Sunday, February 6, 2011

Seasonal Sunday--Salmon with Leeks & Lentils

Today's recipe is from one of my favorite, go-to people, Ina Garten aka The Barefoot Contessa.
I have her cookbooks and she's a go-to for simple and delicious recipes.
Plus my kids will always eat them. We love to watch her show because she reminds us of Grandmother.
Do you see the resemblance?


aidan's photo


food network photo

The original recipe is from her book, Barefoot in Paris and you can find it here.

We can find pre-cooked and packaged lentils in the produce section in France so that makes this really easy. And it's nice because they keep forever and are great in so many things. Because of this I don't have to do the lentil cooking but I'm sure it's not such a big deal if you do.

As always, I've adjusted it to suit my circumstances so here's how I do it.

Salmon & Leeks with Lentils
(adjusted)

5 salmon steaks (fresh or frozen)
250g cooked Puy lentils
2 leeks, white and light green parts
1 tsp thyme
1 medium organic carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
70g tomato paste
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
splash of red wine vinegar
olive oil

Prepare the leeks by slicing them in half lengthwise and rinsing to get all the dirt out. I usually wash them twice; once lengthwise and again in a colander after I've cut them into half moon slivers, just to be sure.

Cook leek slivers in olive oil with the thyme until soft, 5 minutes.
Add celery and carrots and cook for 7 or so minutes more.

Meanwhile, brown salmon steaks on both sides in a bit of olive oil.
Set aside when browned, not cooking through.
Add broth and tomato paste to the vegetables, stirring to combine.
Add in cooked lentils and mix together. Salt and pepper to your taste.
Place the browned salmon steaks on top of the vegetable mixture and cook on low heat until salmon is cooked through. I like to cover each steak with some of the soft vegetables while they cook.

Just before serving add the splash of red wine vinegar and stir gently.
Your steaks should remain intact.
 
Serve with boiled, buttered potatoes and a salad. A nice glass of red goes well.


kid plate

3 comments:

  1. Hello Aidan - found you through Sara over at Le Petit Village. Being home in Colorado this winter and loving being in my kitchen and eating healthy, gotta say - love this recipe. I just made the whole "cooking lentils" last week, really not hard. I also found that soaking the leeks in a bowl of water gets a lot of that sand out too, and then rinsing through the colander. Now I want Salmon, leeks, and lentils.

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  2. Ohhh, I am going to try that one, right up my alley! Btw, lentils are soooo easy to cook.

    RInse them
    Put them in a lot of water
    Add one carrot peeled, cut in three pieces
    Add a peeled and onion with 3 cloves stuck in it
    Add salt near the end
    Cook until still slightly firm

    xo
    C

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  3. Valerie, Welcome, welcome. I love when new people stop by, esp if they come from Sara cause she's the best. have you made this one before? and I've got to go read up on your blog to find out your story.

    Charley,
    I'll try it. It's just so darn handy to buy them in the packet. Lazy, lazy me.
    We have so much great food here don't we? It's terrible to complain about jalapenos and decent Chinese!
    a xo

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It makes my day to read your comments. They're an answer to my floating words in blogland.