Oven-Baked Crispy-Skinned Saffron Sockeye Salmon

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Wild Salmon

The following method is the easiest and tastiest way I know to cook wild salmon with the added benefit of being fast and mess-free to prepare. So, perfect for week night dinners! We buy our wild Sockeye salmon in frozen single portions from a reliable source at the farmers market. Each piece is about 7 ounce, so I usually make 3 pieces and we have it for dinner and pack the rest for next day’s lunch. We both like our salmon with a crispy skin (that’s the only way I am willing to eat the skin!) and since I am not a fan of frying I came up with the following method to cook the fish in the oven. The ingredient list is very small, but a good quality piece of fish doesn’t need much to taste delightful. I usually top this fish with some herb and chia dressing and serve it alongside dill-saffron rice and a nice fresh salad.

wildSalmon

Ingredients:

  • 3 larger (approx. 7 ounce) or 4 smaller (approx. 5 ounce each) pieces of Skin-on Wild Sockeye Salmon
  • 4-5 Tsp. Saffron Water (crushed saffron threads soaked in water)
  • Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (Bake setting) . Line a baking sheet with a piece of unbleached parchment paper.
  2. Place the salmon pieces skin side down and put in the centre rack of oven for about 5 mins until the salmon is thawed. (skip this if you have fresh salmon instead of frozen)
  3. Season each piece with generous amount of sea salt and freshly ground pepper and pour the saffron water on top of fish with a teaspoon and use the back of the spoon to cover the whole fish.
  4. Bake the fish for about 10 mins.
  5. Set the oven to broil and cook the fish for another 5 mins until the flesh is golden.
  6. Take the fish out of the oven and flip to skin side up. Broil for about 5 mins until the skin is crispy. Enjoy!

Serves 4.

Spicy Tamarind Tempeh

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Lunch is packed!

Lunch is packed!

I used to see tempeh in every health food store but would shy away from it since I had no idea what it was, how it tasted and how to prepare it. Until one night I finally decided to give it a try at a vegan restaurant … and the result was that not only I, but also my husband liked it a lot! And so I started to regularly buy and prepare it at home! These days, I don’t eat or drink any other soy products but I still crave and eat some tempeh from time to time! The following recipe is one of my husband’s favourites. It’s super easy and fast to prepare and very flavourful from all the different spices and the tamarind paste.

Spicytempeh1

Ingredients:

  • 1 Package (250-300 gr.) of Tempeh
  • 1 Large Carrot
  • Approx. 2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

         Sauce

  • 1 Tsp. Grated Fresh Ginger
  • 1 Tsp. Grated Fresh Tumeric
  • 1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
  • 1/2 Tsp. Ground Cumin
  • 1/4 Tsp. Cinnamon
  • 1/4 Tsp. Ground Coriander Seed
  • 1/2 Tsp. Fine Himalayan Salt
  • 1 Tsp. Tamarind Paste
  • 1,1/2 Tsp. Palm Sugar (or more if you like it on the sweeter side!)
  • 3/4 Cup Filtered Water
  • Freshly Ground Pepper
  • Few Drop Hot Sauce (optional)

Spicytempeh2

Method

  1. Cut the tempeh into bite size cubes and thinly slice the carrot.

  2. Add all the sauce ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Taste a bit of the sauce and add a bit more palm sugar if desired.

  3. Add the coconut oil to a skillet and brown the tempeh cubes over medium heat. Once browned on all sides, set the tempeh aside.

  4. Add the carrot to the same skillet and lightly saute (1-2 mins.). Add the sauce to the carrots and gentley simmer for a couple of minutes until the carrot is cooked and sauce thickens.

  5. Add the tempeh to the sauce and stir to cover the cubes with sauce. Cook for another few minutes over low heat. Serve with rice and sautéed greens or other side dishes. Enjoy!

Serves 2-3.

Autumn Chicken and Squash Soup

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chickenSquashSoup2
As the cool days of autumn arrive I often crave a bowl of hot homemade soup! One of my favourite soups is the nutritious “chicken and squash” soup with loads of veggies.

Side notes:

  • I find that the easiest way to make butternut squash puree, is to roast the whole squash (after washing) in the oven. To do this, I poke a few whole in the squash with a fork and then roast it in the oven for 1-1.5 hour at 425 Fahrenheit. I then take the squash out of the oven, slice in half, take out the seeds and scoop out the flesh into a high speed blender (such as Vitamix) and puree until smooth!

roastedSquash

  • I always freeze some fresh ginger and tumeric to have them on hand whenever I need some. It is also much easier to grate the tumeric and ginger once they are frozen!
  • You can use baby spinach instead of kale and chard, in that case add the spinach at the very end, just before turning off the heat!
  • The sushi rice gives this soup a thicker and creamier texture, but you can use any other type of white rice, or to make the dish paleo you can skip the rice altogether!

Ingredients:

  • 8 cups Home-made Chicken Broth
  • 1 cup Roasted Butternut Squash Puree
  • 2 Medium Carrots
  • 2 Celery Stalks
  • 1 Large Turnip
  • 2-3 cups (packed) Greens (I usually use a mix of Kale and Swiss Chard)
  • 1 Roasted Chicken Breast, Shredded
  • 1/2 cup Sushi Rice (or any other type of white rice) – Boiled and Drained
  • 1 Clove Garlic
  • 2 inch Piece of Fresh Tumeric
  • 2 inch Piece of Fresh Ginger
  • 1 Tsp. Dried Thyme
  • Juice of 1 Lemon (or more if you like it more sour!)
  • 1/2 cup Finely Chopped Parsely
  • Salt (start with 1/2 Tsp.) and Freshly Ground Pepper, to Taste

chickenSquashSoup

Method

  1. In a large pot bring the chicken broth to a boil and finely grate the ginger, tumeric and garlic.

  2. Add in the squash puree, dried thyme, salt and pepper and stir.

  3. Chop all the veggies and add to the pot with the shredded chicken and pre-boiled rice.

  4. Turn down the heat, cover the pot and cook for about 1 hour. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and parsley and more salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot! 🙂

Serves 4-6.