Eye for a Recipe

Need to get a healthy supper on the table in 20 minutes? Try this pan-seared salmon and salad recipe from Food and Wine. Sear the salmon in a skillet and, while it is resting, sauté cherry or grape tomatoes and a sliced shallot. Toss the warm veggies with the arugula and a lemon-mustard dressing and dinner is ready. This recipe would work well with other types of fish, such as halibut. If you don’t use arugula, use a sturdy green that won’t wilt too much when the warm vegetables are added, such as spinach or kale.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

For the dressing be sure to use fresh lemon juice, as the concentrates contain artificial ingredients. Look for a Dijon without white wine and sulfites, such as PC Old-Fashioned Dijon.

This receipe doesn't use many ingredients

Sear the salmon in a non-stick pan, such as a cast-iron skillet

While the salmon rests, saute the tomatoes and shallots

Toss the warm vegetables and dressing with the arugula

Dinner's ready!

Ingredients:

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Four 6-ounce salmon fillets with skin

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium shallot, halved and thinly sliced

5 ounces baby arugula (6 packed cups)

¼ cup thinly sliced basil leaves

Preparation:

In a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the lemon juice and mustard and season with salt and pepper.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Cook the salmon skin side down over moderately high heat until the skin is very crisp and golden, about 5 minutes. Flip the fillets and cook until opaque in the center, about 4 minutes. Transfer the salmon to plates, skin side up. Pour off the oil in the skillet.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. Add the tomatoes and shallot and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the arugula with the basil, dressing, tomatoes and shallots. Mound the salad beside the salmon and serve. Serves 4.

From Food and Wine magazine

Happy Chinese New Year! We celebrated with this delicious one-pot, Asian-style chicken and rice dish from Lucy Waverman. It is a combination of skinless, boneless chicken thighs (my favourite), shiitake mushrooms, fragrant rice and spicy citrus-mint sauce. I’ll be making this again.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Soy sauce, chicken broth, sriracha and fish sauce can contain additives, colour and MSG. Try tamari, which is preserved with alcohol, and an all-natural stock like Imagine brand. I haven’t been able to find all-natural sriracha, so I used Tabasco sauce. You can find fish sauce without additives; I am currently using Cock brand, which contains anchovies, salt and sugar.

Make the spicy citrus sauce first, to allow the flavours to blend

Marinate the chicken for a few minutes

Brown the chicken well, then set aside

Saute the shiitakes

Bring rice, liquid, chicken to a boil

Add the peas during the last 10 minutes of cooking

Asian-style chicken and rice

Ingredients:

Chicken

500 grams (1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced in half

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 large shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, cut in half

Rice

1 1/2 cups Thai jasmine rice, rinsed

2 cups chicken broth or water

1 teaspoon sriracha (Asian chili sauce)

1/2 cup green peas

1/2 cup finely chopped green onions

1 tablespoon chopped mint or coriander

Spicy citrus sauce

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon sriracha sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp brown sugar

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Preparation:

To make the spicy citrus sauce, combine the ginger, sriracha sauce, fish sauce and water. Stir in lemon juice, lime juice, brown sugar and fresh mint. Let sit for one hour before serving. The sauce should be served in a sauce boat so diners can drizzle it over their food as desired.

Place chicken thighs in bowl. Combine shallots, ginger and garlic in separate bowl. Toss chicken with half of this mixture and all of the soy sauce and sugar.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over a medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade, season with salt and pepper and add to pan. Fry 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden-brown but not cooked through. Remove from pan, add mushrooms and sauté 1 minute or until softened.

Season mushrooms with salt and pepper and set aside. To prepare the rice, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the remaining shallot mixture and sauté for 30 seconds. Stir in the rice, chicken broth (or water) and sriracha. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and place chicken pieces and mushrooms over the rice. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Scatter in peas and cook, covered, until both rice and chicken are cooked (about 7 to 10 minutes longer). Spoon into a serving bowl or serve from the pot. Garnish with green onions and mint or coriander. If there is a layer of rice that is slightly browned and sticking to the pot, this is considered a delicacy. Serves 4.

By Lucy Waverman

If you are trying to eat more fish, try this very quick and easy recipe using one of my favourite types of fish—branzino. Branzino is a mild-flavoured white fish, also known as European sea bass. It is delicious grilled or steamed (whole), fried or baked. I couldn’t get branzino the day I made this recipe, so I bought trout fillets, which were excellent. In this recipe from the February 2013 issue of Food and Wine, the fish is simply pan-fried and topped with a sweet-and-sour sauce, which takes only a few minutes to make. Add steamed rice and a green vegetable, and dinner is on the table in 30 minutes.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use an all-natural stock such as Imagine brand and tamari instead of soy sauce. Marukan rice vinegar has no artificial ingredients and neither does Heinz ketchup. Check the label on the Chinese cooking wine or substitute sherry. I have never been able to find an all-natural chile-garlic sauce, so I used Tabasco hot sauce.

It only takes a few minutes to make the sweet-and-sour sauce.

Quickly pan-fry the fish; the skin should be crispy

Top the fish with the sweet-and-sour sauce and serve

Ingredients:

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon Shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine) or sherry

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce

3 tablespoons canola oil

1½ tablespoons minced peeled ginger

2 large garlic cloves, minced

Four 4- to 5-ounce branzino, striped bass or trout fillets

2 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias

Steamed rice, for serving

Preparation:

In a small bowl, whisk the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, wine, cornstarch and chile sauce. In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the ginger and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, just until fragrant, 1 minute. Whisk the sauce ingredients, then add them to the pan. Simmer until the sauce is thickened and glossy, 5 minutes. Keep warm over low heat.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the fish, skin side down, and press lightly with a spatula to sear the skin for 10 seconds for each fillet. Cook undisturbed over high heat until the fillets are browned and crispy at the edges and just barely opaque on top, about 5 minutes. Flip the fish and cook just until cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Transfer the fish skin side up to plates. Spoon the sauce on top, garnish with the scallions and serve with rice. Serves four. The sweet-and-sour sauce can be refrigerated overnight.

From the February 2013 issue of Food and Wine

Warmly spiced and hearty, this is a perfect supper for a cold winter night. It’s even good for you, as it is low in fat and contains chickpeas and spinach. Brown bone-in chicken legs, brown some onions, combine spices, broth and chicken and braise for less than an hour. You can refrigerate the chicken at this point if you want to make this recipe in advance, or you can finish it by adding the spinach and yogurt.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use butter that contains only cream and spices that have no colour or anti-caking agents added. Make sure the chickpeas do not contain additives – try PC Blue Menu brand. I use Imagine Organic chicken stock and Astro Original brand Balkan-style yogurt.

Brown the chicken legs well

Brown the onions

After braising the chicken, remove it to a plate and then add the spinach, which will wilt

Indian-spiced chicken with chickpeas and spinach

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

6 bone-in chicken legs (thigh and drumstick), skin removed

Kosher salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 large onions, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 ½ tablespoons grated peeled ginger

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed

2 cups (or more) low-sodium chicken broth

5 ounces baby spinach (about 8 lightly packed cups)

¼ cup Greek yogurt

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves with tender stems

Preparation:

Place a rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 325°. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt. Working in batches, cook chicken, reducing heat as needed to prevent over-browning, until golden brown on all sides, 8-10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Add butter and onions to drippings in pot; season with salt. Cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and golden brown, 10-15 minutes.

Stir in garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, until spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in chickpeas and 2 cups broth. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pot. Add more broth if needed to cover chicken about three-fourths of the way up. Bring to a simmer. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Braise chicken until fork-tender, 45-55 minutes. Do ahead: Chicken can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool slightly, then chill, uncovered, until cold. Cover and keep chilled. Rewarm before continuing.

Using tongs and a slotted spoon, transfer chicken to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Add spinach to pot, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand until spinach is wilted, 5-7 minutes.

Stir yogurt into cooking liquid. Season with salt. Return chicken to pot. Warm over low heat (do not boil or yogurt may curdle).

Transfer chicken to a large deep platter. Pour spinach and chickpea sauce over. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serves 6.

From the January 2013 issue of Bon Appetit

Mussels are inexpensive, they cook in five minutes and they taste great – so they are perfect for a weeknight meal. In this recipe from the February 2013 issue of Bon Appetit, tomato sauce, white kidney beans and mussels are combined with cooked pasta to create satisfying meal that is ready in about 30 minutes. When using mussels, be sure to discard any raw mussels with broken or cracked shells and any that don’t fully close when you tap them with your finger. Don’t eat any cooked mussels from shells that don’t fully open.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Butter, canned tomatoes and white kidney beans may contain colour, additives or preservatives. Use a butter that has only cream as an ingredient, canned tomatoes with only salt added and canned kidney beans with no preservatives; I used PC Blue Menu brand.

Remove any stringy "beards" from the raw mussels and discard any that are broken or don't close when tapped

Brown garlic and hot pepper flakes

White kidney beans are also known as cannellini beans

Spaghetti with mussels and white beans

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling

4 garlic cloves, chopped

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

1 pound spaghetti

Kosher salt

1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed

1 cup dry white wine

2 pounds mussels, scrubbed, debearded

¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preparation:

Heat butter and 2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes with juices, crushing tomatoes lightly with your hands. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring often, until sauce thickens, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 ½ cups pasta cooking liquid.

Add beans and wine to sauce. Cook, stirring often, until wine has almost evapor-ated, about 4 minutes. Add mussels and ¼ cup pasta cooking liquid. Cover; cook, stir-ring occasionally, until mussels open, about 4 minutes (discard any that do not open).

Add pasta and ¼ cup pasta cooking liquid to mussels and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium and continue stirring, adding more cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta. Divide among bowls. Drizzle with oil; garnish with parsley. Serves 6.

From the February 2013 issue of Bon Appetit

Roast chicken is our favourite Sunday dinner comfort food. I’m always looking for the “perfect” roast chicken, so I recently tried Julia Child’s classic recipe. It’s a little more labour intensive than most recipes, because you must turn the chicken from one side to another to cook and brown it evenly. But the results are well worth it. The chicken is juicy and the skin is brown and crisp. Served with roasted root vegetables, it’s comfort food at its best.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use butter that contains a single ingredient: cream. If you are making the gravy, use an all natural chicken stock, such as Imagine brand low-sodium broth.

Rub chicken with butter and place in shallow roasting pan

After five minutes, flip the chicken onto its left side

Flip the chicken from side to side to roast and brown it evenly

For the last 15 minutes or so, roast the chicken breast side up

Julia Child's Roast Chicken, served with roasted vegetables

Ingredients:

3-pound whole roasting or frying chicken

¾ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons softened butter

1 small sliced carrot

1 small sliced onion

1 tablespoon good cooking oil

½ tablespoon minced shallots or ½ tablespoon green onion

1 cup brown chicken stock, canned chicken broth or 1 cup beef bouillon

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with ¼ teaspoon salt and smear in half the butter.

Truss the chicken and dry it thoroughly. Rub the skin with the rest of the butter.

In a small saucepan melt 2 tablespoons butter, and add 1 tablespoon cooking oil. Set aside for basting.

Place the chicken, breast up, in a shallow roasting pan. Strew the vegetables around it and set it on the rack in the middle of the preheated oven.

Allow the chicken to brown lightly for 15 minutes, turning it on the left side after 5 minutes, on the right side for the last 5 minutes, and basting it with the butter and oil after each turn. Baste rapidly so the oven does not cool off.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Leave the chicken on its side and baste every 8 to 10 minutes using the fat in the roasting pan when the butter and oil are exhausted.

Halfway through estimated roasting time (about 40 minutes), salt the chicken with ¼ teaspoon of salt and turn it on its other side. Continue basting.

Fifteen minutes before the end of the estimated roasting time, salt again and turn the chicken breast up. Continue basting.

When chicken is done, discard trussing strings and set chicken on hot platter. It should sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before being carved so the juices are absorbed by the meat.

Chicken is done when it registers between 175 and 190 degrees, depending on preferred doneness.

Remove all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan. Stir in the minced shallot and cook slowly for 1 minute. Add the stock and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping up juices with a wooden spoon and letting it reduce to about ½ cup. Season with salt and pepper. Off heat and just before serving, swirl in the last 1-2 tablespoons butter.  Pour a spoonful over chicken and serve the remainder at the table from a sauceboat. Serves 4.

From Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Black cod, also known as sablefish, is a cold-water fish that is showing up in many recipes these days because of its white flesh, delicate texture and sweet taste. If you can find it, try it in this recipe. You can also use halibut, which is not as high in fat. The preparation of the fish in this recipe is straightforward; the interesting ingredients are reserved for the Swiss chard. You boil a whole lemon for a half hour until it is tender, then chop the pulp, peel and pith. The chopped lemon is combined with chopped black olives and the mixture is added to the sautéed chard. It’s an unusual flavour mix, but it works very well with the oily fish. This is also a very nutritious, low-fat recipe, with only 220 calories per serving.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

The only thing to watch out for in this recipe are the olives. Look for olives cured in oil without any additives or preservatives.

Season black cod or halibut with ground spices

Boil a whole lemon for 30 minutes; a plate on top will keep it submerged

Scoop the flesh out of the boiled lemon

Chop the lemon pulp, skin and pith and combine with chopped black olives

It looks like a lot of Swiss chard

But it quickly reduces to this

Meanwhile, quickly pan fry the fish

Add the lemon-olive mixture to the Swiss chard and serve with the fish

Ingredients:

1 lemon, stem removed

¼ teaspoon coriander seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 4-ounce pieces skin-on black cod fillet

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, chopped

¼ teaspoon (or more) crushed red pepper flakes

2 large bunches Swiss chard (about 1 ½ pound total), ribs and stems removed, leaves torn

2 tablespoons oil-cured black olives, pitted, sliced

Preparation:

Place lemon in a small saucepan; add water just to cover. Place a small heatproof plate inside the saucepan, on top of the lemon, to keep it submerged. Bring water to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until lemon is very tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Drain. Cut lemon in half (to help cool faster); let cool.

Scoop out pulp from both lemon halves and press pulp through a coarse-mesh sieve into a small bowl; discard solids. Finely chop peel and pith and add to pulp. Set aside.

Toast coriander and cumin seeds in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until slightly darkened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

Coarsely grind coriander and cumin seeds in spice mill or with mortar and pestle. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Season fish with spice mixture, salt, and pepper; place skin side down in skillet. Cook until browned and crisp, 5-6 minutes. Turn; cook until just opaque in the center, 2-4 minutes more.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chard by the handful, tossing and allowing it to wilt slightly between additions. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until all chard is tender, 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

Mix olives and reserved lemon mixture into chard. Season with salt, pepper, and more crushed red pepper flakes, if desired. Serve fish with chard. Serves 4.

From the January 2013 issue of Bon Appetit

You can make this pork noodle stir fry from the January 2013 issue of Canadian Living as mild or spicy as you like. Once you start cooking, the stir-fry is done in less than 15 minutes, so be sure to have all your ingredients ready to go before you begin. I whirred a pork tenderloin around in my food processor instead of buying pre-ground pork, and that worked very well. I also sliced my own cabbage, instead of buying coleslaw mix. You could add any vegetables you have on hand to this dish.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives:

Soy sauce, chili garlic paste, rice vinegar and sesame oil can contain artificial ingredients. Instead of soy sauce, try tamari, which is preserved with alcohol instead of sodium benzoate. I used Tabasco brand hot sauce instead of chili garlic paste. Marukan light seasoned rice vinegar and Eden toasted sesame oil are both additive free.

Soak rice stick in hot water and drain

Assemble all your ingredients before starting to cook

Brown the ground pork

Stir fry the mushrooms and vegetables

Add the noodles and sauce

Spicy Pork Noodle Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

4 oz (113 g) rice stick vermicelli, (about 1/8 inch/3 mm wide)

2 tbsp (30 mL) sodium-reduced soy sauce

2 tsp (10 mL) chili garlic paste, (such as sambal oelek)

1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar

1 tsp (5 mL) sesame oil

1 pinch salt

8 oz (227 g) lean ground pork

1 tsp (5 mL) vegetable oil

1 cup (250 mL) sliced shiitake mushrooms

1 cup (250 mL) coleslaw mix

½ cup (125 mL) snow peas, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp (45 mL) chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

Preparation:

In large bowl, soak vermicelli in warm water until softened and separated, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, whisk together soy sauce, chili paste, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, salt and 2/3 cup (150 mL) water; set aside.

In wok or large skillet over medium-high heat, cook pork, stirring occasionally and breaking up with back of wooden spoon, until browned, about 5 minutes. With slotted spoon, remove pork to plate. Drain and set aside.

Wipe wok clean and return to heat. Add vegetable oil and mushrooms; cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add coleslaw mix, snow peas, green onions and garlic; stir-fry for 2 minutes.

Stir in soy sauce mixture and noodles, tossing to combine; stir-fry until tender, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with peanuts.

From the January 2013 issue of Canadian Living

Now that you’ve had your fill of holiday turkey, ham and prime rib (not to mention time spent in the kitchen) here’s a recipe from Fast Flavours for lamb chops that is ready is about 20 minutes. Sear the chops, and while they are resting, quickly sauté peppers, onions, lemon and mint to create a tasty salsa. I served this with a salad of garlic roasted potatoes and warm spinach.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

The only ingredient to be careful of in this recipe is the hot sauce, which can contain preservatives and colour. I use Tabasco brand original hot sauce, which is all-natural.

Sear lamb chops for 4 or 5 minutes per side

Quickly saute peppers and onions with lemon juice and mint

Top the chops with the salsa and serve

Ingredients:

A splash or two of vegetable oil

4 lamb chops, patted dry

2 red bell peppers, seeded and finely diced

1 small red onion, sliced

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 cup (250 mL) chopped fresh mint

½ tsp (2 mL) salt

½ tsp (2 mL) hot sauce

Preparation:

Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add the lamb chops. Sear the first side until browned and crusty, 4 to 5 minutes. Adjust the heat so that the chops sizzle but don’t smoke.

Flip the chops and sear the other side, adding oil as needed. Remove pan from heat, transfer chops to plate and cover loosely with foil.

Return the pan to the heat and add the peppers and onions. Saute, stirring, until the vegetables soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice, mint, salt and hot sauce. Saute just enough to heat through, 1 or 2 minutes. Top the chops with the warm salsa and serve. Serves 2.

From Fast Flavours by Chef Michael Smith