Salmon And Salad Wraps

As the weather warms up it's nice to have easy dinners that really don't take any effort to make up, but which taste delicious.

Especially on days when I work, this is high on the list of priorities. Even better when I just put all the components on the table and everyone helps themselves!

Salmon is my favourite fish and it matches so well with avocado and asparagus. You could use any fish that you prefer, or even prawns, but you want something that is quite firm fleshed so it doesn't completely fall apart and turn mushy. It's nice to have big chunks of fish to bite into.

I dressed my asparagus with a blood orange infused olive oil that we picked up in the Yarra Valley, which was just beautiful. You could use any flavoured oil that you have or just plain extra virgin olive oil.

I didn't make any other sauce or dressing for the salad as I felt the lemon juice, oil and juices from the  salmon were enough. Too much liquid just makes the wraps soggy and messy.  If you like more sauce, try some homemade mayonnaise or a good quality egg mayo to spread on the wraps first. Otherwise, do what I did and mash the avocado onto the wrap before adding everything else.

Recipes like this are really just an idea. Use the ingredients that you have on hand or what you like. You can be as creative or boring as you like and they will still taste great!

Salmon And Salad Wraps

A bunch of asparagus

2 salmon fillets, skin removed and pin boned

1 avocado, halved, skin removed and cut into chunky pieces

1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into sticks

A handful of cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters

A few handfuls of mixed lettuce/baby spinach/rocket

A handful of parsley and coriander leaves

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Flavoured extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

A packet of wraps or Mountain Bread of your choice

Snap the woody stems off the asparagus and place the spears in a heat proof dish. Pour over boiling water from the kettle and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain, cut in half and toss with salt, pepper and a drizzle of the flavoured oil. 

Place salmon fillets in a cold frying pan and place over medium high heat. This will help to render the fat.

Cook for 3-4 minutes each side or until golden and cooked to your liking. You still want a little bit of pink on the inside. Season to taste and set aside.

On a platter, arrange avocado, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, greens and asparagus.

On another platter, flake salmon fillets into chunks, scatter with herbs and place lemon wedges to the side.

To serve, put a wrap on a plate and top with a selection of some or all of the vegies and salmon. Squeeze some lemon over the top and roll up.

Enjoy!

Sweet Maple Mustard Salmon (And an Apple Tarte Tartan)

A feast was had in the eat quaff laugh household last night to farewell my parents, who had been staying with us for the week. We've had an awful lot of food and wine this week, so I wanted to cook something special, but different to everything else we've had.

Given my love of salmon, fish it was to be. I wanted to try doing something a bit more fancy and a bit more interesting than I usually do, so set about looking for recipes. The Tassal salmon website has loads of great recipes on it for using all sorts of salmon pieces - fresh fillets, hot and cold smoked, whole fish. I stumbled across a recipe for maple mustard salmon and my decision was made!

This recipe was so easy and the flavour imparted to the salmon was delicious. The recipe says to coat the fish in the marinade/glaze just before cooking, but I left mine to marinate in the fridge for about three hours. I wanted to have everything prepared so that when my guests arrived there wasn't much to run around and do. Whether marinating for  a longer time made much difference to the intensity of the flavour, I don't know, but it tasted great and the flesh was lovely and moist.

I served my fish with potatoes and green beans, as suggested on the recipe. The potatoes I simply roasted with oil, salt, white pepper and rosemary and the beans were steamed and drizzled with a lemon infused olive oil, salt and pepper. I purposely kept the vegies quite simple, because I didn't want too many competing flavours on the plate.

I was really happy with how this dish turned out, and will definitely be making it regularly from now on. I might even experiment with different sorts of mustards. The sweetness wasn't overpowering, which I thought it might have been. In fact, it would be great with chicken or pork too.

If you have a moment, swing past the Tassal website and have a look at their great recipes. If you live in Melbourne or Hobart, the Tassal Salmon Shop is a great place to pick up some beautifully fresh fish, and other related products, at a wonderful price. They also hold cooking classes and other events, which are all listed on the website. The Melbourne store in Kew has a cafe too, which is a great place to stop for a bite to eat.

Maple Mustard Salmon

6 salmon fillets, skin removed 

2 Tbs grainy mustard

1/2 cup maple syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

Roasted potatoes and steamed green beans, to serve

Carefully pin bone the salmon fillets to remove any small bones that might be remaining.

Rinse and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Combine mustard and maple syrup in a large container.

Place fish fillets into the container and turn gently to cover in the marinade.

Leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours, if you have time.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the salmon fillets on the tray so that they are evenly spaced.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until just cooked, but a little pink on the inside.

Heat the remaining marinade in the microwave or on the stove top for a couple of minutes until it boils and thickens slightly.

Serve the fish on plates with the vegetables and spoon over a little more of the sauce.

Enjoy!

Apple Tarte Tartin

Dessert was an apple tarte tartin, which was delicious. I was given an Emile Henry Tarte Tartin dish by my inlaws for Christmas, and given they were coming over for dinner too, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to use it again. On a cold and wet Melbourne night, it was a wonderful dessert. You don't need a specific tarte tartin dish to cook this though. As long as you have a fry pan with an oven proof handle, you can make it just as well.

125g butter

250g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

50ml water

1 egg yolk

8 small granny smith apples

200g caster sugar

80g butter, cut into small cubes

To make the pastry, place butter, flour and salt in a food processor and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the egg yolk and water and blitz again until it comes together and forms a ball.

Knead gently on a lightly floured surface and then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about 1 hour.

Remove the pastry from the fridge about 30 mins before you want to roll it out so that it softens a little.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

Peel and quarter the apples, removing and discarding the core. Set aside.

Heat the fry pan or tarte dish for a few minutes over low heat to pre-warm.

Pour in 170g of the sugar and allow to melt and caramelise. Swirl gently to prevent the sugar burning in the middle.

Once the sugar is mostly caramelised, add 50g of butter and allow it to melt.

Remove the pan from the heat and arrange a layer of the apples, rounded side down, pushing them close together.

Add a second layer of the apples, rounded side up, so that you fill most of the gaps.

Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top and dot with the remaining butter cubes.

Roll out the pastry to a rough round slightly bigger than the circle of apples.

Gently place it over the top of the apples and tuck the edges around the fruit.

Bake the tarte in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the caramel sauce bubbling.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Invert onto a serving plate and serve to the table in all it's glory!

Serve with dollops of pure cream for some cold weather indulgence.

And To Drink....

To go with the fish, I wanted a dry style wine that had enough body and acidity to match with the sweetness in the marinade.

This Rochford 'Cerberus' was perfect. Made from Yarra Valley gewurtztraminer, riesling and pinot gris it had plenty of lovely aromatics, with a little bit of sweetness. There was still plenty of acidity from the riesling and this matched wonderfully with the maple mustard flavours. 

We bought this wine a couple of years ago when we visited the Yarra Valley on a weekend. Rochford make a large range of red and white wines, with the usual varieties for the Yarra Valley, including pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling. They also make a couple of interesting blends or varieties, like a straight cabernet franc and this white blend.

As well as making some lovely wines, Rochford hold a number of concerts, including the 'A Day on the Green' series of music events. We have never been to any of the events, but I know they are incredibly popular. Definitely worth looking into if you feel like a weekend away!

Kale Salad

I've been a bit slow to get on the kale bandwagon, but now that I've started cooking with it, I love it! We first started with kale chips and have moved on to using it in place of spinach or other greens. This is my first attempt of using it in a salad.

After having carrots left over from making the soup earlier in the week, I decided that roasting the carrot to bring out that beautiful caramel flavour would complement the green kale perfectly. Adding some orange for sweetness and pine nuts for crunch, it was delicious.

The dressing used the juice from the orange, mixed with some oil, salt and pepper. It was mild and sweet. If you prefer a bit more zing, add some lemon juice or white wine vinegar, or use it instead of the orange.

To sate my salmon obsession, I served the salad with pan fried salmon fillets which had been sprinkled with sumac. A very simple way to serve such a beautiful fish.

Now that I've made my first kale salad, I think I'm going to have to get experimenting a little bit more. The sweet tartness of dried cranberries would also be great, as would fresh or dried apricots. Can't wait to have a bit more fun in the kitchen!

Kale Salad

1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks

A drizzle of olive oil

2 sticks of kale

1 orange

1 Tbs toasted pinenuts

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Place carrot in a small roasting pan, drizzle with oil and toss to combine.

Roast for about 30 mins or until tender and starting to caramelise. Set aside to cool.

Cut the kale leaves away from the stalks and then tear into bite size pieces. Place in a bowl.

Boil a kettle full of water and pour over the kale leaves. Allow to sit for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water. Set aside to cool and dry.

Cut the ends off the orange and then peel with a sharp knife to remove all the pith.

Segment the orange in to a bowl, taking care to reserve all the juices. Squeeze any remaining juice from the core and set aside.

In a serving bowl, combine the roasted carrot, kale, orange segments, toasted pine nuts and spring onion.

Measure the reserve orange juice and add an equal amount of extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste and whisk to combine.

Dress the salad with as much of the dressing as you feel it needs and toss to combine.

Enjoy.

Super Salmon

I love salmon! There, I've said it. Whether it be smoked or fresh, you can use this amazing fish in so many dishes. Really, if there was no other fish or seafood available, I wouldn't mind at all. My husband, on the other hand, doesn't really like it that much and can't stand the smell when it's cooking. As a trade off, I try to make salmon much more interesting when I cook it, to satisfy both of us.

Australia is so lucky to have some of the best salmon easily available to the general customer. Every fish shop or market will usually have either Tassal or Huon salmon from Tasmania. Both are amazing. I'm lucky enough to get to the Tassal store in Kew to buy my fish, where it is so fresh and they have a great range of different products. Here I'm in salmon heaven - cold smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon, salmon sausages, marinated fillets and whole fish. Last Easter we did a whole roasted salmon on the BBQ, which was fantastic!

For this dinner, I thought I'd keep the salmon simple, but match it with strong and flavoursome sides which would complement the fish. It's hard to overpower salmon.

The mash is actually a carrot and ricotta puree, which added some sweetness. The peas used some more of the fresh ricotta, in addition to fresh mint and lemon rind. The combination of the creaminess of the ricotta, the sweetness of the peas and the freshness of the lemon and mint were beautiful.

Again, this was such a simple dish to prepare, so it's great for a worknight meal when you want something quick, healthy and tasty.

 

Salmon with Carrot Puree and Ricotta Peas

 

2 salmon fillets, pin-boned and skin on
salt and pepper
A drizzle of Olive oil

Heat the drizzle of oil in a fry pan until really hot. You don't need too much oil as the salmon will release its own oil on cooking.
Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place skin side down in the pan. You want the skin to become all crispy, so leave it for about 5 minutes.
Carefully turn the salmon, trying to keep the crispy skin intact. Cook on the other side for another 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. You want the centre to be barely cooked, otherwise it will be dry and horrible.
When cooked, remove the pan from the heat and allow it to rest for a few minutes while you get the sides organised.

Carrot Puree

4 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
50g fresh ricotta
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook carrots in some water in the microwave or stovetop until tender. Drain.
Place cooked carrots, garlic and ricotta in a small food processor and whiz until a fine puree is achieved. Season with salt and pepper.
Return puree to clean saucepan and heat through again when ready to serve.

 

Ricotta Peas

 

100g frozen peas
50g fresh ricotta
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
A handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook frozen peas in some water in the microwave or stovetop until tender. Drain and keep warm.
Put peas in a bowl and stir through ricotta, lemon rind, mint and salt and pepper to taste. Try to break up the ricotta, but don't make it too mushy.


To serve, place a spoonful of the carrot puree on the plate. Carefully place the salmon on top, then scatter with the pea mixture. If you want to be all fancy, garnish with a few more mint leaves and a grinding of cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

And To Drink.....

Even though you really don't have to stick to the 'red wine goes with red meat and white wine goes with chicken and fish' mantra, I still think that a white goes better with salmon. Yes, it's a meaty, full flavoured fish, but a more delicate floral white wine can be a perfect match.

This Leconfield 2006 Old Vines Riesling from Coonawarra in South Australia was fantastic. Being an aged wine it had a lot more complexity to it and was starting to develop a slight kerosene touch, which I love in an older Riesling. There was still plenty of fresh, fruity flavours that you would expect in a wine of this type.

The acidity in the wine cut through the richness of the salmon perfectly and matched with the lemon zest in the peas. The sweetness of the carrot puree also brought out a more honeysuckle aroma and taste.

The wines from Leconfield are always great, so it's worth looking out for them in the bottle shop or in restaurants. They make a Riesling and Chardonnay and also a range of reds, which the Coonawarra region is more know for.