Shrimp and Tofu Salad

Inspiration: B and I really like tofu, but it always seems like every time that I buy it, I can’t figure out what I want to do with it. Most recipes that I find for tofu are Asian-inspired, but I just wasn’t feeling that this week. I had all kinds of odds and ends that needed used in my refrigerator, including a bunch of lettuce, so I decided to make a salad with a bit of a Mexican twist.

What we Loved: To be truthful, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this meal as much as I did. I’m really not a huge lettuce-based salad fan, and neither is B, but this salad was so great! Perhaps  because I put so many ingredients in it that you could barely find the lettuce. :) Regardless, it was a great meal-sized salad with all kinds of bright, Mexican/Southwestern-inspired flavors. I coated the tofu in a taco seasoning, and I coated the shrimp in a yellow pepper cilantro pesto, and the two different flavor profiles complimented each other very well. The tofu carried the flavors of all sorts of spices, and the shrimp were light and fresh. With the addition of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and feta cheese, this salad had all kinds of bright, fresh, and spicy flavors that provided for a nice and healthy meal.

Helpful Hints: I mixed a ton of cilantro in with the lettuce, and I thought that it really went well with all of the other flavors. So I would definitely recommend going heavy on the cilantro. I also think that goat cheese or chihuahua cheese would work great in this salad. I used feta because it’s what I had, but really any kind that you’d like would probably taste great. Lastly, using a whole package of tofu makes a lot of tofu. We used about 2/3 of it. If’ you’d like, just use half a package and save the second half for another use.

Shrimp and Tofu Salad
Source: Original recipe to serve two

For the tofu:
1 package extra firm tofu
1/4 cup almond meal (or you could use breadcrumbs)
Chili powder
Cumin
Kosher salt
Oregano
Garlic powder

For the shrimp:
20 shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
3 tablespoons yellow pepper cilantro pesto

For the salad:
1 large bunch of lettuce, any kind that you’d like
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
Black pepper
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 lime

1. Add the almond meal to a shallow bowl. Sprinkle in a good shake of chili powder and cumin, and then add a pinch of salt, oregano, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.

2. Drain the tofu, and cut it into slices. Pat the slices dry with paper towels. Cut the slices into cubes, and toss them in the almond meal mixture. Set aside.

3. Add the pesto to a second shallow bowl. Add the shrimp, and toss to coat. Set aside.

4. Wash your lettuce, and tear into salad pieces. Arrange on two plates, topping with the cilantro.

5. Mix the tomatoes, onions, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper together. Add them to the salad, along with the feta cheese.

6. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the tofu, and cook until browned and heated through, approximately 8-10 minutes, stirring often to brown all sides.

7. Heat a second saute pan over medium heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until cooked through, approximately 3-4 minutes.

8. Add the shrimp and the tofu to the salads. Slice a lime in half, and squeeze half over each plate. Serve.

Seasoned Tilapia with Yellow Pepper Cilantro Pesto

Inspiration: I really love tilapia. I know that a lot of people don’t really love this kind of fish, but I like it because it has a mild flavor and a flaky texture, and I like it because it’s cheap. I’d love to eat halibut and crab and lobster several times a week, but I really just can’t afford that. So I do love tilapia. And I’m always looking for new ways to cook it that I can add to my rotation.

What we Loved: I was drawn to this recipe because it has layers of flavor. The fish is coated in a rub that gives it a sweet and smoky flavor, and then it’s topped with a yellow pepper cilantro pesto that layers in a fresh, garlicy vegetable flavor. I really enjoyed the contrast between the two sets of flavor on the fish, and I always think that a healthy portion of cilantro adds a great freshness to a dish, too. This is a really good, healthy recipe for fish when you’re looking for something that’s a bit more than just a seasoned and baked filet. I served this with hearts of palm and some homemade refried beans for a super healthy supper.

Helpful Hints: While I did enjoy this a lot, I thought that the rub for the fish was a touch on the sweet side. Even though I’m always tempted by main course recipes that combine sweet and savory, especially in the fall time when I want to combine apples with pork or make cinnamon pan sauces, I know that I just really dislike any sweet and savory combinations when it comes to my main dish. I’m not sure what it is, but I just can’t handle a fruit sauce on my chicken, pineapple on my ham, or a maple glaze on my fish. So next time, I would leave the brown sugar completely out of the rub. That being said, if you enjoy sweet and savory main courses, then you would probably like to keep the brown sugar included. Also, when making pesto, I never use the large amount of oil that a recipe calls for. I only drizzle in just enough so that it’s creamy, which saves on a lot of calories.

Seasoned Tilapia with Yellow Pepper Cilantro Pesto
Source: Ezra Pound Cake, originally from Bobby Flay

I cut the original rub recipe in half to serve two. I made the entire batch of pesto, and I froze the leftovers in an ice cube tray for later. I also adapted this recipe to be cooked inside, rather than to be grilled. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

For the Rub:
1 tablespoon Spanish paprika
1/2 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the Yellow Pepper Cilantro Pesto:
2 yellow bell peppers, roasated, peeled, and seeded
1 large clove garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 cup cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

For the fish:
2 tilapia filets
Extra virgin olive oil
Cilantro leaves, for garnish

1. Combine all of the rub ingredients in a bowl, and set aside.

2. Place the peppers, garlic, pine nuts, cilantro, and cheese in a food processor, and process until combined. Drizzle in as much olive oil as necessary to make the pesto as creamy as you’d like. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Rub each filet with the seasoning mixture. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan, enough to lightly coat the bottom. Saute until the fish flakes easily with a fork, approximately 5 minutes per side.

4. Top each filet with some of the pesto, and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Tortilla-Crusted Mahi-Mahi

Inspiration: A few weeks ago I ran across this post for tortilla chip coated salmon. I’ve kept it in mind ever since, because I, too, always end up with a quarter bag full of tortilla chip crumbs that just aren’t big enough anymore for dipping in salsa or guacamole. Several years back, I would also occasionally purchase a tortilla-crusted tilapia from the grocery store that I really enjoyed, so I don’t know why I never thought of making it myself at home. Now I have :)

What we Loved: I always love a crunchy coating on fish or chicken, and this coating was really crunchy with a nice flavor. Tortilla chips lend themselves really well to Mexican-type flavors, so I mixed the crushed chips with a lot of spices and served the fish alongside my homemade refried beans (sans cheese) and topped with pico de gallo. This meal was healthy, light, and flavorful, perfect for a weeknight.

Helpful Hints: This coating would work well on any kind of fish you prefer, and it would also work well with chicken. You could leave out the spices and just use tortilla chips for a plain breading, or mix any other spices in that you prefer for a different spin on the flavor. I always buy unsalted tortilla chips, but you could use salted and leave out the additional salt when adding the spices.

Similar Recipes: pistachio-crusted mahi-mahi, parmesan-crusted tilapia

Tortilla-Crusted Mahi-Mahi
Source: Inspired from Macheesmo

2 mahi-mahi filets
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup crushed unsalted tortilla chips, more if necessary
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Garlic powder
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, and the egg in a second shallow bowl. In a third shallow bowl, mix the tortilla chip crumbs with a sprinkle of chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

2. Dip the fish filets in the flour, then in the egg, and then in the tortilla crumb coating. Place the coated filets on a plate.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the filets, and saute until browned and cooked through, approximately 5 minutes per side.

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta

Inspiration: I always think that polenta topped with seafood is a great combination. I’ve made red pepper polenta topped with fish and pepperjack polenta topped with scallops, and I adored both of those meals. When I saw this recipe a few months back, I knew that I would love it, too.

What we Loved: This meal is a just  full of flavors. I used a lot of pesto with my shrimp, which mixed nicely into the cheesy polenta as I ate, and the few bits of crispy bacon on the top added a really great saltiness to the dish.  I don’t know that you can go wrong with Parmesan, bacon, and pesto!  I served this with some sliced grape tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper for a delicious supper.

Helpful Hints: I could only find jumbo shrimp when I went shopping. As I was eating, I thought that it would be much easier to eat the meal if I had sliced the shrimp into smaller pieces before adding them to the polenta. Next time, I would chop the shrimp after cooking and also break the bacon into smaller pieces, so that I could mix everything together and get a bit of each flavor in every bite.

Similar Recipes: cornmeal-crusted orange roughy with roasted red pepper polenta, cumin-crusted scallops over pepperjack polenta with roasted vegetables

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta
Source: bitchincamero

I adjusted the recipe to serve two. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 tablespoons pesto
10 peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
1/2 cup polenta
1 1/2 cups water
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 slices bacon
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Toss the shrimp with the pesto, and set aside.

2. Place the water in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stir in the polenta, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring and scraping the pan occasionally. When the polenta is done, stir in the Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

3. While the polenta is cooking, add the bacon slices to a saute pan, and cook until crispy. Drain on a paper-towel covered plate, then break into small pieces.

4. In a separate skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until just opaque, approximately 2 -3 minutes.

5. Spoon the polenta into bowls, and then top with the shrimp. Top with the crumbled bacon and serve.

Risotto Crab Cakes

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: Earlier this week, we had a nice dinner of crab and shrimp risotto with some sauteed zucchini and a bottle of rose. With some leftover risotto and 4 oz of extra crabmeat in the refrigerator, it sounded fun to combine the two for a different take on a crab cake. Once I got the idea in my head, I had to try it out!

What we Loved: If I see a crab cake on a menu somewhere, I can almost guarantee that I’ll order it. One of my favorite restaurants in town is a Southwestern place that serves amazing blue cornmeal-crusted crab cakes with a pumpkin seed sauce that I can just never pass up. And risotto is another food that is very near the top of my list of the best things in life. So I knew that I would love the flavor combination of this meal, and I did! I was worried about how well the cakes would hold together when I was breading them and cooking them, but I had absolutely no problem with that. The risotto provided a nice, creamy base that held everything together. The end result was a creamy seafood cake with a really crispy crust. A little different, but really delicious.

Helpful Hints: I think that these would be even better with some more ingredients added to the mixture. Some finely diced roasted red peppers and a healthy bunch of chopped cilantro would have combined really well with the seafood risotto that I was using, but the great thing about this recipe is that you can adjust the add-ins based upon your preferences and based upon what kind of leftover risotto you’re using.

Similar Recipes: crab cakes, salmon cakes

Risotto Crab Cakes
Source: Original Recipe

Since this recipe uses leftovers, the amounts are not very specific. You can adjust everything to how much leftover risotto that you have on hand. I ended up being able to make five fairly large risotto cakes with what I had.

Leftover risotto, chilled in the refrigerator (mine was a crab and shrimp risotto recipe that I got from Annie’s Eats, with the parsley replaced with cilantro)
4 oz lump crabmeat (you can use more, if desired, based on how much leftover risotto you have)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs, more if necessary
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Gently mix together the leftover risotto and the crab meat. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Place the egg in a second bowl, and the panko breadcrumbs in a third bowl.

3. Form the risotto mixture into patties. Dip the patties in the flour, then the egg, and then the breadcrumbs. Place the patties on a plate or in a baking dish, and chill covered in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

4. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a large saute pan, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the risotto cakes, and cook until they are crispy, approximately 5-8 minutes per side. Add more oil if necessary, and cook with a lid on the pan to ensure that the crab cakes heat through.

Cumin-Crusted Scallops over Pepperjack Polenta with Roasted Vegetables

Cuisine: Southwestern

Inspiration: Whenever I’m out eating somewhere, I always take note of things that I love. At a restaurant here in town a few months back, I ordered scallops that were coated in cumin and blackened, and I really enjoyed them. While in Austria, one of my dishes came with a side of tiny cubes of roasted zucchini and peppers, and B and I both thought that the vegetables tasted amazing. One of my favorite new ways to cook is to store up little odds and ends that I enjoy from other places, and then throw them into my own meals at home.

What we Loved: I thought that the flavors and textures of this dish all combined really well. I loved the mixture of the creamy, pepperjack polenta with the crispy roasted flavor of the vegetables and the soft cumin scallops. The vegetables added a surprising amount of flavor to the meal, which I was really happy about. All together, this meal was really great for a healthy summer evening.

Helpful Hints: I always think that the most important thing about cooking scallops is to make sure that you don’t overcook them. If they’re overcooked, they end up getting really stiff and rubbery, and to me, it ruins the meal. When searing the scallops for this dish, they only need about 2 minutes per side. My biggest piece of advice is to take the scallops off of the heat just when you’re starting to question if they’re done yet. They will be!

Other Scallop Recipes: prosciutto-wrapped scallops

Cumin-Crusted Scallops over Pepperjack Polenta with Roasted Vegetables
Source: Original Recipe

For the scallops
8 sea scallops
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

For the polenta
1 cup polenta
3 cups water
2-3 oz cubed pepperjack cheese

For the Vegetables
1 small zucchini, finely diced
1 red pepper, finely diced
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the zucchini and red pepper on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat, spreading the vegetables in an even layer. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until browned, flipping the vegetables a few times for even cooking.

2. Meanwhile, add the water to a medium saucepan, and bring it to a boil. Slowly pour in the polenta, stirring to prevent clumping. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for approximately 20-25 minutes, stirring and scraping the sides of the pan often. When the polenta is done, add the pepperjack cheese, stir to combine, and reduce the heat to the lowest setting to keep warm until serving.

3. Mix together the flour, cumin, chili powder, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Dip each side of the scallops into the mixture. Heat a stainless steel saute pan over medium heat. When hot, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Wait until the oil starts to smoke, then add the scallops. To allow the crust to form, do not move the scallops once you’ve placed them in the pan. Using a pair of kitchen tongs, flip the scallops after approximately 2 minutes. The scallops should release from the pan when they are ready to be flipped. Cook for an additional 2 minutes on the other side.

4. Serve the vegetables and the scallops atop the polenta.

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas

Cuisine: Mexican

Inspiration: I’ve said it many times, but B and I both love Mexican and Tex Mex food. If I go too long without a Mexican meal, I usually get an intense craving that won’t go away until I make a Mexican supper or go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Last week, I was really craving Mexican food again, particularly enchiladas. I was happy to find this fairly healthy recipe that, as a bonus, also included seafood, which is something that I always crave a lot during the warm weather.

What we Loved: The salsa verde sauce for these enchiladas has an amazing, roasted pepper flavor. It’s made with a base of roasted tomatillos, poblanos, and garlic, and it really tastes so rich and delicious. I also really liked the flavor of the goat cheese. I’ve never used goat cheese in enchiladas before, but I had some extra in the house so I gave it a shot. It’s my favorite cheese, so I wasn’t too worried, but I was interested to see how it would taste. I ended up loving it. Goat cheese has a great, creamy quality that blends perfectly with the shrimp and the salsa verde sauce. I really liked that these enchiladas were different than any enchiladas I’ve had, with relatively little cheese and a focus instead on the flavors of the salsa verde and the shrimp filling. These aren’t your standard ooey-gooey cheesy enchiladas, but they’re still fantastic.

Helpful Hints: The salsa verde sauce dried up a bit in the oven while the enchiladas were baking. Next time, I think I would bake the enchiladas without the sauce, and instead heat up the sauce in a sauce pan to pour over the enchiladas when they come out of the oven. Also, when I make enchiladas, I use corn tortillas, and I typically heat them in the microwave to make them pliable, rather than quickly frying them as is traditionally done. I do this to save fat and calories, but it has the downside of giving the tortillas a fairly mushy texture when they come out of the oven. I’m starting to question whether this calorie-saving step is worth it, because the enchiladas break open easily and are very difficult to get out of the pan. If you would like to avoid this and aren’t too concerned about a few extra calories, just heat a bit of canola oil in a saute pan, and quickly fry each tortilla (for maybe 5 seconds per side) before filling and rolling.

Similar Recipes: avocado enchiladas with smoky chipotle sauce, chicken chilaquiles

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas
Source: Bon Appetit Magazine

I cut this recipe in half and made a few adjustments. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, cored, and seeded
2 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 cup packed, coarsely chopped cilantro, plus additional for garnish
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed (I would use 1 lb next time, but I was running short)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 corn tortillas
4-6 oz goat cheese

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the tomatillos, poblano chiles (cut-side down), and garlic cloves on the sheet. Broil until the tomatillos and chiles begin to soften and blacken, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool.

2. Add the tomatillos to a food processor. Peel the garlic, and add it to the food processor. Peel the charred parts off of the chiles, and coarsley chop. Add 1/4 of the chiles to the food processor, and reserve the rest. Add the cilantro and green onions to the food processor. Process until the mixture is pureed. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Saute the onions until softened, approximately 2-4 minutes. Add the shrimp, oregano, cumin, and the remaining chopped chiles to the pan, and saute until the shrimp  are just opaque but not completely cooked through, approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the bottom of a baking dish with just enough of the salsa to coat.

5. Microwave the tortillas between paper towels until just pliable, approximately 1 minute. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip the tortilla into the bowl containing the salsa, turning to coat both sides. Transfer to a plate, and add some of the shrimp filling and a sprinkle of goat cheese. Roll up the tortilla, and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

6. Pour the remaining salsa over the tortillas, and bake for 20 minutes.

7. Serve garnished with goat cheese and cilantro.

Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: Our Memorial Day weekend was filled with fabulous weather, and there’s no better time to start grilling than on Memorial Day. B and I took a nice bike ride in the afternoon, and it seemed like the whole city smelled like grilled food. It was fabulous.

What we Loved:  This was easily the best meal that we’ve had in months. B grilled everything just perfectly, and I couldn’t believe the flavor. Neither B nor I have ever had grilled shrimp before, and because shrimp cooks so quickly, I wasn’t expecting it to taste that much different than shrimp cooked inside. But the grilled, charred flavor of the shrimp was just amazing, and we couldn’t get over how great it was. It was  like the shrimp soaked up the entire essence and flavor of the grill in the few short minutes that they were cooking. The vegetables were just as good, with my favorite being the slightly crisp and blackened onions. I coated all of the vegetables and shrimp with lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, cilantro, and plenty of garlic before cooking, so everything also had a nice, garlicy flavor. We ate this with some white rice mixed with cilantro for a great, healthy meal that we plan to make a staple in our house over the summer months.

Helpful Hints: When I skewered the vegetables, I put the zucchini on the wrong way. Make sure to skewer the zucchini through the skin, so that you can get nice grill marks on the flesh of the zucchini. The shrimp will also cook much more quickly than the vegetables, so be sure to skewer the shrimp on their own skewers, so you can start grilling the vegetables first.

Other Shrimp Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya, shrimp creole

Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs
Source: Original Recipe to serve 2

14 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small zucchini, cut into thick chunks
8 baby portabella mushrooms
1/2 red pepper, cut into thick slices
1/2 vidalia onion, cut into thick wedges
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 lime
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white rice

1. Skewer the vegetables and the shrimp, making sure to keep them on different skewers because the shrimp will cook much more quickly than the vegetables.

2. Place the skewers in a dish or on a platter, and drizzle them liberally with olive oil and the juice of one lime. Sprinkle with Kosher salt, black pepper, cilantro, and the minced garlic.

3. Cook the white rice according to package instructions. When the rice has cooked, mix in a handful of freshly chopped cilantro.

4. While the rice is cooking, grill the skewers. Grill the vegetable skewers first, for approximately 7-10 minutes per side. When the vegetable skewers are just about finished, grill the shrimp skewers for approximately 1-2 minutes per side.

5. Serve the shrimp and vegetables over the cilantro rice.

Salmon Cakes

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: With warm weather finally here, I’ve really been craving a lot of seafood. As soon as summer hits, I think I’d be happy with lighter seafood and vegetable meals nearly every day. I had some fresh salmon out for supper last night, but none of the recipes that I could think of were really grabbing onto me. I finally thought of using my crab cake recipe as a base to make salmon cakes instead, and I’m so glad that I did. I ordered some shrimp and salmon cakes at a local Irish restaurant recently and loved them, and as it turned out, I loved these just as much.

What we Loved: Both B and I really enjoyed everything about this dinner. I adore things like crab cakes, vegetable fritters, mashed potato cakes, etc., so I was really hopeful that this recipe would turn out great, and it did. The salmon cakes have a really soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture, and they were packed with flavor, which was the best part. I used plenty of green onions and spices in the recipe, and I also added in a few tablespoons of Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper spread for some extra flavor. If there had been any eggs in my house, I would have breaded these, but instead, I just sauteed them in olive oil. As it turned out, I was really glad that I didn’t bread them. The cakes got nice and crispy brown, which added another great layer of flavor, and I loved the pink color. I sprinkled some Kosher salt on top of the cakes before serving, which I thought added the perfect final touch. It tasted great to eat a bite of the soft cake with a sprinkling of crunchy salt.

Helpful Hints: The only problem that I had with these salmon cakes is that they didn’t hold together as well as I would have liked while I was cooking. They were very fragile, and I had to be careful not to break them when flipping. To correct this, I would make sure to put the salmon cakes in the refrigerator for at least an hour before cooking, which will allow them to hold together more easily. I always do this when I make crab cakes, but I skipped the step this time because I was hungry. I would definitely recommend making sure to allow for extra time to refrigerate.

Similar Recipes: crab cakes, white bean fritters

Salmon Cakes
Source: Original recipe, inspired from this crab cake recipe

2 salmon filets
Extra virgin olive oil, for sauteeing
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons 0% Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons bread crumbs (I used Italian-seasoned)
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 tablespoons Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper spread, or something similar (you can also use finely diced or pureed roasted red pepper)
Kosher salt and black pepper
Dried or fresh dill

1. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a saute pan, and heat over medium heat. Add the salmon filets, and cook for approximately 5 minutes on each side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Put the cooked filets in a shallow bowl or on a plate, and shred with two forks.

2. In a shallow bowl, combine the green onions, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and roasted red pepper spread. Season as desired with Kosher salt, pepper, and dill. Add the cooked salmon, and mix well to combine.

3. Using your hands, form the salmon mixture into patties (it will make 7-8 small cakes), and place them in a baking dish. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

4. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a saute pan, and heat over medium heat. Add the salmon cakes, and cook for approximately 3-5 minutes per side, or until nicely browned. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and serve.

Fisherman’s Rice

Cuisine: Southwest

Inspiration: In February I made this jambalaya, and I ended up thinking that it was one of the best recipes to cross my dinner plate in months. It’s not a particularly complicated, unique, or even authentic recipe, but there’s just something about the flavors of one-pot, rice-based recipes that I just adore. The jambalaya recipe has become one of my favorite meals, so I was very excited last week to find a similar recipe, but with a very different flavor spin, at We Heart Food. This is one of those recipes that has been stuck in the back of my head ever since I found it.

What we Loved: I knew that I’d love everything about this dish before I even made it, and I did. The rice has a great tangy bite from pureed tomatillos that are added at the end of cooking, and I loved all of the different flavors and textures. The great thing about a one-pot dish is that you taste so many different flavors in each bite. There’s a tang to the rice, a spiciness to the chorizo,  a cool, buttery taste to the avocado, and a fresh seafood taste to the shrimp. I could eat dishes like this every day and be a very happy girl.

Helpful Hints: If you’re not concerned about a particularly healthful meal, I don’t think that it would be a bad idea to up the chorizo to about 6-8 oz or so. I used 3 oz and restrained myself from adding more, since this was supposed to be a healthy weeknight meal and all, but both B and I particularly enjoyed the chorizo flavor in this dish.

Similar Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya 

Fisherman’s Rice
Source: We Heart Food, originally from The Border Cookbook

I only made a few minor changes to the recipe. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 oz bulk chorizo
Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 bay leaf
8 oz shrimp, cooked as desired (I sauteed mine for about 2 minutes with olive oil, salt, and pepper)
1 Haas avocado, diced
2 medium tomatillos, husked and pureed
Cilantro, to garnish

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan, and saute the chorizo over medium heat. When it is just browned, add the onion, garlic, and rice, and saute briefly until the rice is translucent.

2. Pour in the stock, soy sauce, and vinegar. Add the bay leaf, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and cook for approximately 15 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.

3. Stir in the cooked shrimp, avocado, and pureed tomatillos. Cook for a few more minutes, and serve garnished with cilantro.