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Hurricane Irene was approaching, and I wasn’t about to head out to the grocery store. Luckily I found a large piece of salmon in the freezer to cook with.
This is a simple, quick recipe for when you are short on time. It’s delicious and has a lot of flavor and can be served with any vegetable or starch you please. In my case I had it with sauteed kale. Salmon is a great source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
Almond-Encrusted Honey-Ginger-Soy Salmon with Sauteed Kale
Almond-encrusted ginger/honey/soy salmon
Ingredients:
- 1 large salmon fillet or multiple small ones. This was big enough for 2
- 1 tsp honey
- 5 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- small handful of almond slivers, smashed into tiny pieces
Directions:
Defrost the salmon if frozen.
Combine honey, soy, and minced ginger in a small bowl.
Line a pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray it with oil.
Place salmon on the foil and brush generously with the honey/soy/ginger mixture, making sure that the ginger is distributed across the fish.Smash your almond pieces (in a plastic baggie, using a beer bottle, or whatever works for you) and sprinkle them across the top of the fish.
Ginger-Honey-Soy Salmon before cooking
Broil salmon for 8-10 minutes, checking to make sure the almonds don’t burn.
Serve with sauteed kale or vegetable of choice.
September 12, 2011
Almond-Encrusted Ginger Honey Soy Salmon
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In Maryland, steamed crabs are a big deal. They are steamed up with a spicy local seasoning called Old Bay, and eaten in large quantities with big crowds around a picnic table covered in brown paper. They are washed down with sometimes copious quantities of cold beer.
It’s a rare day when I can’t finish eating whatever crabs are in front of me.
On this occasion it was necessary to make some crab cakes out of leftover crab meat. Maryland crab cakes are made with maryland crab.. or at least with some old bay in them. These crab cakes were spicy with a little hot pepper, bell pepper, and sweet basil in them.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb (??) of fresh picked crab meat
Crab meat!
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
Peppers and basil
- 1-2 tsp old bay (to taste)
- 1 egg
Eggs and Old Bay
- 1 tsp spicy peppers, minced
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- Fresh Basil, chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl
Crab cake mixture
Form patties out of the crab cake mixture and place on a lightly greased pan
Crab cakes baking
Bake until golden brown on the outside.. about 15-20 minutes
These were a little spicy, so I ate them with a little greek yogurt. Yum!!!
Spicy Maryland crab cakes!
September 11, 2011
- 1 lb (??) of fresh picked crab meat
Spicy Maryland Crab Cakes
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There’s nothing better than spending a day with great friends and eating a bushel of crabs on an outdoor patio. The only thing that topped this experience off for us was a beautiful post-storm rainbow, followed by an experimental crab cake recipe by Sheri & Kim 🙂
- Post-re-steamed & pre-picked
First, we VERY patiently picked about 3-4 crabs and placed the meat into a bowl (this is very hard to do, especially if you’re used to eating the meat right off the bones! but WELL worth it). Note that this recipe yields 2 servings.
Next, we mixed in about 1 cup of bread crumbs (we used Progresso Panko, they’re thicker than regular breadcrumbs), a tablespoon of mustard powder, 1 egg yolk, salt, and pepper. We then mashed this up and balled the mixture into 2 patties. Meanwhile, we had butter melting in the skillet until it was nice and hot (almost burnt). Then we rolled each patty into one coat of bread crumbs, and placed them in the pan. Cooked each side for about 4-5 minutes, until they were cripsy brown.
- On the skillet
Remove from skillet and add a dollup of greek yogurt (a healthy substitute to sour cream, tastes exactly the same). This one will leave you licking the plate clean 🙂
August 9, 2011
- Voila! The incredible taste gives you a similar butterfly-in-your-tummy feeling when seeing a beautiful rainbow 😉
Rainbow Crab Cakes
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Mom had a great visit and I’m so glad she cooked for me. As usual, she helped with the laundry and some light house chores. We took pictures too! I always say that I have Southern tendencies, and I owe them all to my mother’s North Carolina, Southern belle swag LOL. Here is her recipe for Salmon Patties 🙂
½ chopped onion
2 cans of salmon (drain one can)
2 eggs
one roll of crackers, crushed (she uses saltines)
dash paprika
1 tsp dry mustard
Cheese Grits, Scrambled Eggs, and Salmon Patties
Combine all of the ingredients and form your salmon patties like you would a hamburger or black bean burger. Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. When the oil is hot, place patties in the skillet and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Depending on their size, this recipe will make 6-8 salmon patties.
Follow the directions on the box for Quaker Quick Grits. Add your favorite cheese after they thicken and while they are in their final simmering stages. I won’t share my mom’s seasoning for her grits. Sorry 🙁 Make your eggs the way you like ’em. My mom uses a ton of butter and Velveeta Cheese! Use the leftover patties for sandwiches!!
I can’t eat like I used to but I enjoyed indulging all weekend. I also cooked for her. Check out Smothered Pork Chops: Healthier Gravy!!
August 6, 2011
Southern Hospitality: Salmon Patties and Cheese Grits
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I’m not a huge fan of pasta or alfredo sauce, but I know more than a few people who are.To me, pasta is filler–lots of carbs with very little nutritional value. I end up uncomfortably full after most pasta dishes, and wishing there were more substance to the meal. Alfredo sauce is painfully unhealthy, with so much cheese, cream, and butter, I wonder why I’m not just eating a whole pan of brownies.
Healthy seafood alfredo with vegetable noodles
This dish suits those who love OR hate pasta and Alfredo sauce. There are multiple takes on how to make it, but the basic concept is the same. It’s delicious AND healthy, and I personally rank this seafood ‘pasta’ dinner in my top five meals
ever made.
Pasta:
The ‘pasta’ in this dish is made up of squash and zucchini.2-4 squash or zucchini (or some of each, preferably large)
Large Carrots (optional–adds color and tastes good, but is a bit tougher than squash and zucchini)Peel the squash/zucchini/carrots with a peeler, and if the skin is tough you can discard the outer layer, but this isn’t totally necessary. Use a peeler to create wide, long, ‘noodles’ from the vegetables. These noodles will only need to be sauteed for a couple minutes at the end of the cooking process. Set aside.
Peeling zucchini and squash to make noodles
squash, zucchini, and carrot noodles
Sauce:
In this case, the sauce was made from cauliflower and white beans, boiled and pureed and combined with a chicken or vegetable broth, and a little almond milk (or milk of your choice).
See recipe for the healthy white sauce alternative.
white beans for sauce
To turn this pasta and sauce recipe into a seafood/vegetable dish, here’s what I did:
Zucchini, Asparagus, Mushrooms
Other Ingredients:
Basil
Zucchini
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Garlic
LeekCombine all the above ingredients (chopped) in a frying pan and saute until tender in a little oil or butter, with garlic, leek, basil, salt and pepper for seasoning.
Sauteed veggies: zucchini, basil, asparagus, mushrooms
Seafood:
1 tilapia filet, crumbled (did this on its own..)
Scallops
1/2 C White wine
Butter
Garlic
Leek
BasilIn a separate pan, sear scallops in butter with garlic and leek. Add tilapia. Add white wine, salt, pepper, and basil, and cook for another 5 or so minutes.
Scallops and tilapia in white wine, garlic, leek, and basil
Combine:
Add vegetable ‘noodles’ to the veggies (mushrooms/asparagus/whatever you made) in the fry pan and cook for 2-4 minutes to heat through.
Vegetable noodles in the pan
Serve noodles and veggies in a bowl, topped with seafood and white wine, and as much ‘alfredo’ sauce as desired. Garnish with fresh basil. DELICIOUS!
July 7, 2011
Healthy seafood alfredo with vegetable noodles!
