Steamed Salmon with Spring Onion and Stir-Fried Spring Greens

The heatwave we’ve recently been suffering has made us want to eat lighter food and spend as much time as possible away from the heat of the kitchen. This recipe ticks both those boxes and is a distant relative of one for Turbot with Spring Onion, Ginger & Light Soya Dressing – I say a distant relative as I use a different fish and serve it with rice instead of potatoes, but the hot dressing is the same – we once saw on Come Dine with Me, a favourite show of Erika’s and mine.

I still remember the episode as the lady hosting the dinner party didn’t bother to cook and instead got her local brasserie to set up a mini version of their restaurant in her lounge. They leant her a table and chairs, then delivered all the food to her house whilst she conned her guests into thinking she’d cooked it herself. Despite the general premise of the programme, the sheer audacity of this woman amused us so much that we were quite pleased when she won!

Previously we’ve served with with some veg along the lines of mange tout but this time bought some spring greens; I used a recipe from Riverford Organics for spring greens with with garlic and soy sauce.

Steamed Salmon with Ginger and Spring Onions
Serves 2
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

2 skinless fillets of salmon
6 or 7 spring onions, sliced finely lengthways
50ml groundnut oil
thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
light soy sauce

Preheat the oven to 220c. Whilst preheating, slice the spring onions as this can take a while!

Get two long pieces of kitchen foil (around 50cm long) and place the salmon in the middle. Season with a little salt and pepper, then top with half the ginger and 1/8 of the spring onions. Make a tall parcel and add 2tbsp of water, then seal and put into the oven for about 12 minutes.

With a few minutes remaining, cook the spring greens according to the recipe.

Plate up the fish and put half the remaining spring onion onto each fillet then add 1tsp of soy sauce. Meanwhile (there’s a fair amount of multi-tasking here) be heating the groundnut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat for a minute or so until it gets very hot. I have an infrared thermometer and take a reading of around 220c. I find that it gets to temperature in the time it takes to get the fish on the plate. Pour 2 dessert spoons of the hot oil over the spring onions to create a hot dressing. The recipe warns: “The amount you use is key to the success of the dish, as too much or too little can ruin the whole thing”.

Serve with plain steamed rice and the spring greens. This is one of our favourite recipes – the way the salmon melts on your tongue is incredible – and I’m amazed it’s taken us this long to bring it to the blog, we hope you’ll give it a try!

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(not entirely authentic) Tapas

An impulse buy of some Padrón Peppers from Brindisa at Borough Market on Friday meant that we needed to work some tapas into our dinners for this week. We were then at the market yesterday and saw some lovely looking prawns which we bought to go alongside the peppers, meaning that tapas night had to be this evening. Unfortunately we hadn’t planned to cycle 35 miles today so attempting to cook 6 different dishes whilst feeling rather tired was a considerable challenge.

Padrón Peppers
We first had Padrón Peppers eating al-fresco at a tapas bar in Barcelona. We didn’t know what they were when we ordered them and after over-hearing some Americans at another table complaining about them we were very apprehensive! There was no need to worry as they tasted wonderful and we’ve loved eating them ever since. I’m drawn to the russian-roulette style of eating, as one in thirty is super-hot. Tonight I had the hot one – last time around it was Erika’s turn and she had to run off to the kitchen for a glass of milk!

The peppers were cooked in olive oil in a hot pan for a few minutes until their skins blistered. They were sprinkled with salt just before serving.

Chilli and Garlic Prawns
The prawns were beheaded(!) and the intestines removed. Some oil was heated in a pan then a minced clove of garlic was added, then cooked for 30 seconds or so. Next the prawns, half a diced chilli, some paprika and salt were added to the pan and fried for a few more minutes until the prawns were cooked through.

Salad
A simple salad of cherry tomatoes, red onion and toasted pine nuts.

Smoked Paprika Almonds
We found this recipe in a ‘Tapas’ book, but these nuts would make a fantastic snack in their own right and are exceptionally easy to make! Take as many blanched almonds as you’d like (we used a 100g bag) and bake them at 200C for about 8 minutes (don’t burn them!). Transfer them to a heatproof bowl and stir in a little olive oil so all the nuts are lightly coated. Then add a few grinds of salt and a pinch of smoked paprika and stir again to distribute the flavours. The recipe called for 1.5tbsp coarse sea salt (ground with pestle & mortar) and 0.5tsp smoked paprika for 500g of almonds, but I found these proportions to be too salty and not paprika-ey enough! Leave the nuts to cool and munch away!

Tortilla D’Espanya (Spanish Omelette)
An old favourite of Erika’s since well before she ever set foot on Spanish soil, Spanish omelette is something she’s been trying to perfect for quite some time. Today, we par-boiled sliced potatoes and then left them in a frying pan over a low heat with some chopped onion until everything had softened. We then beat 3 large eggs in a bowl and stirred in the potatoes and onions along with a little seasoning. The mixture was poured into a small, oiled frying pan and flipped over after 10 minutes or so. It tasted delicious, but fell apart a bit and had a huge hole in the middle – one day she’ll get there!

Feta Cheese Stuffed Romano Peppers
Having picked up more Romano peppers than we really knew what to do with, we decided to try something decidedly un-Spanish – splitting the peppers in half, filling with cubes of feta cheese and dried oregano and grilling for about 15 minutes. We both learnt something new – that feta doesn’t melt! They were really good though and we’ll have them again.

All this was served with an ice-cold Estrella each and was definitely worth the hard work.

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