Cooking Class - Gone Fishin

On Monday night I attended a cooking glass at Green Lake Nutrition.  It is the 4th one I've attended and it has been worth every penny each time.  The instructor Adriane Angarano is full of knowledge on healthy eating and why it doesn't have to be tasteless!  She has introduced me to things like miso, amaranth, acorn squash and much more more.  I'm sure my wallet as suffered a bit as a result of some fancy ingredients but it has been fun trying to re-create the recipes at home.

Last night we cooked fish four ways that included halibut, trout, cod and salmon along with two cabbage salads.  I thought I would share the two recipes that were my favorite, the salmon and one of the cabbage salads.  They were both super easy and offer a new way to cook salmon and make a salad.

 Nori-Wrapped Wasabi Salmon

The salmon with herb spread and then wrapped up in nori, otherwise known as seaweed.  Sounds weird, tastes delicious...adds a great salty component.

Salmon out of the oven in it's tasty nori pouch!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2-4 servings

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped herbs: any combo of thyme, basil, garlic, parsley, and mint
Salt and pepper
2 - 8oz wild salmon fillets
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon wasabi powder
2 sheets nori (can be found in asian section of most grocery stores and comes in sheets the size of paper)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Mix oil, herbs, and salt and pepper. Rub salmon with mixture.
2. Mix mustard and wasabi together.  Spread on nori (this will help make nori more pliable for folding)
3. Place salmon face down in the middle of the nori sheet and wrap like a package so fish is fully covered. 
4. Place wrapped salmon in lightly oiled baking dish.
5. Cook for 10 minutes per inch of fish.

Recipe from Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family

Cabbage Crunch Salad with Thai Basil Dressing

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
Yield: 4-5 servings

Ingredients:
1/4 medium head of green cabbage, cleaned, cored, and shredded
1 teaspoon black toasted sesame seeds (I would argue this are optional if you don't want to purchase these)
2 scallions, finely sliced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Bragg (like soy sauce but minus the alcohol)
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped basil leaves
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or parley (I'm a cilantro hater, so I'm all about the parsley)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bow, combine cabbage, sesame seeds and scallions
2. In a smaller bowl, whisk olive oil, sesame oil, Bragg's, garlic, cayenne, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper
3. Pour dressing ingredients on top of cabbage salad, mix very well.

In Lent news, I have been doing pretty well with no sweets or added sugar...except the fact that I was in Vegas over the weekend and cheated a bit, but hey "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"...right?

Question: What is your favorite type of fish to cook? Mine is definitely salmon, however, when I'm feeling fancy and have the cash I also love halibut!