Salmon with Spring Vegetables & Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

  • 4 pieces of salmon – 4 oz.
  • 1 tbs. orange zest
  • 1 tbs. chopped garlic
  • 1 tbs. Italian Parsley
  • 1 cup asparagus
  • 8 small artichokes
  • 12 favas
  • ½ – 1 cup sugar snap peas
  • ½ cup sweet 100 tomatoes
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa

 

Citrus Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup citrus juice from segments
  • ¼ cup white wine vinegar
  • ½ tbs Dijon mustard
  • ½ tbs honey
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

  1. Blanch the asparagus and sugar snap peas in salted boiling water. With the asparagus you want to add to water and allow water to return to a boil removing asparagus just as it is tender when you push your finger nail into skin (I like my asparagus crunchy to eat). Place asparagus in a bowl with water and ice to stop the cooking process. When it is cooled remove it and set aside on paper towels to dry.
  2. The sugar snap peas will cook much more quickly. Remove the “string” that sometimes runs across the top of the snap pea. Use same water that you cooked the asparagus in. Bring the water to a boil, add sugar snap peas and allow to cook quickly for about 30 seconds give or take—once again I like my veggies with a snap. I immediately drop the snap peas into the ice water to chill. Remove and let dry on towel. We like to cut the peas in half or in thirds on a bias for presentation and ease of eating the salad.
  3. To use Kale, wash, spin dry and strip leaves off of the tough stem and cut into strips, or eatable pieces. I like to do this a day before we use it and then place leaves in a plastic bag with a few squeezes of citrus—in this case orange juice, seal the top of the bag and massage the leaves in the bag to break the kale down and help it become a little more tender. I let it sit overnight so it will be, in my opinion, tenderer.
  4. Fava beans are a little more time consuming to clean but worth it. Shuck the beans from the pod. You will have a bean which while edible still has to be shucked again. In this form the bean, unless very young, will be a little bitter in flavor because of the skin on the fava bean. Take your same pot of water and bring it back to a boil. Put the fava beans into the water, let boil around 20 seconds and remove from water and place into the bowl with chilled water to cool down. Remove, dry and peel or slide the bean out of the skin.
  5. For the tiny artichokes, we like to braise them in either chicken or vegie stock with white wine and fresh thyme sprigs. Cut the top of the leaves off—kind of one cut just topping the tiny choke. Peel the fibrous outer leaves. Cut them in half and toss them into a hot pan with olive oil, adding salt and fresh ground pepper, white wine, chicken stock and a couple of sprigs of thyme. Cover and put in 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes until artichoke is tender. Let cool and remove from pan.
  6. The sweet 100 tomatoes or if not available cherry tomatoes are served whole if small or cut in half if large for a small tomato.
  7. Cook Quinoa according to instructions on the bag and when done spread on a sheet pan to let cool.
  8. You can mix the salad now and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing in to salad mix to taste a little at a time we can always add but you can’t subtract. Also we sprinkle a little more dressing over salmon and around salad as a garnish.
  9. For the salmon—season with salt and pepper.
  10. Mix some orange zest, chopped garlic and chopped parsley together, and rub mixture on salmon filets.
  11. In your preheated 350-degree oven place the salmon on an oiled pan and bake uncovered until finished to your taste.
  12. Place equal portions of the salad on a plate, place salmon on top of salad and drizzle on and around salad as garnish.