Salmon Fillets With Dill Couscous And Spicy Kale Food

SALMON FILLETS WITH DILL COUSCOUS & SPICY KALE

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of the EVOO in a skillet with a lid over medium to medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes, wilt in the kale, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour in 1 cup of the stock, cover, and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes. Then uncover, add the radishes, and sprinkle with the juice of 1/2 lemon.
• While the kale cooks, heat the remaining tablespoon of EVOO in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with Old Bay. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side for pink centers and 2 minutes longer on each side for opaque fish. Douse the fish with the juice of the remaining 1/2 lemon.
• While the salmon cooks, bring the remaining 1 1/4 cups of stock and the butter to a boil in a rice or sauce pot with a lid. Once it is boiling, stir in the couscous and dill. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
• Serve the salmon on a bed of spicy kale and couscous. Garnish the dill couscous with the chopped cucumber.

SALMON FILLETS WITH DILL COUSCOUS AND SPICY KALE

Steps:

• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high heat and cook onion for 4 minutes; add kale, crushed red pepper flakes, season with salt and pepper, and a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg.
• Add chicken stock, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
• Uncover and stir in radish and half the lemon juice.
• Meanwhile, in another skillet, heat remaining tablespoon of oil over medium high heat.
• Season salmon with Old Bay Seasoning and cook in second skillet, turning once, until cooked through, about 5 minutes; sprinkle with half the lemon juice.
• In a medium saucepan, combine 1 1/4 cup chicken stock, butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cover and bring to a boil.
• Stir in couscous and dill, remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 minutes; fluff with fork.
• Serve salmon on top of kale with couscous on the side; top salmon with cucumber.

CREAMY WILD SALMON WITH KALE

Steps:

• Sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of the turmeric on one side of the salmon fillet and press it into the fish. Turn the fish over and repeat with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric. Set the salmon aside as you prepare the spice paste.
• Combine the vinegar, chiles, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl to make a slurry. Set the slurry aside.
• Fill up a medium-size bowl with cold water. Take a leaf of kale, cut along both sides of the tough rib, and discard it. Slice the leaf in half lengthwise. Repeat with the remaining leaves. Stack the leaf halves, about 6 at a time, one on top of the other, and roll them into a tight log. Thinly slice the log crosswise; you will end up with long, slender shreds. When cutting the kale, you can't help notice how strong smelling and grassy it is (no wonder I love the smell of fresh-mowed grass in the summer). Dunk the shreds into the bowl of water to rinse off any grit, then scoop the shreds out and drain them in a colander. Repeat once or twice if the kale does not appear clean.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil appears to shimmer, add the turmeric-smeared fillet to the skillet. The instant sizzle and sear will turn the salmon light brown on the underside, about 2 minutes. Turn it over and repeat with the second side, about 2 minutes. Transfer the fish to a plate. Add the garlic to the skillet and stir-fry it until light brown and aromatic, about 1 minute.
• Pour the vinegar-based spice slurry into the skillet and stir to mix with the garlic. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. The pungency will slap you in the face (in a good way-I promise) and the liquid will release all the browned bits of fish from the bottom of the skillet into the thin sauce.
• Add the kale shreds and stir to coat them evenly with the liquid. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the skillet and stir. Lower the heat to medium, cover the skillet, and stew the kale, stirring occasionally, until the shreds are tender when tested (and tasted, I hope), 5 to 8 minutes.
• Stir the coconut milk into the kale. Let the milk come to a boil uncovered. Add the seared salmon to the liquid, basting it to make sure it continues to poach. Cook, uncovered, scooping up the sauce and basting the fish occasionally, until it barely starts to flake, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Transfer the fish to a serving plate. Let the sauce boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until it thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour the sauce over the salmon and serve.
• Extra Credit
• A stout bunch, dark green and spritely, Tuscan kale stands for the epitome of winter bravado. Even though it grows all through the year, we often associate kale with cold weather, that brightness among a sea of white, very much like the evergreen Christmas tree. Curly, ornamental (those tight bases of light purple leaves with a frizzy head of green), or Russian kale-all varieties work well for this recipe. Bursting with antioxidants, vitamins A and C, and iron, kale is a nutritional powerhouse among a sea of greens. Its tough leaves make it harder to cook than some greens, but with the right amount of moisture, it turns tender within about 5 minutes.
• To grind the chiles de árbol, pulverize them in a spice grinder (like a coffee grinder) until they are the texture of finely ground black pepper. The heat from freshly ground dried chiles is much more intense than preground cayenne.
• Before opening a can of coconut milk, shake it well to make sure the thick milk gets dispersed evenly. If the can sits around unopened, the thicker part usually floats to the top and congeals into a creamy mass. If shaking does nothing (usually if the can has been sitting in a cool spot, this will happen), then once you open the can, scrape the contents into a small bowl, and whisk the thicker milk with the wheylike separated liquid to create an evenly thick milk.

DILL-SPICED SALMON

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together the dill, chile powder, coriander, cumin, along with a generous pinch of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Transfer half of the spice mixture to a medium bowl and stir in the mustard to make a paste.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until toasted, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the toasted garlic butter into the paste.
• Season the salmon fillets with salt and the dry spice blend on both sides.
• Wipe out the large skillet. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in the olive oil in the large skillet over medium-high heat.
• When the oil shimmers, add the salmon fillets, skin-side down. Add 1 tablespoon butter and about half of the lemon wedges. Cook, continuously spooning the pan liquid over the fillets, until the skin is crispy, about 4 minutes. You'll see the color changing as the salmon cooks from the bottom.
• Flip the salmon, add 1 tablespoon butter, spread the paste on the skin with a rubber spatula and cook, continuously spooning the pan liquid over the fillets, until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Squeeze the remaining half of the lemon wedges over the fillets. Transfer the fillets to a plate and spoon over the sauce. Garnish with fresh dill and serve with lemon wedges. Let the salmon rest for a few minutes before serving if desired.