Slow-Cooked Wild King Salmon with Shallots-Basil Topping

My favorite way to cook to wild salmon is to slow cook it - this is by far, the most moist, tender version of salmon I've ever had! It's also really easy to make, and you just pop it into the oven and let the oven do all the work. This salmon is so delicious, it doesn't even really need any fancy sauces or toppings; it's wonderful just by itself with some olive oil drizzled on top and good ol' salt and pepper. You don't want to overwhelm the beautiful flavor of wild salmon, so if you do make a topping, you want to go easy!

Here are some ideas for salmon flavorings:
-add honey or fresh fruit for some sweetness: honey, turmeric, and powdered fennel seed is a possibility, or you could go for a tropical fruit salsa with finely diced mango, strawberries, pineapple, tomato, and apple (or whatever fresh fruits are in season; a great summertime version would be avocado, peach, and plum), a dash of salt and pepper, and freshly squeezed lime juice.
-a bit of spiciness: chili powder or cayenne
-a savory herb topping: shallots and fresh chiffonade basil (a personal favorite)
-a citrus topping: fresh dill and freshly squeezed lemon, for example
-a crunchy topping: brown rice cereal, crushed almonds or other nuts, etc
-aioli (a garlic-infused mayonnaise): to be spread on the salmon after it is done cooking

In the pictured version, I went with wild king salmon seasoned with salt and pepper, and a bit of olive oil drizzled on top with a side of tomatoes, green beans, and brown rice. However, other types of salmon are delicious too. Here is a summary of the different wild salmon types I've tried: Alaskan king (Chinook) salmon has a firm flesh, a red color, and are high in oil content, resulting in an extra-rich flavor, which is highly prized among salmon-lovers. I've also tried Copper River king salmon, which was absolutely delicious but ridiculously expensive. Sockeye (red) salmon also has a rich flavor due to its high concentration of oils and a rich red, firm flesh that maintains its color throughout cooking, as you can see in the photo. Coho (silver) salmon has a mild and sweet taste, slightly milder than that of the Sockeye, and the flesh is leaner, firmer, and has a more delicate texture than other salmon. Steelhead Trout (which is technically a type of Rainbow Trout, rather than a type of salmon, but is so similar in color, taste and texture to salmon that it is often categorized as salmon) has a tender flesh and a mild, somewhat nutty flavor. I personally tend to prefer the oilier, richer-tasting types of salmon.

Slow-Cooked Wild King Salmon with Shallots-Basil Topping Adapted from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Café Cookbook Ingredients: • 1 king salmon fillet, 0.3-0.4 lb • extra-virgin olive oil • salt • pepper • for the salmon topping: finely sliced shallots and fresh chiffonade basil (chiffonade means "to shred", where you slice an herb into long, thin strips), or any other topping you prefer Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 250°F, and place a pan of water on the lowest rack in the oven, which will create a humid environment to keep the salmon moist. 2. Lightly brush or spray a baking pan with olive oil, or alternatively, wrap a baking pan with aluminum foil (good for you lazy dish washers...) Brush the salmon with olive oil and season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper and place the topping of your choice on the salmon. Place the salmon in the baking dish and put it in the oven for about 30 min. The salmon is cooked when the juices are beginning to collect on top of the fillet and fat is starting to ooze out of its sides; the color was remain essentially the same, so don't judge by the color! 3. Let the salmon rest for at least 10 min at room temperature.

Heirloom and Cherry Tomato Salad

Tomatoes are one of those vegetables that I enjoy both raw and cooked, probably because they're naturally sweet. And who doesn't like tomatoes? I've never heard anyone say they don't like tomatoes, whereas other vegetables have their fair share of fans as well as non-fans. This tomato salad takes advantage of the many different varieties of tomatoes, including -- mini heirloom tomatoes of all different colors; large heirloom tomatoes on the vine, and cherry tomatoes.

Heirloom and Cherry Tomato Salad From Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Café Cookbook Ingredients: • 1 (½-pint) basket assorted cherry tomatoes • 2 pounds heirloom tomatoes, different colors and sizes • 1 shallot, diced fine • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar instead) • 1 garlic clove, smashed • Salt • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil • Pepper • Green and purple basil leaves, chopped • Lemon cucumbers and torpedo onions (optional) Directions: 1. Stem the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. Core the larger tomatoes and cut them into slices or wedges. 2. For the vinaigrette, macerate the shallot in the vinegar with the garlic and a little salt. Whisk in the oil. Taste and adjust the acidity and salt as necessary. Put the tomatoes in a shallow salad bowl or on a platter. Season with salt and pepper, strew on the chopped basil leaves, and carefully dress with the vinaigrette. 3. (optional) Thin slices of peeled lemon cucumber and torpedo onion are wonderful additions to the salad. 4. For a more elegant tomato salad, slice perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes and arrange them on a platter. Season with salt and pepper, a splash of good Champagne, and a generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Butternut Squash, White Bean, and Kale Chicken Soup

As promised, here's another great way to prepare a winter squash. This soup recipe is so simple, yet flavorful, hearty, and satisfying, it's the perfect comfort food for a cold winter day in New York City! And it is definitely still winter time over here. I seriously can't believe spring officially starts in 9 days. Just last week (on Wednesday, February 10th), all NYC public schools and Catholic elementary and middle schools were closed due to the snow. By the way, maybe only New Yorkers will know what I'm talking about, but you know those patches of snow that look deceivingly stable, yet when you step on them, your feet are instantly plunged into this freezing, nasty, dirty, black water that the snow was just floating on top of? Yeaaa, I stepped on a couple of those. $%$%@#$$#@$! Oh well, nothing a hot shower and a bowl of chicken soup can't cure...

Butternut Squash, White Bean, and Kale Chicken Soup Ingredients: • 1 cup dried cannellini beans or 2 15-ounce cans of cannellini beans (possible substitutions: navy beans or Great Northern Beans) • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil • 2½ pounds chicken breast or thighs (bone-in chicken has more flavor, just remove the bones later, but boneless chicken is obviously more convenient to use; or alternatively, you could use some other type of meat - spicy Italian sausage would work well) • 2 yellow onions, diced • 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press • 5 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade chicken stock • 6 ounces white wine (optional) • 2 inch piece kombu seaweed (I used canned cannellini beans that already contained kombu seaweed) • 1 teaspoon salt • ½ teaspoon pepper • 4 sage leaves • 2 sprigs thyme or rosemary • 2 bay leaves • 1 large butternut squash, about 4½ pounds, peeled and chopped into ½-inch cubes (Helpful tip: butternut squash can be peeled using a normal swivel-headed vegetable peeler) • ½ cup garlicky kale, or ¾ pound lacinato kale before cooked • slices of country-style bread with garlic and olive oil spread (optional) Instructions: 1. If you are using dry cannellini beans, soak the 2 cups of cannellini beans overnight in water, or alternatively, quick-soak the cannellini beans using the following method: First pick through the beans to remove small stones and other foreign materials. Place them in a large stock pot and add water (6 - 8 cups of water per pound of beans.) Boil vigorously for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it sit for at least an hour, which will usually be enough time to soften the beans sufficiently. Soaking the beans allows shorter cooking times, which preserves the most nutrients, and also allows for the beans to cook more evenly and completely. 2. After the beans are soaked, drain them and put them in a large stock pot along with the chicken stock. (Never cook with the same water that you soaked the beans in because this soaking liquid is dirty.) Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the beans are tender. Start checking after 45 minutes. Taste, and if necessary, adjust the seasonings. 3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add chicken and brown about 15 to 20 minutes. 4. Remove the chicken to the stock pot and add the onion, sage leaves, rosemary/thyme sprigs, and bay leaves to the sauté pan. Sauté on medium heat about 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and garlic, and sauté for another 5 minutes. 5. Remove the vegetables and herbs to the stock pot, and add wine, kombu seaweed, salt, pepper, and bring to a boil; simmer about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the squash gets very soft. 6. (optional) Stir in garlicky kale. Serve hot soup over thickly sliced country-style bread that has been brushed with minced garlic and extra virgin olive oil and toasted in the oven until crisp and golden brown.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Dried Apricots

I don't know about you, but I didn't crawl my way up the evolutionary ladder so I could eat nothing but brussel sprouts and artichokes - hell no! I really don't know how I could go through life without eating meat. I do love vegetables, but I like them best paired with juicy, succulent, and tender meat - like in this lamb stew. Here I've braised lamb shoulder in a traditional Moroccan stew called a tagine (or tajine), which are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures that result in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce. The meats are usually either lamb or chicken, and these meats are often combined with a medley of ingredients or seasonings, such as: olives, quinces, apples, pears, apricots, raisins, prunes, dates, nuts, fresh or preserved lemons, honey, and/or various spices like ground cinnamon, saffron, ginger, turmeric, cumin, paprika, pepper, and Ras el hanout (a blend of spices). Some famous tagine dishes are mqualli or mshermel (both are pairings of chicken, olives and citrus fruits, though preparation methods differ), kefta (meatballs in an egg and tomato sauce), and mrouzia (lamb, raisins and almonds).

The name tagine actually comes from the special pot in which it is cooked, which is a pretty neat piece of kitchen equipment, if you ask me. The traditional tagine pot has a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking and is designed so that all the steam that condenses on the lid returns to the bottom of the pot. It also has a knob-like handle at its top so that the cover can be lifted off without using a mitten, which allows the cook to test the lamb for tenderness, add vegetables, mix the contents, or add additional braising liquid. With the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving. Cool, huh? Too bad they're hard to find in Western parts of the world, so if you don't have a tagine pot (I don't), you can use a Dutch oven, the All-Clad Stainless Braiser Pan, or a heavy stockpot with a good lid (I used my trusty stainless steel All-Clad Saute Pan with a lid).

In this version of tagine, I hope you'll love the complex flavors and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness of the rich lamb shoulder meat (grass-fed lamb is recommended), intoxicating, fragrant aroma of the exotic spices (cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and ginger), and the sweet flavor of the dried Turkish apricots (which tempers the gameyness of the lamb) as much as I do. Yes, lamb shoulder is a little fatty, so this is probably not an everyday meal. The stew is wonderful garnished with toasted sliced almonds and served with steamed couscous. (I mixed steamed quinoa into the stew afterwards, though that isn't exactly traditional.)

By the way, my friend and I had a debate about how the word apricot is pronounced. I pronounce it as "ape-ricot" while he pronounces it as "app-ricot" - maybe it has to do with where you're from (I'm originally from California, he's from NY)?

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Dried Apricots Ingredients: • ½ pound dried Turkish apricots • 2½ pounds lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes • 2 cups beef stock or water • salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil • 2 large yellow onions, peeled, trimmed, and chopped • 2 large tomatoes, chopped • 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely grated • 1 teaspoon coriander, preferably freshly ground • 1 teaspoon cumin • ½ teaspoon cinnamon • ¼ teaspoon saffron • 1 teaspoon rose water (optional) • toasted sliced almonds, as a garnish (optional) • steamed couscous, for serving (optional) Directions: 1. Soak the apricots in warm water for an hour or so while you prepare the rest of the stew. Season the lamb well with salt and pepper. 2. Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat - enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the lamb and brown it on all sides, working in batches if necessary and taking care not to crowd the meat. 3. Remove the meat to a plate and discard most of the fat/oil in the pan, leaving just a thin veil of oil. 4. Add the onions and tomatoes and cook them until soft over medium high heat, about 7 minutes. Add the seared lamb cubes back in, stir in the spices and mix well, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn't burn and turn bitter. 5. Add just enough beef stock to come to the top of the meat and bring to a boil, skimming any foam that rises to the top. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and cook for half an hour. 6. Meanwhile, drain the apricots, reserving the liquid. Chop the apricots coarsely and add them to the lamb. Now keep the pan partially covered and continue to simmer for about another hour or until the lamb is fork-tender. Stir occasionally, and if the liquid gets too low, add some of the reserved apricot liquid. 7. When the lamb is tender, skim any fat off the top, taste for salt and adjust the seasonings as needed. Add rose water and sliced almonds and serve with a side of steamed couscous, if desired.

Red Wine Tomato Quinoa & Garlic Ground Beef Stuffed Winter Squash

Aren't these stuffed winter squashes just adorable?! Well, they're not just pretty to look at, they're easy to make, very nutritious, store for many weeks or even months in a cool, dry place (unlike summer squashes), and taste great when stuffed and baked - or roasted and pureed, made into soups, cut into chunks, baked into souffles, muffins, cookies, and other baked goods, made into pancakes, and so on and so forth. They're so versatile, they can be made into both sweet and savory dishes; the possibilities are endless!

I went a little crazy and purchased 5 different varieties this week:


clockwise from the right: butternut squash (the light-orange colored squash with the long neck), kabocha squash (large, dark green), delicata squash (small, yellow, and striped), acorn squash (small, dark green), and small dumpling squash (small, light orange)

I'll prepare them in different ways because the different tastes, textures, and sizes of each variety make them suitable for different ways of cooking. With the butternut squash, I plan to make a white bean & butternut squash soup with chicken, and with the kabocha squash, I'll make pancakes two different ways - as "ho bak jeon" (Korean-style squash pancakes made with julienned strips of squash) and as regular American-style pancakes. I may also make squash muffins if I have leftover squash - we'll see. Delicata, sweet dumpling, and acorn squash are small and therefore the most suitable winter squashes for stuffing, so I stuffed all three.

My favorite of the three is definitely the delicata squash (pictured above), which tastes somewhat like sweet potatoes. Sweet dumpling squash is mildly sweet and has a bit of a dry texture. I definitely liked it more than acorn squash, which has a creamy, slightly fibrous texture and a mild, nutty taste that I found to be slightly bitter also - and not the kind of slight bitterness that I love in other vegetables, such as kale, but the kind that reminded me of yellow summer squash and zucchini, neither of which I'm too fond of. (Growing up, I used to pick out all the individual yellow squash and zucchini from my plate.) However, with the great varieties of squash out there (and they don't all taste the same), pretty much everyone can find varieties that they love! I myself love pumpkin, butternut squash, and delicata squash - yup, all the orange-fleshed sweet flavored squashes.

If you're not a fan of squash of any kind, the stuffing I made is delicious on its own and can serve as a main course. The red wine quinoa component also makes for a great side dish, and the garlic ground beef, red peppers, and red onions component also makes a fantastic topping for pizza when combined with pineapple chunks and grated cheese - in fact, it's one of my all-time favorite pizza toppings. By the way, quinoa is not only light, fluffy, and delicious, it's nature's perfect grain (though it's technically not a grain, but a seed)- it has a complete set of amino acids, is high in fiber, iron, and B-vitamins, and is also gluten-free for those who are sensitive to wheat products.

Garlic Ground Beef and Red Wine Tomato Quinoa Stuffed Winter Squash Ingredients: • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil • 8 small winter squash (delicata, acorn, or small dumpling squashes are good choices), about 1-1¼ lb each For red wine tomato quinoa • 2½ cups quinoa • 2 medium tomatoes • 1 bay leaf • 6 sprigs thyme • 3 cloves garlic • ½ cup red wine (I substituted red grape juice, instead) • 4½ cups chicken stock • sea salt and pepper, to taste For garlic ground beef • 3 pounds grass-fed ground beef • 1 teaspoon sea salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt (sea salt is often saltier than regular table or kosher salt) • 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper • 2 medium red onions, diced • 3 red peppers, washed, seeded and diced • 2 bulbs or about 20 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed through a garlic press • 1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano and 2 ounces Gruyere (optional) Directions: 1. Rinse and drain the quinoa in a rice cooker pot. Add tomato, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, kosher salt and pepper, red wine, and chicken stock to the pot, and cook the quinoa. 2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut 1-inch off the top of each acorn squash and scoop out the seeds with a spoon or a melon baller. If necessary in order for the squash to sit upright, cut off a small portion of the bottom. Rub the insides of each squash with extra-virgin olive oil and set them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. 3. Sauté the ground meat in a non-stick fry pan on medium heat until it is almost fully cooked, breaking the chunks apart with a spatula. Remove from the heat and drain the fat from the pan. Return the pan to the stove top and turn the heat on again to medium. Add the red peppers, onions, and garlic, and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 15-20 minutes. Add the cooked quinoa, stirring constantly and heating the mixture thoroughly, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. 5. Divide the mixture evenly among the squash, top each squash with its lid and bake for 1 hour or until the squash is tender. (You may also begin baking the squash before you sauté the ground beef, as long as the total bake time is about 1 hour.) 6. Remove the lids and grate cheese (optional) on top of squash. Serve immediately.