One girl - one goal: to live a healthier life.

This includes eating more locally produced food; cooking culinary delights at home; and living life to it's fullest.

Healthy living does not have to be boring and tasteless...

"Cooking is like love - it should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."
Harriett Van Horn, Vogue Magazine 1956

Monday, June 20, 2011

Salmon on a bed of potatoes, fennel and leeks

It has been awhile since I cooked something from a recipe, but this past week we received potatoes, fennel and leeks in our Farmhouse Delivery box and I discovered a great recipe with all those items and salmon. Our favorite fish!

This recipe turned out very well -- aside from an early misstep this recipe was fairly easy to make. I followed it almost exactly, although my grocery store did not have salmon steaks so I used sockeye salmon instead. I also added extra garlic (surprise, surprise).

The recipe has you crush the garlic and black peppercorns in a mortar (or with a spice grinder). This was my mishap. My mortar is really tiny -- the garlic and peppercorns was almost too much for it. This didn't go very smoothly. And at some point I cut my thumb open. So in the end the garlic-peppercorn-lemon juice paste wasn't very smooth or pasty. However, I still think it worked out fine. I rubbed the chunky paste on the sockeye salmon and set it aside.


Next I chopped up the potatoes, leeks and fennel bulb.


I layered the leek and fennel at the bottom of an oven-safe pan, with the potatoes in a layer on top. I ground some fresh black pepper on the top.



I placed the salmon fillet on top of the layer of vegetables and potatoes. I put the lid on the pan and placed it in a 425 degree oven to bake for 20 minutes or so.


Once the dish comes out it is nicely steamed. The recipe calls for reducing the liquid on the stovetop, but there was no reserve liquid in my dish.


I then cooked the salmon in a lightly greased frying pan for about two minutes on each side. I was unsure about this part of the recipe -- if it would really be necessary. But just as the recipe states, it finishes up the salmon really nicely. It adds just a bit of crisp to the fish that is really nice.

I served the dish just the way it was, although if you wanted some extra it would be really nice with a little side salad.



Both the hubby and I thought this was really good. He is not a big fan of leeks, but he did think the potatoes were yummy. I would definitely make this again if the ingredients appeared in my Farmhouse box!

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