. Alternatively, you could buy those cheese with a little pepper/ spice if you prefer or just ignore that all if you don't like it spicy)
-1-2 tbsp chicken stock
- 1 tbsp oil
1) Fry spinach with oil. Add chicken stock and let simmer a little till soft.
2) Add in cheese ( I realise the more cheese you add, the nicer the taste haha so it's really up to you )
Layering:
Pea puree on the bottom, half of the spinach went on top of it, followed by the salmon and then garnished with more spinach. You could serve with mash potatoes or whatever sides you fancy but I was in a hurry that day, so it was a pretty simple dish.
What I would have done differently the next time:
Omit the pea puree. It was good but somehow it didn't complement the entire dish. I suspect it was because of the threesome thing. In addition, cheesey spinach took away all the goodness that I was unable to solely enjoy the goodness of the pea puree ;[
But nevertheless, the family enjoyed it. ;)) YAYS.
