Rice Paper Rolls

Rice Paper Rolls is another Summer staple on our table. It can be prepared 100% vegetarian or you can add shrimps, chicken, beef or even pork. The meat I always cook simply in frying pan with my own Teriyaki Sauce that is a bit on sweet side with the use of Mirin and Maple Syrup.

Vegetables for the roll are pretty much standard:

Carrots, lettuce, cucumber and red pepper with rice noodles and peanuts as another standard. I have included shaved asparagus cooked in Teriyaki Sauce and garlicky shrimps.



Wrapping these ingredients in rice paper that was just very quickly dragged through water in large bowl can be quite tricky because the rice paper is very brittle when dry and tears easily when wet, there is no happy middle.

Make small pile of vegies at one end and if using shrimps slice them in half lengthwise and lay them flat at other end so that they will show through just one layer of paper. Make about 2 tight turns, fold the sides over and finish the roll.

For dipping sauce I use a mix of smooth Peanut butter, Hoisin Sauce, Sriracha and Soy Sauce.

Cream of Curried Broccoli and Asparagus Soup

This is one of my favorite “healthy” soups. Never mind the cream, the amount per serving is miniscule. I usually use only stems of asparagus, the spears go into omelet or other dishes even though I did use it as a garnish on occasion.

 Ingredients

1 onions, chopped

1/2 carrot, peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons butter

4 cups broccoli stems and flowers, chopped coarse

1/2 cup of asparagus stems, finely chopped

1 tsp. garlic, chopped

1 baking potato, peeled and chopped

6 cups chicken broth

1 tsp. curry powder

1/2 cup light cream 

Directions

Cook onions and carrots in butter over moderate heat, stirring, for 4 minutes.

Stir in curry powder and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

Add broccoli, asparagus, potatoes and stock and season to taste.

Simmer mixture, covered, for 30 minutes.

Puree mixture with immersion blender until very smooth.

Add cream and heat over low heat.

Serve in preheated soup bowls and garnish with broccoli flowerets and croutons or toasted baguette slices. For better taste rub garlic clove on toasted baguette slices.

Crispy Skin Salmon with Asparagus

Anybody that follows my blog knows by now that we love salmon prepared in any which way. After all, this is 19^th post featuring salmon! As is the case with many salmon dishes the prep takes a lot longer than actual cooking. I always cook my rice an automatic rice cooker so I usually start with washing the rice. By the time the rice is done, about 25 minutes, the meal is ready to be plated.

Start by preparing the sauces. In this version I served wasabi-mayonnaise sauce made by mixing 2 tsp. of wasabi paste with 3 Tbs. of mayonnaise. Second sauce is simplified teriyaki sauce: 2 Tbs. Kikkoman soy sauce, 2 Tbs. sake and 2 Tbs. dark honey (I prefer buckwheat honey) or maple syrup. Mix until well combined.

Besides rice, the other sides are:
1)    Seedless cucumber slices cut in half and pickled in mix of 1 tsp. of rice vinegar and 1 Tbs. of dark honey. Let marinate in bowl and then drain in colander just before serving on same plate as salmon and asparagus.
2)    Asparagus cooked in microwave for 1 minute on high, tossed with butter and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt and freshly ground white pepper.

Since I serve the salmon with crispy skin (the best part of whole dish) the skin must be completely free of scales, and I mean not a single scale regardless how small it is. Scaling the fillet is by far the most tedious job that takes most of the prep time. But, once done it takes just 4 – 5 minutes to cook the salmon.

Start by heating non-stick frying pan on high with 1 tsp. of peanut oil and 1 tsp. of sesame oil. When light smoke forms above the pan carefully place the fillets skin side down. Cook on high until you see about 1/4 of the fillet above skin turning from pink to creamy color. Lower heat to medium high and turn fillet on flesh side down. Continue cooking till about 1/4” of the flesh in middle is still pink. Add the “teriyaki” sauce and reduce for 30 seconds. Remove the salmon immediately to preheated plate skin side up, pour wasabi-mayo sauce next to fillet followed by reduced teriyaki sauce. Place the asparagus and drained cucumber salad on plate and serve. The skin comes off in one straight and crispy piece. What a treat!

Salmon Poached in Brown Butter

With Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus

Even though fish is the main ingredient in this dish, it is definitely not a diet meal. First of all, the salmon skin is quickly fried and crisped up in mix of grapeseed oil and butter, more butter is added and flesh side of fillet is slowly poached till almost done. Then you have the potatoes that are mashed with 35% cream, 3.25% milk and mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise. I usually use sour cream but I didn’t have any, so out came the mayo jar. Man, I have really pigged out on this one! But, was it ever so creamy and supper delicious!

I served the salmon with steamed asparagus tossed in brown butter, lemon zest and a slice of lemon.

Salmon and Asparagus – Three Ways

Salmon is such a versatile fish. We just love salmon any time of the year, Last week I have prepared it 3 times using same base ingredients (salmon and asparagus) and same sauce (teriyaki).

Simplest way is just pan fry it in very hot pan for 1 minute, turn over and add teriyaki, cook another 30 seconds and it is done. Plain steamed rice, nuked asparagus (1 minute on high) wasabi mayo dressing and sliced plain cucumber completes the meal.

Second way is basically same except that salmon is cut into large chunks and wasabi-mayo sauce is replaced with teriyaki glaze. Served with bowl of steamed rice topped with Furikake Seasoning and cucumber.

Third way is more complicated. It is a regular stir fry where you cook sliced red onion, asparagus and snow peas. When veggies are just soft add salmon chunks and teriyaki sauce, Stir fry for a minute and serve on bed of rice with Furikake Seasoning or just toasted sesame seeds. Cucumber salad is a natural with salmon.

Even though most ingredients are same the taste is little bit different because of cooking technique.

Another Breakfast Idea

This morning when I opened fridge door and saw some asparagus, Swiss cheese and eggs I saw a breakfast.

So simple and utterly delicious. I just peeled bottom half of asparagus stem, nuked it in wet paper towel for 1 minute and then wrapped in 3 thin slices of Swiss cheese and broiled in toaster oven till cheese melted. While this was going on I scrambled 2 eggs plus 2 egg whites that I had leftover from other meal, toasted and sliced English muffins, plated it (on preheated plate as usual, of course) garnished with a sliced tomato and bingo! Breakfast done in about 5 minutes.

Next time I’ll wrap the asparagus in cheese and then slice of ham. My first choice would be prosciutto but no prosciutto for sale in our town.