Salmon with Spicy Cucumber and Peanuts

I try to incorporate fish in our diet at least once every two weeks.  Winter can be tough because all you want to do is sleep and eat white, starchy carbs.  But now spring is coming and when you want a light weeknight meal, this is a great option. 

Once again we had green beans with this meal (recipe found here).   I forgot to seed the cucumber, so it doesn't look perfect. I didn't notice a difference in taste either way.  But I love the combination of rice wine vinegar, red pepper flakes and sugar.  It gives you a totally unique taste of the spicy/sweet combination.

This is another great easy weeknight meal. Once you mix together the sauce and toss the cucumbers, all you have to do is cook the fish. I steamed the green beans while I made the sauce and finished the green beans while the fish cooked.

As of today's post only 3 people have rated this recipe from 2008.  They gave it an average rating of 3 out of 5. 


Recipe by Alyson Haynes, Cooking Light, August 2008

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4  cups  sliced seeded peeled cucumber (about 2 large)
• 1/4  cup  seasoned rice vinegar
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley
• 2  teaspoons  sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt, divided
• Cooking spray
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets
• 4  teaspoons  chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Preparation

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper over fish. Add fish to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 fillet in each of 4 shallow bowls, and top each serving with 1/2 cup cucumber salad and 1 teaspoon peanuts.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 262 (38% from fat)

Fat: 11g (sat 1.7g,mono 3.8g,poly 4.2g)

Protein: 30.5g

Carbohydrate: 8.9g

Fiber: 1.3g

Cholesterol: 81mg

Iron: 1.7mg

Sodium: 666mg

Calcium: 41mg

Caramelized Leeks with Roasted Salmon Fillets

    

As a way to get our fish in (and using our Wegman's club pack of salmon), we made caramelized leeks with roasted salmon fillets.  It seemed like an easy weeknight meal and I was right.  All you have to do is caramelize the leeks and then cook the salmon and it's a snap!

Washing the leeks thoroughly are a MUST MUST MUST. Leeks are dirty, especially in between the layers, so look at the video here to see how to clean and prepare leeks.  This recipe also uses very few ingredients, so if you're the type of person who won't look at a recipe with more than 10 ingredients, then this is for you.  

You probably can't tell but we served this with cabbage and noodles. Which is either a Polish thing or just a thing my husbands' family makes.  We had leftover cabbage from another non-CL recipe (gasp! I know), so we made this on the side to use it up.  

We cooked the salmon in the toaster oven, so this recipe is friendly for those living in a small space.

As of today's post 7 people rated this a 5 out of 5. 

Recipe by Laura Zapalowski, Cooking Light, March 2008

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2  leeks
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  butter
• 1  teaspoon  light brown sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  fresh lemon juice
• 4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets
• Cooking spray
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Remove roots, outer leaves, and tops from leeks. Cut leeks in half lengthwise. Rinse thoroughly with cold water, and cut each half into 3-inch julienne strips.
3. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add leeks to pan; cook 4 minutes or until slightly wilted, stirring occasionally. Stir in brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 20 minutes or until edges are browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in juice. Keep warm.
4. Place salmon on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; sprinkle salmon with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon red pepper. Bake salmon at 400° for 8 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 fillet on each of 4 plates; top with 2 tablespoons leek mixture.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 320 (39% from fat)

Fat: 13.9g (sat 2.8g,mono 4.5g,poly 5.1g)

Protein: 39.2g

Carbohydrate: 7.6g

Fiber: 0.9g

Cholesterol: 111mg

Iron: 2.5mg

Sodium: 339mg

Calcium: 51mg

Swordfish kebabs with Orange Basil sauce

Swordfish is so tasty. I would eat it more often if fish weren't so expensive. But we were able to get the frozen fillets at Wegman's which were pretty good (skip the Sea bass frozen fillets, they weren't good). 

This recipe is part of the 5 ingredient Cooking Light series that they have in each issue.  All you need are 5 ingredients: swordfish, orange, basil, olive oil and garlic. Since we have olive oil and garlic in the house and basil on the porch, all we needed was an orange and the swordfish.  I love the recipes that are flavorful with only a few ingredients.

We also pulled this dish together quickly. I don't know anyone who would refuse a recipe that calls for few ingredients and a small amount of prep time.

We served it with some instant potatoes to make things easy on ourselves.  The sauce/pesto is delicious, but I love basil like there is no tomorrow so I expected that I would!

Only 2 people reviewed this recipe on myrecipes.com, and they rated it a 4 out of 5.  I would rate it between a 4 and a 4.5. It's definitely a keeper if the non-fish lover likes it!

Recipe by Marge Perry, Cooking Light, June 2010

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 skewer and 2 tablespoons sauce)

Ingredients

• The 5 Ingredients
• 1  orange
• 2  cups  basil leaves
• 2  tablespoons  olive oil
• 2  garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 1/2  pounds  swordfish, cut into (1-inch) pieces

Preparation

Directions: Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Squeeze orange to extract 1/4 cup juice. Combine orange juice, basil leaves, olive oil, and garlic cloves in a mini chopper; add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Process basil leaf mixture until finely chopped. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper evenly over fish; thread fish onto 4 (12-inch) skewers. Grill fish 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness, turning occasionally. Drizzle fish with sauce, or serve sauce separately. Garnish sauce with orange rind, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 280

Fat: 14g (sat 2.9g,mono 7.7g,poly 2.6g)

Protein: 34.3g

Carbohydrate: 2.8g

Fiber: 0.7g

Cholesterol: 66mg

Iron: 1.9mg

Sodium: 449mg

Calcium: 36mg

Fresh Salmon-Cilantro Burgers

Wegman's has these great salmon club packs, which are a bunch of individually-wrapped 5 oz salmon fillets.  It makes life so much easier to thaw out the exact amount you need.  For a really quick weeknight meal and a great way to get in that serving of fish without it tasting too 'fishy', Fresh Salmon-Cilantro burgers are the ticket.  The picture is a little deceiving--I mis-measured the amount of fish we needed because we cut this in half. So these portions are about 2 oz larger than what they should be.  I haven't made the salad that they pair with these burgers but it sounds tasty.  

Do you have one of those Cuisinart mini-prep food processors? If not, and you like to cook, this is an incredible tool to have in your kitchen.  It's much smaller than the regular size food processor and it makes creating patties like the ones in this recipe soooo simple.  Definitely the type of kitchen appliance that would fit in a downtown studio apartment.

We don't make any changes to this recipe but usually half it and it works out fine (unless your math is wrong :] ).  

I have to acknowledge my guest blogger Mimi (Pepper) who co-authored this post.  She sat on the keyboard while I was typing because of the thunderstorm.  This is her good side.

 As of today's post 15 people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5!

Enjoy, and take a walk afterward to de-stress and get some exercise!

Recipe by Jackie Mills, Cooking Light, May 2009

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lime juice
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (1-pound) salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 2  tablespoons  cilantro leaves
• 2  tablespoons  chopped green onions
• 1  tablespoon  chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lime juice
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 4  (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns with sesame seeds, toasted
• 12  (1/4-inch-thick) slices English cucumber
• 4  leaf lettuce leaves

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; cover and chill.
2. Place salmon in a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Add breadcrumbs and next 6 ingredients (through 1/4 teaspoon black pepper); pulse 4 times or until well blended. Divide salmon mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 3/4-inch-thick patty.
3. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add patties to pan; cook 2 minutes. Carefully turn patties over; cook 2 minutes or until done.
4. Spread about 1 tablespoon mayonnaise mixture over bottom half of each hamburger bun. Top each serving with 1 salmon patty, 3 cucumber slices, 1 lettuce leaf, and top half of bun.
Spinach salad: Combine 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons canola oil, 2 teaspoons water, and 1/4 teaspoon chile paste in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add half of 1 (5-ounce) package baby spinach, 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper strips, and 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion to bowl; toss to coat.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 341

Fat: 11.5g (sat 2g,mono 2.9g,poly 4.9g)

Protein: 31.6g

Carbohydrate: 30.9g

Fiber: 1.8g

Cholesterol: 66mg

Iron: 2.2mg

Sodium: 816mg

Calcium: 67mg

Tuna "London Broil" with Wasabi Cream

Like wasabi? Then this is for you!  This recipe includes dry wasabi powder (found in the Asian dry goods section of your supermarket) both in the rub and in the cream.  Be careful when putting sauce on your plate, this can give you that horseradish nose burning sensation very quickly! Otherwise it is a great way for us to enjoy some fish.  If you are using a charcoal grill make sure to check for doneness--ours takes a little less than the recommended time.

We served it with steamed broccoli lightly tossed with Wegman's Sesame Ginger salad dressing.  

No other changes were made to this recipe, but it is easy to cut in half if you just want to make it for two.

As of today's post, 16 people gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5!  

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we do in ours!

Recipe by Steven Raichlen, Recipes adapted from Steven Raichlen's books How to Grill (Workman, 2001) and BBQ USA (Workman, 2003), Cooking Light, AUGUST 2003

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 steak, 2 tablespoons wasabi cream, and 1 1/2 teaspoons onions)

Ingredients

• 2  teaspoons  sesame seeds, toasted
• 2  teaspoons  wasabi powder (dried Japanese horseradish)
• 2  teaspoons  cracked black pepper
• 1  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 4  (6-ounce) tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1  tablespoon  wasabi powder
• 1  tablespoon  water
• 1/4  cup  low-fat mayonnaise
• 1/4  cup  fat-free sour cream
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
• 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  sliced green onions

Preparation

Combine first 5 ingredients; rub over tuna. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Combine wasabi and water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise, sour cream, juice, and soy sauce.
Prepare grill to high heat.
Place steaks on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with wasabi cream; sprinkle with onions.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 308 (30% from fat)

Fat: 10.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 3g,poly 3g)

Protein: 41.3g

Carbohydrate: 9.7g

Fiber: 0.9g

Cholesterol: 66mg

Iron: 4.4mg

Sodium: 500mg

Calcium: 47mg