Spiced Steamed Salmon with Chutney and Chard

This is an amazing recipe to spice up any salmon dish, courtesy of Daniel Boulud in Cafe Boulud Cookbook. If you've run out of ideas with salmon recipes, I highly recommend this delicious and HEALTHY(a french cooked dish without any cream?!? blasphemy!)dish. 

With fiber, fruit, antioxidant greens, and a punchy flavor, you won't be able to tell that it's good for you. 

The recipe is made of four parts: The Pineapple and Cherry Chutney, Lightly Curried Lemongrass Broth, Swiss Chard, and Curry rubbed Salmon.

Chutney: 
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 small apple, diced
1/8 pineapple, diced (I just used canned pineapple chunks, which work just fine)

1/4 piquillo pepper or roasted red peppers
1 tbsp of cherries, diced
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. Madras curry powder
1/2 cup rice vinegar
salt and freshly ground white pepper

Heat the oil over medium heat and add onions. Cook until onions are translucent and add in apple, pineapple, pepper, cherries, sugar, and curry powder and cook until fruits are tender, NOT mushy.
Pour in rice vinegar, bring to a boil, and cook until liquid is reduced by a half.
Take the chutney off the flame and season with salt and pepper. Set aside until serving time.
Chutney can be made ahead of time and warmed when served.

Broth: 
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. finely diced onion
1 tbsp. finely diced carrot
1 tsp. Madras curry powder
1 tbsp. grated peeled ginger
1 tbsp. finely chopped lemongrass bulb- remove the outer hard leaves and bruise the inner soft bulb for the broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups unsalted Chicken Stock
salt and pepper

Cutting the hard outer leaves of the lemongrass 

In a separate saucepan, warm the oil and when hot, add the carrots and onions. Cook until onions are translucent and add in the curry powder, ginger, and lemon grass. Let the mixture sit for around 2 minutes and add the white wine. Cook until the wine evaporates, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the broth simmer for 20 min. Remove the solids and season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the warm broth onto the salmon and chard when serving.

Chard: 
2 lbs. of swiss chard, leaves only cut into thin strands
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper

Boil the chard in salt water for about 5 minutes, drain well afterwards. Warm oil and sauté chard for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon chard onto shallow soup plates and start preparing the salmon.

Salmon:
4 Salmon fillets, skin on
1 tsp. Madras curry powder
salt and pepper

so much steam!!!

Rub the salmon filets with curry powder and salt and pepper. To steam the fish, use a large stockpot with around 1-2 inches of water at the bottom and wait for the water to boil. Place a rack at the bottom so that the plate with the fish does not touch the water. Place the fillets, skin side down on the plate and lower it into the stockpot, steaming for 10 minutes.

Arrange salmon over chard before pouring the broth over the fish. Finish with the pineapple cherry chutney and serve!

Tuck in! 

Grand Bazaar

camel family says hullo, come to Xinjiang!

Earlier this month, my family and I were exploring Xinjiang, a beautiful, unpolluted region in the northwestern part of China. Known for its deserts and mountains, it was a magical sight to behold after the smogged up skyline of Shanghai! 

Smoggy Shanghai 

Not only is Xinjiang known for its gorgeous landscape, but also known for its deliciously sweet fruits. Due to their long days (sun gets up at 8am and sets at 11pm), all of their fruits have a very high sugar content and are ridiculously juicy. 

Some fruits that are native to the area are mulberries that are the size of your thumb and these lovely little yellow plums. 

During our stay, we heard about the famous Grand Bazaar of Urumuqi city, where the ethnic minority groups of the region had the best dried raisins, dates, nuts, and other little trinkets! We made our way over to the bustling shops and got to tasting. 

one of the many shops lining the square

Dates, on dates, on dates!

pyramids of raisins, as far as the eye can see

almond anyone?

gelato machine!

mmm mango gelato

LAVENDER!

gorgeous architecture

being silly~

We left the Bazaar, bellies full of raisins and arms full of hats.

If anyone is thinking of visiting China, add Xinjiang onto your list of places to visit! It'll definitely be worth your while. 

Hot Pot Post on a Hot Day

As the summer begins, most people yearn for ice cream, tall glasses of cold beer, refreshing slices of watermelon, and anything else that's not warm. 

However, my family was just craving the warm delicious bowl of hotpot, boiling with fresh slices of beef, vegetables, and fish, dunked in your choice of sauce. 

Grandma getting ready to dig in with her apron

I went with a mushroom stock, cooked with some dates

Each diner gets their own bowl, with their choice of either mushroom, chicken, or fish stock. The waiter comes around and lights the burner underneath each of our bowls, and we wait patiently for our stocks to boil. 

Tofu, veggies, meat oh my!

                           

When we thought we couldn't eat anymore, we mopped up some soup with 'naang', a traditional chinese bread from the Northwest part of China, Xinjiang

Eventually, everyone started shedding clothes...

werkin the flowers

What are you all cooking this summer? Share your stories in the comments! 

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go on and click on that delicious looking meal, you know you want to...

Three Generations Around a Too Small Table

Hello from Shanghai China!
As a member of Wellesley Slow Food, it is my duty to record and capture my various food encounters and adventures.
This summer I traveled to Shanghai, Xinjiang, and Beijing China to vacation, examine the public health system, participate in the Albright Wellesley/PKU joint program, and most importantly, EAT.
First meal of the trip was very simple, but sometimes simple is best, ya know?
Bright and early at 6:30 in the morning (blame the jet lag), I went to the local market with my grandmother to pick up ingredients.
Unlike the US, China's best produce comes from these random pop-up markets that take over old industrial sites, workshops, or run down malls, like this one. Coming to the entrance, we were bombarded by the steam of buns, on buns, on buns.

Unable to help ourselves, we got three vegetable buns but decided to pass on the tea eggs.

onto the market...

We decided to only buy the produce that was in season, which included these lil guys. 

Lanmai, a type of stone fruit, deliciously sweet and super good for your digestive system! 

Mini pears

delicious scallion pancakes, sweet and salty patties, and egg rolls bursting with green onions and scrambled eggs

watching the guy in action! 

once we got back, we got straight to cooking! Grandma put me in charge of shelling the beans, while she got cooking

Bustling about like a pro

yummy bamboo stir-fried in soy sauce

completed meal

As I sat on the table, surrounded by my mom and grandma huddling in the kitchen, I realized that we had three generations in one room, connected by food: the shopping, preparation, and finally the meal. Once we finished preparing and cooking our fresh ingredients, we huddled around the narrow table, bumping elbows and giggling as we stuffed our faces with foods from all of our childhoods': buns that have always been part of our Chinese cultural heritage, vegetables that have been regional to the area that we all grew up in, and seasonings that have been passed down from grandmother, to mother, to granddaughter. During our everyday busy lives we sometimes forget the importance of a meal, how it ties us together, as well as the importance of family. Hopefully, through our love of food, we can spread the message of slow food and the importance of being conscious cooks as well as diners and how we can revitalize this connection of family and food, one meal at a time.