I hope had a lovely summer and got to sample many of the amazing foods mother nature had on offer for us! Now with autumn approaching we can expect more richness and deep colours not only our plates. If you take a walk through London’s parks you can admire how everything is turning into warm and soothing colours – a very good way to farewell the summer.
As you may have noticed Irma and I took a little break. I was very much in need of doing absolutley nothing after I had finished my last assignment ! Well, I was working most of the time and took great pleasure of gorging on the foods of the summer but it was so nice to stay away from books and scientific papers for a while. Now there are only three weeks left until everything starts over again- my final year – exciting times ahead!
Unfortunately due to the vast amount of course work I will have to complete in year three there will be less time for blogging fun but I am hoping to still be able to keep you updated with monthly seasonal delights.
In love with everything green, this month I went for a yummy courgetti and avocado salad with a touch of pink from a lovely omega 3 rich organic salmon.
Asian style dishes, especially with tamari and ginger are some of my favourites, such a delicious combination. Courgettes are a very good match for these flavours and take next to no time to make. With 95% water content they have a hydrating effect, especially important during the hot summer months or when doing exercise. The dark green skin is rich in antioxidants, the seeds have a small amount of omega 3 oils and with each courgette you will also get a little portion of skin loving vitamin C and carotenes, making it a fabulous all-rounder for our plates. Courgettes are grown in a variety of colours and shapes which helps creating some beautiful dishes, sprialized, pealed into sheets or very thinly sliced, they can easily be prepared in advance and enjoyed warm or cold.
I only rarely eat salmon and go for the organically farmed variety, if I feel the need to have some. It is worth the little extra spend as the use of antibiotics and chemicals to keep nets and cages clean may be found as residue in non-organically farmed salmon. If your budget feels stretched, it may help having a smaller portion of salmon and adding some extra avocado instead.
I marinated the fish with tamari sauce, ginger, brown rice miso paste and my new little nutty discovery, black sesame seeds. They are rather full of beneficial minerals and oils and you can sprinkle them on your breakfast cereal, soups or curries, so pretty and so good !
You can properly free style this dish with any fresh salad and vegetable of your choice but watercress, rocket, spring onions, garden peas, avocado and coriander go particularly well. Brown rice vermicelli noodles are optional but represent a super delicious carbohydrate addition to this green creation. Enjoy!
Courgetti salad with organic salmon and avocado – serves 2-3
200-300g of organic salmon
2-3 medium sized organic courgettes
2 spring onions
1/2 bag of fresh garden peas ( 1/2 cup per person)
2 ripe avocados
1-2 bags of Rocket, watercress or green salad of your choice
100-150g of brown rice vermicelli noodles ( 50g per person) – optional
A small bunch of coriander
For the marinade:
a small knob of fresh grated ginger
1/2 tbsp of brown rice miso paste
3-4 tbsp of tamari sauce
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
Dressing:
1 tbsp of tahini
1 tbsp of tamari sauce
1 tbsp of rice vinegar
2-3 tbsp of sesame oil
1/2 tsp of rice miso paste
1/2 clove of garlic & small piece (1cm) of ginger – grated or crushed with garlic press
Method:
Start with marinating the salmon, for a more intense flavour this is best done a couple of hours before cooking. It still works making it straight away, so don’t worry if you don’t have hours for marinating. Simply mix the marinade ingredients well and pour over the salmon, turn the salmon a few times, so every part has been covered with the marinade. It is best to use a casserole dish you can bake the salmon in later on. Cover and keep in the fridge until you are ready to bake it in the oven.
Pre-heat the oven at 180C, cover the casserole dish with tin foil before baking to keep the salmon moist, but make sure the foil does not touch the fish. Depending on the size and thickness bake for 15-20minutes or as instructed on the packaging.
Next prepare the dressing, simply put all ingredients in a jam jar, close lid tightly and shake until everything is mixed well.
Whilst the salmon is baking in the oven prepare the rest of the ingredients, slicing the spring onions and avocado, sprinkle some lemon juice on the sliced avocado, so it doesn’t turn brown.
You will need a spiralizer for the courgetti, but if you don’t have one, you can simply use a vegetable peeler and create courgette sheets.
Wash well before spiralizing the courgette including skin, which is the antioxidants rich part. If you would like to have the courgetti raw, then sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and the juice of half a lemon and mix well, this may help to digest them easier. Otherwise steam together with the garden peas or warm up in a lightly oiled pan together with the spring onions, just before serving.
If you are adding the vermicelli, prepare them just before serving, they don’t take long, just follow the instruction on the packaging, which can vary.
Once the salmon is ready start preparing the plates, first create a salad bed, then top with courgetti, vermicelli, spring onions, garden peas, avocado and coriander, finally add the dressing- serve warm or cold.
Bon Appetit !