Salmon with Bean Puree and Greens

This is supposedly a very healthy meal. Hmph. Far too tasty to be good for you.

I got this recipe in an email a bit over a year ago and flagged it as something I wouldn't mind trying. So, 13 months later, I have. You can't hurry these things.

I've made a few modifications to the recipe and method.

Bean puree:
400g can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup low-salt chicken stock
1-2 bay leaves

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, take out the bay leaf/ves and puree the beans (btw, I love my stick blender). Leave covered on the stove until you're ready to serve up.

Salmon & marinade:
4 tsp good olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2-3 tbl white wine vinegar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbl chopped dill
2 x salmon fillets

Combine all the ingredients except the salmon in a glass or pyrex bowl. Mix well. Add salmon fillets and turn to coat, then leave to marinate for 10 minutes. Heat a non-stick frypan to medium-high. Remove fillets from marinade and place, skin-side down, in the hot pan 3-4 minutes, with the lid on. Turn the fillets and cook a further 3-4 minutes, covered. Lower the heat to low while you take care of the greens.

Greens:
big handful or so of spinach leaves
100g beans, topped, tailed, and cut into 3cm lengths

Steam the beans in the microwave 2 minutes. Add the spinach and microwave for a further 1-2 minutes. While this is happening remove the salmon fillets from the frypan, pour the remaining marinade into the pan and heat on high until dried out fairly well (this won't take long - a matter of a minute or two).

Sling some pureed beans into a bowl. Throw a salmon fillet in the middle. Heap some greens on top of that, and finish off with a dollop of cooked-out marinade.

The Nook, Sunbury

Cnr Evans & Stations Streets
Sunbury 3429


I just wanted to share this with you. This is what I had for lunch today. It's a salmon patty with some green salad leaves. Can you see how big this damn patty is?! It was all nice and crunchy crumbs on the outside, and the inside was all salmon chunks with bits of potato and other vegies. And it was $5! Brilliant!

I glanced over the menu while I was there, and it looks like there's some good brekky and lunch options. I noticed that they have an all-day breakfast option too - I like that. Plus, there are three display cases: one hot one with pies, sausage rolls, the usual type of delicious hot pastry goodness; one with things like quiche, fritatta, and these salmon balls; and one with cakes and muffins. The coffee wasn't too shabby either.

Hm, not that I head to Sunbury all that often, but I know where I'll be going for a coffee or lunch while I'm there.

End-of-pay-period Emergency Rations

You know what I've realised? It's nigh-on impossible to take a good picture of something with vegetable chunks in it. It so often turns out looking, well, less than wonderful.


As per usual, towards pay day meals start getting less impressive in my house. This offering last night might not be all that picturesque, but it was pretty tasty, and the leftovers are working out REALLY well.

Take:

olive oil
1 red onion still fairly usable, diced
the 3 last cloves of garlic in the bunch, finely chopped
3 nearly-past-it tomatoes, chopped chunkily (icky bits removed)
1 x 350g jar of arrabbiata sauce, only slightly past its best-before date
1 x 300g can of four-bean mix, salvaged from the back of the pantry, purchase date unknown
1 x sachet of tomato paste (or 2 tablespoons-worth)
a smattering of frozen peas and corn
the leftover half of a capsicum (which, unfortunately, I forgot to add), chopped

Saute the garlic and onion in the oil until nice and soft. Add everything else. Start cooking some pasta. Simmer the heck out of it all until your pasta is done. Dish it all up with some type of grated cheese. It'll be fine, just don't look at it!

NAIDOC Week Cake

For those who don't know, the first full week in July is NAIDOC week. At work we had a morning tea.

This is the cake:


I thought it wasn't a bad effort at all, given the significant lack of equipment! What you see here is a chocolate cake with a vanilla centre, with a vanilla icing centre yellow spot and the rest is chocolate icing.

Here's the cake cross-section:


Yep, it was black, yellow and red on the inside too! The black and red are chocolate (with food colouring to achieve the result). The yellow is plain vanilla (once again, with food colouring).

Definitely the most creative I've been with baking for a LONG time :)

Bacon and Leek Quiche

My mum and I LOVE this quiche. It may not look like much, but any time we make it we end up making pigs of ourselves and finishing the whole thing. I can't for the life of me remember where we first got the recipe from, but we haven't referred to it in years - partly because it's such a simple recipe, and partly because we've made it so many times. I made it for J last weekend and yep, none was left over.


Bacon and Leek Quiche

1 sheet of puff or shortcrust pastry
1 leek, finely sliced
150-200g bacon, finely diced
2 eggs
1 cup cream
grated cheddar cheese
any herbs you like, or maybe a little sweet chilli sauce

Grease a pie pan, press the pastry into it firmly and trim the excess. If you're using puff pastry I find it's better to blind-bake it for 10-15 minutes first. Fry the leek and bacon until leek is soft and bacon is just turning crispy. Mix the eggs with the cream in a jug along with any chopped herbs or sauce you like. Scatter the bacon mixture over the base of the pastry, then gently pour over the cream mixture. Spread a little grated cheese over the top, and bake at 180C for 20-30 minutes (depending on the depth of your quiche) until cooked.

Serve it up with some salad. I was lazy and went with a fairly pedestrian salad this night, with just lettuce, tomato, cucumber, capsicum and cheese, with a basic balsamic and olive oil dressing. But meh, it was only there to try and kid myself that it was a healthy meal. You know, what with all that bacon and cream and cheese.