Salmon and Spinach Gorgonzola Pasta

This is just a combination of old recipes, it takes 30 minutes to put these two together: tea-smoked salmon and spinach gorgonzola whole wheat pasta. The tea-smoked salmon can be found here and the gorgonzola pasta, here. These recipes never fail!

Fettucine with Wine and Spinach

We liked the tea-smoked salmon so much that we decided to make it again. Des didn’t believe how easy it was to make this fish, so today he witnessed the cooking! If you missed the last post, check the recipe here.

To go with the salmon I thought I would use some spinach from the CSA, yummmm. It’s been ages we haven’t had pasta… yummmmm… I mixed spinach and whole wheat pastas for a color effect.

Fettucine with Wine and Spinach

4 servings

Ingredients:

12 oz  uncooked fettuccine

2  tablespoons  butter

2  garlic cloves, minced

3/4  cup  wine

1  cup  grated Parmesan cheese

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch of spinach, steamed and drained

Basil leaves, julienned (optional)

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package instructions, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Add wine and spinach and cook until heated through. Don’t overcook. Add the Parmesan cheese, stirring until smooth. Add basil, salt, and pepper. Stir in pasta and combine, tossing until heated. If mixture is too dry, add the reserved pasta water. Serve immediately.

Gomokuzushi (Sushi Rice with Vegetables)

Oh no! Another Japanese dish!  J

Gomokuzushi or Kansai-style sushi is a sushi dish made with cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of the rice in the bowl. “Gomoku" means five, or more than five different ingredients. It is different than Chirashizushi (called Tirashi in several Japanese restaurants) in the sense that Tirashi is sushi rice topped with sashimi and other delicacies.

I like my Japanese seasonings less sweet than most recipes ask for. The thin omelet takes 1 teaspoon of corn starch, I didn’t use it. Besides toppings A and B, I added green peas and a wonderful tea-smoked salmon, a recipe from a blogger, Miriam from Madrid. Check Miriam from Madrid’s web site here.

Gomokuzushi (Sushi Rice with Vegetables)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

Sushi Rice:

2 cups Japanese rice, cooked

2 ½ inch piece of kelp seaweed (kombu)

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Toppings A:

4 medium dry shiitake, softened by soaking in hot water, stems trimmed, cut into thin strips

1 small carrot, cut in 1 “ long, thin strips

1 small burdock root, cut in 1” long, thin strips

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon mirin

Toppings B:

thin omelet

1 sheet of nori seaweed, cut in 1” long, thin strips

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted and slightly crushed

1 tablespoon pickled ginger, squeezed, cut into thin strips

Thin omelet:

3 eggs

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoons mirin

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Toppings C, more ideas (optional):

1 cup cooked green peas

4 oz smoked salmon or salmon grilled in salt, shredded

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced, salted, squeezed

1 cup canned bamboo, lotus root or water chestnut cut into thin sticks

2 aburage, deep-fried tofu pouches, thinly sliced into strips

4 oz small squids, cooked and sliced crosswise (round sections) or

4 oz shredded crab imitation

Directions:

Rice:

Cook rice with kelp and water. Remove kelp when water boils. Put hot cooked rice into a mixing tub (wooden or glass) and spread evenly over the bottom. Mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a cup, stir well. Sprinkle vinegar mixture generously over the rice. With a large wooden spoon, mix rice with a slicing motion, very gently. You want to keep the rice grains intact. While you mix, use a hand fan. This is not to cool the sushi rice, but to puff the extra liquid away. Keep the sushi rice in the tub, covered with a damp towel.

Toppings A:

Cook burdock in a small pan in medium-low heat until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Add carrots and shiitake when burdock is almost done, mix well.

Thin omelet:

Add mirin, sugar, salt and cornstarch to beaten eggs. Grease a non-stick skillet over medium low heat. Pour in just enough beaten egg to cover the bottom of the skillet. Rotate the skillet. The omelet is ready to turn when the edges curl up and the surface becomes glossy. Turn omelet with your hands and wait about 10 seconds. Remove from pan. The omelet should be paper thin. Pile the omelets. When they are done, roll them jelly roll fashion and cut into very thin strips.

Assembly:

Add all ingredients except nori and the egg omelet to the rice and mix. Turn into a large serving platter or individual bowls and garnish with egg topped with nori.

Salmon in Wine, Rosemary and Lime

Salmon in Wine, Rosemary and Lime

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets, 6 oz each

2 tablespoons white wine

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

juice of ½ lime

1 teaspoon brown sugar

4 thin lime slices cut in half

Directions:

Place the fish on a large sheet of foil or parchment paper.  Mix brown sugar, wine, rosemary, salt, pepper and lime juice in a bowl. Pour mix over the fish. Fold over foil all around fish and make sure it is tightly wrapped. Bake at 325 for 30 to 40 minutes. Top fish with 2 half lime slices.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Ochazuke is one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It can be as simple as rice, nori, tea and some savory protein or vegetable. Since my mom is here and can direct my cooking, today I am making a more sophisticated one, with sushi grade salmon, yummmm!!!!! I am serving it with kinpira (cooked burdock root) on the side.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Servings 4

Ingredients

4C white or brown short grain rice, cooked

1 lb sushi grade salmon

2 tablespoons wasabi

¼ cup light soy sauce

¼ cup green onion springs, very thinly sliced

1 sheet nori cut into thin ribbons

2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds, slightly crushed

(In Japanese cuisine we use a sesame grinder)

Very hot, high quality green tea, prepared in a teapot

Directions

Prepare rice in a rice-cooker or boil as instructed on package.

Cut salmon sashimi style. In a medium bowl, mix soy sauce, wasabi, sesame and green onions. Pour on the fish and toss. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Serve 1 cup of rice in a medium bowl, top with the seasoned salmon and pour green tea to cover the salmon.

Cover and wait a couple of minutes so that the fish gets slightly cooked with the tea heat. Top with nori right before serving.

Miso Glazed Salmon and Eggplant, Spinach Ohitashi

Today I am not posting recipes, just the food that I cooked, sorry! I haven’t mentioned before, but my family is of Japanese origin. At my parents house back in Brazil, we used to have Western food for lunch and Japanese food for dinner. We all have Japanese ingredients handy anytime, that’s why I decided to make this dinner tonight: we got so much spinach this week that I didn’t know what to do with it. Ohitashi is a great way to use a lot of spinach: it’s basically steamed spinach served with dry fish flakes and dashi sauce. To go with it, I used the Japanese eggplant. This is one of my dad’s favorite. Broil the eggplant, peel and serve with English dry mustard and soy sauce. I decided to use the fish miso marinade: I boiled it for a couple of minutes and brushed over the eggplant. Ah, the fish. I baked a miso glazed wild salmon!