Salmon with Blueberry Sauce

One of the few benefits of my son's food allergies is they've given me the excuse I needed to experiment wildly in the kitchen.  Right now blueberries are in season, and I was considering combining them in some way with ginger and lemon as I worked my way through the produce section of the grocery store.  I turned a few corners and found sockeye salmon also in season and on sale.  I started thinking, maybe I could do something with salmon and ginger and lemon...

Then it hit me, a lemon and ginger blueberry sauce for salmon.  I hesitated, because these weren't cheap ingredients, and not all of my past experiments have been successful.  (We do not ever mention the "jellyfish sandwich" disaster.)  Still, the vision of pink salmon with a purple sauce was just too tempting for me to resist.

I'm glad I have such poor impulse control, since the savory sweet flavor combination was both surprising and delicious.

Salmon with Blueberry Sauce

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Salmon:
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 lbs salmon fillet, skin removed
2 Tbs olive oil

Sauce:
1 pint fresh blueberries, washed
thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 C coconut milk
juice of a lemon (about 3 Tbs)

Combine salt, garlic powder, cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg in  a small bowl.  Place salmon fillet on a large cutting board.  Gently spread seasonings onto both sides of the salmon.  (Technically it's a rub, but a light patting motion works better than a full on massage.)  Cut salmon into four, roughly equal sized pieces.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet or fry pan over medium to medium high heat.  Saute salmon a few minutes on each side until cooked through.  Remove fillets from pan and set aside.  (You may want to cover salmon to keep it warm.)

Keep pan on heat, and add blueberries and ginger.  Cook while stirring until blueberries begin to burst open.  Stir in coconut milk, then lemon juice and watch the color explode.

Serve salmon and sauce immediately over rice.

I'm serving up my dinnertime creation to:

• the Blueberry Recipe Contest for Bloggers sponsored by (of course!) The Blueberry Council,
• Gluten Free Wednesday with The Gluten Free Homemaker,
• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascale and
• Real Food Weekly at The Whole Gang.

Lemon Dill Salmon

A few months ago while shopping with The Kid, I went to the fish counter at my grocery store and asked for a couple of tilapia fillets. The Kid had other ideas. "No! I want salmon!" I tried not to laugh, because I really didn't want to encourage his bratty behavior, but the priceless look on the fishmonger's face did me in. I wish the "poor thing" people who think that a restricted diet means a life of deprivation could have seen my demanding four year old gourmet!

Yesterday the salmon was on sale, so I picked up some of our pink indulgence. The Scandinavian side of my family is probably to blame for my urge to reach for the dill and sour cream every time I get near a salmon, or a cucumber for that matter. The sour cream may have been banished, but my favorite baked fish is still pillowed in little green feathers.

This recipe is quick and easy, but the result is impressive and company worthy. The quantities here are for about a pound of salmon, but can easily be increased. Allow about a third of a pound per big person, about half that for the little guys.

Ingredients:
1 lb salmon fillet
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 stalks fresh dill
1 lemon, very thinly sliced
1/4 C white wine
(Substitute 1/4 C white grape juice plus 1 Tbs lemon juice, if you prefer.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place salmon skin side down in a baking dish, preferably one without too much additional room. Evenly distribute crushed garlic over fish. Tear dill fronds from the stalk and sprinkle them over the fish as well. Cover the salmon with overlapping slices of lemon.

Pour the wine or substitute in along the sides of the baking dish. (The alcohol will evaporate during baking.) A friend, who is something of a gourmet guru, once explained to me that cooking wine is an abomination, since it is poor quality wine with salt added, originally done to keep the cooks from nipping at it. I've followed my friend's advice never to cook with a wine I wouldn't want to drink ever since. Of course, we drink very little alcohol, so I've taken to keeping little airplane bottles of wine in the cupboard for cooking.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 25-30 minutes until the salmon flakes apart easily with a fork. Watch out for steam when removing the foil, and don't tell anyone how easy it was!

Sesame & Panko Crusted Salmon with Garlic Ginger Sauce

This is a special occasion recipe that my husband requested for Valentine's Day. (Generally I'll bake salmon with fresh dill if I can find it cheaply.) My family just calls this dish "Salmon with Yummy Sauce." I used to coat the salmon with just the sesame seeds, which makes this recipe adaptable for the wheat allergic, but added the panko to appeal more to The Kid.

Salmon:
sesame oil
salmon fillet without skin
toasted sesame seeds
panko

Sauce:
1/2 C soy sauce, preferably light
1/4 C lime juice
1/4 C mirin (sweet rice wine for cooking)
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 large or 3 small cloves garlic, crushed
thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 C cool water
2 Tbs cornstarch
2 green onions, sliced

In a large skillet, begin heating just enough sesame oil to barely cover the bottom of the pan over medium high heat. Stir together all sauce ingredients except water, cornstarch, and green onions in a 2 C measuring cup or a small bowl and set aside. Pour about 1 C panko onto a large plate. Cut salmon fillet into individual serving sized pieces. Sprinkle top side of salmon with sesame seeds then place one piece sesame seed side down in the panko. Sprinkle nude side of salmon with more sesame seeds, then turn over in panko so that both sides are covered. Gently place salmon in skillet, repeating until out of fish or room in the skillet. Do not allow salmon fillets to touch each other. (You may need to make more than one batch.) Turn salmon with tongs once the bottom is a nice golden brown. Remove to a plate once both sides are done. (They shouldn't be greasy, but if you do want to drain the fish, place them on a cooling rack above some paper towels.)

Once all the salmon has been removed from the skillet, mix cornstarch and water separately from the rest of the sauce. Pour sauce into the hot skillet. The smell of the garlic and ginger hitting the hot pan is simply amazing. Add the cornstarch mixture and whisk the sauce together until it bubbles and thickens. Remove pan from heat. Either stir in green onions to cook (slightly more kid friendly) or use as a garnish (adds to the wow factor for company). I serve this with rice, pour the extra sauce on it, then watch it all get gobbled up!

Easy Sautéed Tilapia

Tilapia is one our favorite fishes. It's mild, relatively inexpensive, and the small fillets cook quickly. We used to keep a large box of them in our freezer, but the brand turned out to be farm raised in China, so now we buy fresh and check on the origin.

I almost didn't post this recipe, since it's just an easy pan-fried fish, but it's quick, reasonably healthy, and The Kid loves it. It's a little short on measurements, so I'll go a little long on directions.

tilapia fillets
garlic powder
paprika
kosher salt
fresh ground white pepper
flour to dredge
olive oil for pan

Barely cover the surface of a large skillet or frying pan, preferably cast iron, with olive oil. Begin heating to medium high, so it's ready at the same time as the tilapia. Place fish on paper towel and pat dry. Sprinkle top side of fillets with garlic powder, paprika, kosher salt, and fresh ground white pepper to taste. Place seasoned side of fish downwards on a plate of flour. Sprinkle top (unseasoned) side of fish with additional garlic powder and paprika. Dredge both sides in flour, and gently shake off excess. Place in pan, and repeat with the other fillets.

Fry in pan until both sides are golden brown. The fillet cooks through very quickly, but leaving it longer makes for a much nicer crust. Originally I made this with cornmeal, which my husband and I like, especially a little blackened, but this is the "kid" version. (I was trying to recreate an amazing dish that I'd had at a restaurant in New Orleans.)

It goes well with cornbread, but tonight we had rice and peas. (Yes, that is a Nemo plate underneath.) And now it's ALL GONE.