Stuffed salmon

I am particularly fond of this recipe, because … well there is  really very little to do, is nice to see and is great food for everybody.

This dish has the “wow” effect that any cook would like to receive: the orange-pink colour of the cooked salmon nicely contrasts with the deep green of the leeks.

You can bring it to table in a nice serving dish and cut a slice for each one.

Please let me know if you enjoyed it as well!

 Ingredients for 4/6 people

2 x 450 grs /2 x 1 lb steaks of fresh salmon (back bone and skin removed)

2 leeks

2 stalks of celery with their leaves

100 grs / 3.5 oz  peeled pistachoes (if possible the unsalted ones)

Grains of pink pepper

2 slices of bread loaf, crust removed

Some parsley

Salt and pepper

2 spoons vegetable oil

Pre-heat your oven 180°/ 350F

Wash the leeks and gently remove the outer green leaves to obtain long stripes then boil them for 4 minutes in hot water.

Drain them in a colander and set them aside.

Wash and drain the other vegetables.

Cut the white part of the leeks into thin slices and cook them with 2 spoons of vegetable oil and a couple of spoons of water for 4-5 minutes until soft.

In a food processor,  roughly cut the celery with the leaves, the parsley, the bread, the pink pepper and the pistachoes.

Add the mixture to the cooked leeks and a small pinch of salt.

Pass a hand on both sides of your salmon pieces and remove any fishbone or scale. Remove the skin if necessary.

Yes the loughing girl half hidden is my daughter, making fun of me!

Line your baking dish with parchment paper, put the first piece of salmon on it (the part of the fish which originally had the skin on the bottom), lightly season with a little salt and pepper, put the stuffing on the fish and cover with the other piece of fish. Also in this case keep the part where the skin was outside.

Put the stripes of boiled green leeks on the fish and close them under it; brush some oil on the leeks and put the baking dish it in the pre-heated oven 180° C  350 °F for 25 minutes.

Take it out from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes and put it on a serving dish.

Cut into slices and serve

Serve with steamed potatoes or boiled vegetables.

Wine: I would say a cold Chardonnay. But please feel free to suggest any other wine.

Spaghetti with grilled vegetables

During the last Argilla (a great ceramic fair in Faenza) I literally fell in love with these beautiful dishes. They are also very cunning for children and for my foreign friends, who find difficult to roll long pasta on the fork. (of course I am breaking my pasta!) No spoon is needed and no fuss, just elegance and good manners.

I thought that the very best way to use them for the first time was to prepare this colourful spaghetti recipe, very light and very tasty, with lots of healthy grilled vegetables. It takes quite a bit to grill the vegetable but you can do it in advance and cook the spaghetti at the very last minute.

You can use any type of grilling methods. I used the most basic grill, but just now I realise that I could do in half the time using my electric one!

Ingredients for 4

3 marrows

3 eggplants

4 red tomatoes

2 yellow sweet peppers

400 grs/ 0.88 lb spaghetti

4 cloves garlic

6 spoons extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
Salt

4-6 basil leaves

How to:

  1) Wash, clean and slice the marrows and eggplants: 1 eggplant and 1 marrow should be cut into round slices, while the other 2 of them should be cut into thin stripes.

   

2) Wash and slice the sweet peppers in long stripes

     

      3) Grill all the above mentioned vegetables: the marrows and the sweet peppers should remain crunchy; season all with salt and sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil in order not to let them dry too much.

 

4) For the sauce, in a large pan warm up 4-6 table spoons evoo and add the garlic cloves, let it cook until golden. In a food processor, process the basil leaves with 1 teaspoon olive oil.

     5) In the meanwhile wash the tomatoes, cut into pieces, salt them and put them in a colander to make them loose part of their water.

   

6) Pour the tomatoes in the pan with the garlic and let it cook for 5-7 minutes to taste. Adjust salt. Add the round slices of vegetables to the sauce and the processed basil leaves.

7) Decorate the side of your dishes with the stripes of grilled vegetables.

8) Cook your spaghetti in a large pan of salted running water (10 grs salt each/liter) and drain them well in a colander. Always remember to follow the cooking time on the packaging! 

9) Pour the pasta in the pan and let them saute for few seconds, stirring well until they absorb part of the sauce.

10)  I used a ring to better display the spaghetti, but obviously they will not keep the shape! Garnish with fresh basil leaves.

11)  Serve immediately with a glass of cold dry white wine.

Intrigued by these beautiful red dishes? Contact me! italy.food.and@gmail.com