Another healthy meal I made today to go along with my 12 week challenge (if anyone has any questions about my fitness challenge- I’d be happy to post that too!) Got these goodies at Fresh Thyme, a new grocery/farmers’ market in town and I am OBSESSED. Everything looks so awesome- the presentation is killer and its the best seafood/butcher counter in Indy. (Besides Goose but that’s in a league of it’s own).
This recipe was easy and quick, and I prepared the salmon while waiting on my turkey meatloaves to cook earlier. You could prep this ahead of time and even freeze it, then pop it out when ready to cook and thaw.
I made the salmon recipe up, but the green bean recipe came from a recommendation from my nail girl- Kim, who is Vietnamese. We were talking about food earlier today and she was surprised I like to cook. I was really interested in what she cooks at home, and (forgive my ignorance) but asked her what the main differences between Vietnamese and Thai food were. She explained that Vietnamese isn’t quite as spicy, and she says she likes to use a lot of garlic, but all in all they are quite similar. I asked what her favorite thing to make is, and she told me green beans. LOL. Anyway, the way she described it it sounded really good, and I needed a green to go with my salmon, so here I am.
Kim’s Vietnamese Green Beans
- 1 lb green beans
- 6 cloves pressed garlic
- 1 shallot (she recommended a green onion, and to add it at the end, but I didn’t have one so I used a shallot and it turned out great)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce (I added this, its like a sweet dark Asian sauce with lots of garlic)
- a couple shakes soy
- 1 tbsp sugar (I omitted this since the hoisin sauce and the fish sauce both listed sugar in the ingredients)
- salt and pepper
Sautee garlic (and shallot of you are adding one) in HOT wok until it starts to turn yellow on the verge of crisping. Add 1/4 cup water, add green beans. Turn and cook for a few minutes.
Add fish sauce, Hoisin, soy and salt and pepper. Add lid and steam for 3-5 minutes. You’re done!
These beans have a ton of flavor and I like mine aldente- with a little crunch. I could eat them for an entire meal.
Now for the salmon- What You’ll Need:
- 1 1/2 cups chopped raw spinach
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 5 large garlic cloves
- Himalayan sea salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients in food processor. Zest the lemon, and squeeze the juice out of the entire lemon. Do not add anymore liquid. You’ll want this to be more of a paste than an actual pesto (minimal liquid on this recipe!).
It should look like this:
Now shmear that shtuff on the salmon filets (I purchased 1, both about 1/2 lb each- North Atlantic Salmon- don’t buy that farm raised shit!) And sprinkle with a bit of parmasean cheesey.
TA-DA!
Cook for 25 minutes at 375, then broil until the parm starts to turn a teensy bit cripsy, and the pesto is bubbling. (I personally like my salmon medium, to medium well. I don’t like it dried out.)
And here is the finished product- fish n’ beans y’all. I have to say it was pretty damn good for how simple and easy it was. Boyrfriend liked it too. And he’s quite the food snob. The spinach pesto formed a nice barrier in the broiler and sealed the moisture into the fish making it nice and NOT DRY. (I wont say the “m” word.”) We had left over and I’m excited to have it for my mid afternoon lunch tomorrow. The beans complimented the citrus of the salmon nicely, slightly sweet and salty. Overall, it was an awesome, FILLING and guilt free meal. I’ll be making this again!
I’d love to hear from anyone who’s tried any of my recipes. What do you think?
xoxo Kelli