Chickpea Crepes With Smoked Salmon

Apparently I'm on a bit of a crepe kick. Probably because they are the only vaguely bread like food I can have on this elimination diet. 

This time I went savory with chickpea flour crepes, pesto, and smoked salmon.  The fella and I were both really surprised by how delicious I was able to make these while still keeping them hypoallergenic.  The crepes themselves were ridiculously easy and a nice compliment to the salmon.  The pesto which I used pumpkin seeds in instead of pine nuts rounded out the flavors nicely.  Best of all this recipe is totally weight loss phase friendly for the French Diet.  Since it involves bean flour you can put whatever you're in the mood for in these.  So go crazy!

Since I'm only cooking really simple foods that don't usually require any sort of recipe I'm going to try to stop neglecting this blog so badly and just post pictures of my food to prove that I really am eating well while on such a restrictive diet.  We'll see how long I can keep up that promise.

Chickpea Crepes 

1 cups chickpea flour (easily found in Indian groceries)

1 1/4 cups water

dash of salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Whisk together all ingredients.  Heat a large non stick pan over medium heat.  When hot, spray with cooking spray and drop 1/4 cup of the crepe mix into the pan, quickly sliding around  the pan to spread out the crepe as thin as possible.  Cook for 30 seconds.  Flip and cook for 90 seconds on the other side.  Repeat with the rest of the crepe batter.

I topped my chickpea crepes with a handful of spinach, a slice of avocado, some sprouts, a drizzle of pesto, and a couple pieces of smoked salmon.  This would also be amazing with cream cheese or creme fraiche, smoked salmon, watercress, and cucumber.  (Someone eat that version and tell me all about it since I will never be able to.)

Lemongrass Steamed Fish

Over on the other blog I write for I've been blathering about how much I love Asian markets and all the crazy ingredients that are to be found there.  Last week I wrote about all the crazy things I bought on my last trip through the Asian groceries of Madison and today I posted a delicious and easy soup recipe that I used to combine all the things I bought.   Now Tom Yum Kung soup is one of my favorite things to make. It seems complicated but it comes together super easily.

The only problem with a recipe like that and all the specialty ingredients is you are inevitably stuck with left over bits of things you have no idea what to do with.  Like lemongrass tends to come in big bunches but each recipe only calls for one stalk, so what to do with the rest?  Or you managed to track down lime leaves and galangal and they were kind of expensive so you don't want the rest to just rot, now what?

Steamed fish is the perfect solution.  Gather all the left over bits of Asian oddities and pile them on fish, wrap them up in parchment and you have an easy but creative dish that will save those stalks of lemongrass from going to waste.  It isn't pretty but it's very tasty and with just enough spice to be exciting.

Lemon Grass Steamed Fish

2 fillets of swordfish or other meaty fish

2 dried red chili peppers, chopped

2 limes, zested

4 thin slices of galangal (or ginger)

2 stalked lemon grass, bashed up with the edge of a knife and cut into 2 inch lengths

1/2 cup sake or white wine

2 dashes of fish sauce

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut two pieces of parchment paper a bit larger than your pieces of fish.  Pat dry each fish fillet and season with salt and pepper on both sides before putting each piece of fish on a square of parchment.  

Sprinkle the top of each piece of fish with chili pepper, lime zest, galangal and lemongrass.  Now comes the interesting part.  Using string or staples gather together the parchment so that the fish is wrapped up like a present with just a small opening at the top of the packet.  When the fish is secured in the parchment, carefully pour 1/4 cup of sake into each wrapped up piece of fish.  Then drizzle in just a little bit of fish sauce to each fish packet.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a knife stuck into the fish meets little resistance.  Be careful unwrapping the fish so that you don't get burnt by the steam.  

Modified from an idea in Suzanne Pirret's The Pleasure is All Mine.

Swordfish and Olive Pasta

The fella and I were both extremely wary of this meal as we were cooking it.  Fish plus pasta seemed curious and had a likelihood to not be as tasty together as the two delicious bits are separate.  In this case the genius of the recipe won out over our doubts.  Not only is it a very yummy recipe it is also very easy.  The meaty texture of the broiled fish contrasted nicely with the pasta which then covered with the salty bits of caper and olive made a nicely balanced meal.  This recipe is going into our rotation of quick filling things to make when I don't feel like cooking.

Swordfish and Olive Pasta

6 ounces of swordfish
2/3 cup black olives, finely chopped
salt and pepper
6 ounces curly pasta (gluten free rice rice pasta works well)
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
4 tablespoons capers
1/ 2 starchy water reserved from boiling pasta
fresh parsley

Line broiler rack with aluminum wrap, rub on a little oil, set fish on top and broil 4 minutes on one side.  Turn the fish, top with olives and broil 2 or 3 minutes longer.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop in the pasta.  While it cooked, saute shallot and garlic in the olive oil over low heat until they are soft, don't let them brown.  Add the herb de Provence and capers.  Slice the swordfish in thin strips and spoon the olives into the shallot mixture.

When the pasta is al dente, drain it, reserving 1/ 2 cup of the cooking water and mix the pasta in with the swordfish,adding pasta water a little bit at a time as needed to moisten the pasta in order to make a few tablespoons of sauce to cover the pasta.

Salt and pepper the dish.  Toss one last time and top with parsley to serve.

From Judith Jones' The Tenth Muse.

Fish Steamed Over Vegetables

While pouring a very interesting albeit not very enjoyable tasting of red wines from the Languedoc (they have a tendency to smell like a barnyard in the summer, not my idea of delicious) I got into a conversation about wine pairings with one of the tasters on a subject that I've never much thought about.  She was talking about  having just gotten into wine and how she's working on cellaring some wine.  However she is both a pescetarian (a vegetarian that also eats fish) and a lover of big red wines who was trying to come to terms with the fact she would never be able to pair all these great reds with an equally great meal.

I guess the whole "red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat" rule of thumb has become a bit too entrenched in the minds of starter winos.  And I say, rules?  Who needs them.  Do what you like.  If you're in the mood for fish and a red wine don't let the guy at the wine store who insists pinot gris is the only good wine to drink with white fish get in your way.  Of course a Cabernet and tilapia in a lemony sauce is going to be a little weird.  However pinot noir with a hefty fish like salmon is amazing.

So the other night when the fella and I were making this outstanding fish steamed over vegetables I tested out the red wine with white meat with good results.  The smooth, light bodied Castle Rock Pinot Noir from Geyserville, California had the right balance of gentle tannins and berry and stone fruit flavors to compliment the halibut steaks.  The steamed eggplant with the rich thyme and stewed tomatoes gave the fish enough heft that it could stand up to the Pinot.

Tada a red wine to pair with white fish.  It can be done.  And the recipe itself has the makings of a new favorite.  It was as easy as chopping up some vegetables and stirring it every once in a while.  And I can't believe I never thought of simply steaming fish over top of the veggies at the end, so much easier and waistline friendly than pan frying the fish.  Not to mention this is an excellent recipe to use, subbing in whatever random produce you have in the fridge.

Fish Steamed Over Vegetables

3 tablespoons oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

2 medium zucchini, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 medium pepper (any color), cut into inch pieces

2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/2 cup black olives

1 1/2 pounds white fish steaks (we used halibut)

1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped

Put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large deep skillet with a lid, over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft.

Add the zucchini, eggplant, pepper and a but more salt and pepper to the pan,  Lower the hear to keep veggies from burning and cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 to 15 minutes or until eggplant is soft. 

Add the tomatoes, thyme and olives, cook stirring occasionally until the tomatoes begin to break up and create a sauce, or about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper then place flesh side down over the pile of vegetables.  Adjust the heat so that the sauce simmers then cover pan and cook from anywhere between 5 to 12 minutes or until a knife inserted to the thickest part of the fish meets little resistance.  Thin fish will be done in 5 minutes, my medium thick fish took 8 minutes.

Spoon a portion of the veggies to a plate then top with fillet of fish.  Sprinkle with a bit of fresh basil.

Original recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. 

Whole Baked Trout with Fennel

This is a great meal to use should you need to impress someone without having the time to put tons of effort in to it.  Because nothing says "fancy" like serving someone a whole fish.  It seems complicated and complex but in actuality couldn't be easier.  Of course if you're squeamish about whole fish or know someone who is this probably isn't for you.

The fella surprised me by making this for dinner one night when we were having a friend over.  We were both quiet impressed and blown away by the presentation.  And this is a great way to prepare fish, it comes out at a perfect level of doneness so that is is flaky but very moist and flavorful.  The next time we made this dish I helped prepare it and realized just how easy it is to make and became an even bigger fan of this meal.

You can use any whole white fish, herbs and veggies you like.  This is just what we've come up with.  If you have any other combinations you find that you like let me know.

Whole Baked Trout with Fennel

3 tablespoons oil

2 whole trout, gutted

1 bulb fennel

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 lemon, sliced

salt and pepper, to taste

Grease the bottom of a baking dish large enough to fit the fish using the oil.  Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the fish and place into dish.

Cut the fronds off of the fennel bulb and put half of the fronds into the cavity of each fish.  Cut the fennel bulb into 1/2 inch thick chunks and scatter around the bottom of the dish around the trout.  Salt and pepper the fennel.  Place 2 sprigs of thyme inside each fish.  Divide the slices of lemon between the fish and place in the cavities.

Place in over for 15 minutes.  Check for doneness by poking thickest part of fish with a knife, if the knife goes easily through the flesh the fish is done and ready to eat.  If the fish isn't cooked through put in for another 5 to 10 minutes at a time until it is cooked to your preferred level of doneness.

Remove fennel fronds, thyme, and lemon from inside fish and serve with roasted fennel bulb.

Salmon in Wine and Cream Sauce

This salmon is proof that everything is better with crème fraiche. Everything, I tell you.

The sauce is the only tricky part of the recipe. It takes a lot of time to reduce the liquid and get the shallots soft. Then there is the fun of forcing the juices out of the tomatoes through a mesh sieve. Which made me wonder about the things the French do in the name of sauces. There was very little to show for all the work but once the crème fraiche is added it's worth the effort seeing as the end result is a thick creamy sauce with a nice sharp tang to it from the tomatoes and white wine.

I didn't have any Muscadet just laying around so I used the driest wine I had in the wine rack. The Santa Julia Organica Torrontes is a nice balance of tart citrus and minerality that worked well in adding to the sauce. For drinking with dinner it was rather complex, neither the fella nor I could could figure out quite what was going on this wine. It had good depth for a $10 organic white to the point that we just say there saying “this reminds me of something” never able to put our taste buds on what was so familiar about it. I do know that the tartness of the wine went really well with the lemon zest on the Sesame Green Beans we made once again to go with dinner.

Salmon in Wine and Cream Sauce

4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 shallots, diced
1 1/2 cups Muscadet or dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper

3 tablespoons butter
6 center cut salmon fillets, skin removed

2/3 cup crème fraiche
1 teaspoon minced fresh chervil (I used dried parsley)
1 teaspoon minced fresh chives (I skipped these)
1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon (I used dried)

In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine tomatoes, shallots, wine, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until reduced by a third, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper to taste. In frying pan over medium high heat, melt the butter. When it foams, add salmon fillets. Sear until golden on both sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes each side.

While salmon cooks, strain the tomato mixture through a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl, pressing against the pulp to extract all the juice. )This will yield surprisingly little juice so don't be worried, if you're not picky you could just put this all in a food processor and get a chunkier stronger sauce.) Stir in the crème fraiche, seasoning to taste. Return to the saucepan over medium heat and cook until sauce thickens a bit, about 3 minutes.

Pour sauce over the salmon and sprinkle with chervil, chives, and tarragon. Serves 6 (I halved it when I made this.)

Original recipe from Savoring France by Georgeanne Brennan.

Salt with a Side of Quiche

One would think that the person writing a book about the diet named for him would have the best recipes, right? Wrong. That apparently only applies in a sane and rational world. A world were French dietitians don't try to pickle people from the inside with the saltiest meal that has ever been devised anywhere. Montignac's recipe for Salmon Quiche in his Slim Forever the French Way was a real stinker, literally. My hair still smells like fish a day later.

Quiche is yummy and simple. Salmon is delicious. Ditto blue cheese. So what could go wrong? Everything. I had two less eggs than I needed and I should have just stopped then. But the oven was already on and the fella was going to be home in a half hour so I put in slightly less cream to the mix as well and hopped for the best. Even shorting the recipe, the mixture still would not fit in the largest baking dish I had and I hadn't even sprinkled on the blue cheese yet.

So here I am with a precariously full glass baking dish trying not to spill any of the messy batter on the trip from waist high counter to knee high oven rack. Those were some of the most intense seconds in my recent baking history. Now I lingered by the oven making spinach, apple and blue cheese salads (the only good part of the meal it turned out) and waiting for the quiche to solidify enough that I could add the cheese without ending up with raw egg all over the bottom of the oven.

Problem was the entire 40 minute baking time went by and it was still a soup. I turned the oven up to 350 because 300 didn't seem like it was getting us anywhere and put the quiche soup back in for another 30 minutes. It formed a crust in that time and I tossed in the cheese and added another 10 minutes. Still raw in the middle. We eat our salads and they are splendid. The quiche is still a wet mess so I put it in for 20 more minutes. We're starving by this point.

We open a bottle of wine. I don't know what to pair with the great un-cookable quiche so we go with a bottle that the fella's super sweet San Francisco dwelling sister sent us for Christmas, a Pinot Noir from Francis Ford Coppola. Aside from the Sophia sparkling rose I haven't been blown away by anything bottled by Coppola and this was no different. It was unobjectionable to quote the fella. I agree but it had an intriguing bottle and it took the edge off the last 15 minutes we spent waiting for quiche and writing up our grocery list.



This is now the most anticipated quiche ever created and though it is a nice golden brown on the top it is still sponge-like in the center and not fully hardened. We had a dog to walk and groceries to buy we couldn't wait any longer so we sat down to eat it and I prayed against salmonella. I shoved the first ravenous bite in my mouth and instantly regretted it. It tasted like gooey salt with different colored and textured salty things in it. A great big epic fail.

The fella actually really liked so I guess it wasn't that bad, there was just no way it could live up to the level of expectation it created by taking so damn long to cook. It really needs something fresh and bright tasting in it to even out the astringency of the blue cheese and the smoky salmon. This really was just too much sodium for one dish but now the fella has something to eat for lunch for a while. He will not be fighting over who gets to take then left overs to work.

Look at it just sitting there looking all innocent and not at all like a slice of evening ruining yuck. Don't believe it, this is an evil quiche.

Salmon and Blue Cheese Quiche


1 white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (this didn't contribute anything, I would leave it out)
2 tablespoons fresh basil (need much more than this it taste it over everything else)


8 large eggs, beaten
2 cups heavy cream of creme fraiche


10 black olives, pitted and halved (would substitute with fresh tomato or green pepper)
10 ounces thin sliced smoked salmon, cut in bite sized pieces (would half this amount)
1 cup Roquefort or blue cheese, crumbled


Grease the deepest round baking dish you can find, set aside and preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat and cook onion until softened but not browned. Remove from pan into small bowl and when cool add Parmesan and basil to bowl. In large mixing bowl beat together eggs and cream or creme fraiche until very well blended. Add onion mixture to eggs along with olives, and mix well. Stir in salmon and pour egg mixture into greased pan. Sprinkle blue cheese over quiche. Bake for about 60 minutes or until top is golden brown and there is no evidence of uncooked egg.


Original recipe from Michel Montignac's Slim Forever the French Way

Not So Single Girl Salmon

Today was supposed to be the first official day of going Montignac Method but given how hard my head is taking the news about no sugar I asked the fella if we could spend the rest of the week easing into it. We also have a handful of food in the house that is sugar free but too high on on the GI to fit the diet but that I'm too thrifty to let go to waste.

Even though the official start of this insanity has been put on hold, the fella cooked our first French recipe last night for dinner. It's a dish that has been one of our favorite go to meals this winter. It is easy, filling, and delicious.

It comes from Amanda Hesser's Cooking For Mr. Latte which is really more of a diary with recipes than a cookbook and the fella mocked me when I was reading such a seemingly silly book. He changed his tune the first time I made this for him.

Hesser calls it Single Girl Salmon because it's the recipe she makes for herself as a special treat whenever her husband goes out of town. I've doubled her recipe so it will serve two, took out the sugar, and changed the name a bit.



My favorite part of this dish is the French lentils, something I had never heard about until this recipe. Hesser is good like that she also caused me to investigate crème fraiche which is now another of my favorite Ingredients. The picture doesn't do the lentils justice but they are the most incredible mottled deep blue and sea green color which is not a color we often find ourselves eating.

The first time we cooked this with regular brown lentils and it was still tasty but missing a little something special. The next time it came into rotation we made a trip to Whole Food's bulk bins and were pleasantly surprised to find the gorgeous blue lentils. I fell in love and fondled our tiny bag full of them the rest of the way through the store, not believing something this pretty could be a part of dinner. They cost a little more than regular lentils but they really make a difference. They have a slightly more solid bite to them so they hold up to the boiling and vinaigrette without going limp. Best of all they have a tangy flavor that compliments the lemon juice.

Try French lentils at least once as a treat, they're worth the effort it takes to find them.

Not So Single Girl Salmon

2/3 cup French lentils
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves

4 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 shallots, diced

2 (7 ounce) salmon fillets

Rinse lentils. Pour into small sauce pan with garlic and bay leaves. Cover with water and bring to boil. Simmer until tender. When cooked to al dente, drain lentils and pour into bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in 2 tablespoons of the oil, the lemon juice, vinegar and mix. Keep warm until salmon is finished.

In skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and shallots. Stir until soft and glazed. Remove from pan to save for later.

Over medium high heat in same skillet place salmon skin side down. Cook 1 minute or until fat starts to escape from fish (this will make sure the skin releases from the fish when you go to flip it.) Use spatula to scrape up skin from off the fish and discard skin. Flip fish and cook until heated through and crisp on both sides.

Serve by placed lentils on plate, placing salmon on top and topping with shallots. Garnish with lemon slices if desired.

Original recipe by Amanda Hesser