12/08/2020
Mas de Mas
I THINK the above title loosely translates to “much too much.” I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong. It comes to mind today when I decided that I was going to cook three dishes to comprise our dinner meal. Each in its own right is wonderfully delicious. However, I picked three dishes that each have complex flavorings. Any two would have been outstanding. All three are a bit overwhelming. What happened?
Well first I had spotted this recipe on Pinterest for preparing a salmon dish in a manner I had not previously. Basically it combines sweet and sour as a basting sauce for the fresh keto salmon filet I bought. The flavor profile combines a base of apricot jam with garlic, citrus, and two mustards and soy sauce. I thought I had some apricot jam in the fridge but couldn’t locate it. (yep, time to clean out the fridge). Turns out it was peach mango jam. Similar enough. So here is the very simple modified version: ¼ cup jam, 1 TBSP of minced garlic, 1 TBSP dijon mustard, 1 TBSP grainy mustard, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TBSP leftover candied jalapeno juice. I just stirred them up together and slathered it over the salmon filet. The candied jalapeno juice was discovered while searching the fridge for the apricot jam and was a last minute inspiration. It adds a nice little zing to the mustard kick. We cook in our toaster oven most of the time. So I popped it in at 400f for about 10 minutes.
The Pinterest recipe suggested serving it with an apricot couscous. Well I had this lovely white peach I bought last week that wasn’t getting any younger. And who can find apricots this time of year? Last year I couldn’t find Israeli couscous at my local international grocer, so I bought a 5 lb bag online. I like the larger size of the Israeli couscous. Instead of being about 1/16” in size, it is closer to ¼” when cooked. If you are not familiar with couscous, it is simply a small pearl shaped pasta. This is an improvised recipe and makes three servings. I started with 1 ½ cup of water and brought it to a boil. I added 1 grated carrot, 3 chopped green onions, minced garlic, a pinch of salt. Then I dumped in the 1 cup of dried Israeli couscous and gave it a stir, added a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley, one leftover mushroom and the chopped up peeled peach, put the lid on and let simmer for about 10 minutes. I zested a lemon and added that to give it some brightness of flavor. Give it a lifting stir and let it rest. The flavors are wonderful~ light and bright.
Now here is where I should have stopped. This next dish is totally delicious. However, it is dynamic enough to stand on its own. Once again this is a bastardized version of what I found online. It is a veggie tart. It was SUPPOSED to have filo dough as its base. Turns out the filo dough I had was WAY out of date. Good thing I had bought some puff pastry last week with an eye towards an almond dessert. So that became the base. I had bought some leeks 2 weeks ago with the idea of making a potato leek soup. That didn’t happen. So I had leeks, zucchini and frozen spinach. I sauteed the thinly sliced leek in a tiny amount of olive oil with salt and pepper, then removed from the pan and set aside. Then I added about 2 TBSP of olive oil and added 2 thinly sliced zucchini and a couple of minced garlic cloves and simmered until nicely golden and removed from the pan. I warmed about 1 cup of frozen spinach in the microwave and strained out all the moisture. The recipe called for ricotta, which I didn’t have. But I did have some cottage cheese that had been around for awhile, approximately 1 cup. I added an egg and a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper and some lemon zest and beat it with my mixer. Then I dumped in the leeks, zucchini and spinach and stirred it all together in a larger bowl. That puff pastry had been laid out on a silicone sheet on a quarter sheet pan and moistened with olive oil. I double stacked the edges to create a lip that could hold the moist combination. I scooped out the veggie miz and laid it gently over the puff pastry. Then I baked it at 400f for about 25 minutes. Because we are using the toaster oven, I actually did this before starting the salmon. It was allowed to rest before cutting.
As I mentioned everything tastes wonderful. But 2 out of three would have been plenty. Jon is not as big a fan of the sweet/ sour combination I love, so he rated the salmon as ok. I thought it had a very nice mustard voice, enhanced by the background jalapeno syrup. The couscous was wonderfully rich and colorful. The best, though, was the veggie tart. I am so thankful that there is enough leftover for us to eat it alone for lunch. Besides the spinach, zucchini, leek and garlic flavors, the mouthfeel was sumptuous. The egg and cottage cheese gave it a richness that satisfied all the urges. Next time~ simpler choices.
