salmon

Pasta Salad With Salmon, Shrimp And Pesto

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This flavorful seafood pasta salad has been a favorite in my house for many years. It’s great at any time of day, as an appetizer, lunch , dinner or as a snack in between.
(The leftovers from today will probably serve as late breakfast tomorrow morning).
The warm salmon in the salad makes all the difference. If you will serve leftovers of this, make sure you let it reach room temperature before serving, so remove from the fridge at least one hour before service to make sure that the flavors and texture can be fully appreciated.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
Whatever you do, don’t overcook the salmon !!! 😦
It should be nicely browned on the outside but still moist and flaky on the inside ! 🙂
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Pasta Salad With Salmon, Shrimp And Pesto

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: butterfly shrimp, devein, remove tails, season with kosher salt, cayenne pepper, garlic paste, lemon juice

: remove skin from salmon filets, season with kosher salt, cayenne pepper, garlic paste, lemon juice, saute in olive oil until almost done, add shrimp, saute another minute, remove from pan, break salmon into large pieces

: add pesto, white balsamic vinegar and a dash of maggi seasoning to fresh cooked pasta shells, mix, check / adjust seasoning, add grape tomatoes and seafood

: Pasta Salad With Salmon, Shrimp And Pesto

: Pasta Salad With Salmon, Shrimp And Pesto

: Pasta Salad With Salmon, Shrimp And Pesto

: Pasta Salad With Salmon, Shrimp And Pesto

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Ahlbecker Meeresfrüchte Suppe (Ahlbeck-Style Seafood Soup)

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Back when my wife Maria and I were owners of Restaurant Gildenkeller in Neubrandenburg, (in the former East Germany), one of our short weekend trips took us to the island of Usedom, which is about an hours drive by car from Neubrandenburg, where our restaurant was located.
I remember the quaint little Inn’s and the few stately, but outdated and mostly dilapidated grand hotels of better times past (before the communists took over). However, there were also a number of small, new restaurants, run with much enthusiasm and love by their newly capitalist owners, which excelled in their standards of food and service. In one such gem in the town of Ahlbeck (I forgot the name of the restaurant but not the food we ate) Maria and I had a most wonderful lunch, consisting of an delightful appetizer of “Matjes Herring” with “Pumpernickel“, a superb main course of “Ahlbecker Meeresfrüchte Suppe” and a great dessert of “Rote Grütze“.
Today I prepared the soup as I remembered it from so many years ago and it did not disappoint 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
Check the bottom of this page for “Bella’s Salmon Stew” 🙂
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Ahlbecker Meeresfrüchte Suppe

: fresh salmon, fresh cod fillet, shrimp, chopped smoked salmon, squid (replace with mussels for more authenticity)

: simmer cut fish in water seasoned with salt, white pepper and lemon juice

: when fish is almost done, add squid (or mussels) and shrimp, remove from heat, let steep another minute

: drain seafood, save the stock

: saute onions, anchovy paste and garlic paste

: add smoked salmon, saute another minute

: add a bit of a/p flour, saute another minute

: add clam juice (there is not enough flavor from the small amount of seafood in the stock)

: add the stock, simmer for 15 minutes

: add heavy cream, check / adjust seasoning

: plate the warm seafood, sprinkle with chopped parsley or dill

: ladle the hot soup over the seafood

: Ahlbecker Meeresfrüchte Suppe

: Ahlbecker Meeresfrüchte Suppe

: Ahlbecker Meeresfrüchte Suppe

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Bellas Fish Stew
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: for your four-legged friend (dog or cat), simmer the salmon trimmings in a bit of water

: Bellas Salmon Stew 🙂

: spoil her to smithereens, 🙂

: Happy Bella 🙂

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Salad Portuguese

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This beauty of a salad will conclude Week One of “Hans’ Lighter, Healthier Comfort Food” meal plan. (There will be an initial 4 week plan)
For everybody not yet interested in a bit of a healthier lifestyle, I suggest you try this salad anyway. Healthier and lighter food in my case does certainly not mean tasteless and boring. 🙂 (As is the case with so many other lifestyle food suggestions out there) 😦
Now, I understand that sardines are not everybody’s favorite seafood, but as usual, feel free to replace them with the seafood of your preference, such as shrimp, lobster, sole, salmon, clams, mussels, scallops, crab meat, etc.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
So far I have lost 12 lbs in two weeks of “Hans’ Lighter, Healthier Comfort Food” meal plan.
I feel much better, sleep much better and on top of all the benefits of living a bit more on the sensible side of life, I eat as much as I want. (Except on the two days of the week which allow me a dinner of anything I crave, although in much smaller portions).
If you want to read more about my new, very much improved lifestyle, click HERE.
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P.P.S.
ChefsOpinion will of course keep its original format, content and attitude 🙂
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Salad Portuguese

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Preparation :
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To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: dress frisee salad with mustard/honey vinaigrette, then dress cooked potato wedges, grape tomatoes, sliced onions and stuffed olives SEPERATELY inmustard/honey vinaigrette

: top frisee with sardines in tomato sauce, (PLEASE use a top notch product), sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper

: drizzle with remaining tomato sauce from can

: top with potatoes, grape tomatoes, onions and olives, sprinkle with fresh chervil or italian parsley

: Salad Portuguese

: Salad Portuguese

: Salad Portuguese

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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream

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Rigatoni rigate, smoked salmon and a creamy velouté – nearly impossible not to like this combination ! 🙂
After we have learned how to make a velouté in my last post, (click here for recipe), and hopefully have a few small containers in the freezer to use at short notice (just defrost in the microwave), wonderful dishes like this one take only a few minutes from start to finish.
The reward for this relatively small effort is a dish which oozes flavor, presentation, elegance and class 🙂 All in a mere few minutes of preparation and cooking time.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream

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Preparation :
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Heat velouté (preferably fish velouté, but seafood velouté, chicken velouté or veal velouté will be just fine), add cooking liquid from pasta if too thick

add diced smoked salmon and grated horseraddish

add diced smoked salmon and grated horseradish

add dijon mustard

simmer for one minute

add freshly cooked, al dente pasta and sliced scallions

mix well, careful not to mash-up the salmon, check seasoning

to serve, sprinkle with more diced salmon and sliced scallions

Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream

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Gravlax Dinner

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Tonight I finally got to eat the gravlax I prepared last week. What a great tasting piece of fish. Of course, what makes it perfect is the accompanying dill/mustard sauce, without which a gravlax is not complete. Many restaurants nowadays serve gravlax with all kind of fancy sauces and condiments, which might seem right if you never been to Scandinavia and had the real deal. But please believe me, making the dill / mustard sauce will take you less then five minutes and only “it” will make the dish perfect.
The ingredients for dill / mustard sauce are few and in everybody’s cup board:
Good quality mustard, white wine vinegar, kosher salt, neutral tasting oil (I used grape seed oil), sugar, fresh dill leaves only, pepper(optional), I used cayenne pepper and replaced the sugar with weisswurst senf (sweet, brown, Bavarian mustard)

Smaklig måltid! Livet är bra !
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Click here for Gravlax recipe
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Gravlax, Sour Dough Bread, Dill / Mustard Sauce

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Gravlax, Sour Dough Bread, Dill / Mustard Sauce

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Preparation :
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dijon mustard, sweet mustard, dill leaves

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mix mustards, dill, kosher salt and cayenne pepper

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slowly drizzle grapeseed oil into mustard and dill mixture until a emulsion has formed, check / adjust taste

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dill / mustard sauce

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toast bread until golden

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toasted sour dough bread

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smear bread with garlic / herb butter

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top with thinly sliced gravlax, serve with dill/ mustard sauce, lemon slices and chilled white wine

top with thinly sliced gravlax, serve with dill/ mustard sauce, lemon wedges and chilled white wine

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Gravlax, Sour Dough Bread, Dill / Mustard Sauce

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Gravlax, Sour Dough Bread, Dill / Mustard Sauce

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Gravlax, Sour Dough Bread, Dill / Mustard Sauce

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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog,
please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page. Thank you 🙂
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EASY DOES IT # 15 – Gravlax

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There are a few compelling reasons to make your own gravelax instead of buying it at a store or online:

– Price – Fresh salmon $ 15.00 per pound versus store bought gravlax at $ 40.00
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– Ease of preparation – actual preptime about 10 minutes, curing between 3 and 5 day’s
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– Total control of texture and taste of finished product
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– The joy of adding another stunner to your cooking repertoire
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My standard dry-marinade recipe is as follows :
3/5th of kosher salt, 2/5th of sugar, fresh chopped dill including stems, white pepper, lemon peel, crushed mustard seeds and dark rum.

In the variation below, I have changed the dry-marinade recipe a bit as follows:
3/5th of kosher salt, 2/5th of sugar, freeze dried dill leaves, raw garlic paste, cayenne pepper, dijon mustard, vodka.
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Mix the marinade ingredients, place half of it in a chemical reaction-free container. Top with salmon filet. Add remaining dry marinade to top of salmon. Cover airtight, place in refrigerator. Flip salmon every twelve hours. After twenty four hours, dry-marinade will have transformed into a thick brine. The salmon will be cured after two to three day’s, depending on the thickness and salt to sugar ratio in your marinade. I usually keep my salmon in the brine another one to two days, again depending on the marinade and thickness of the filet. The extra time will give me a slightly dryer and more opaque product which I prefer. This one took four day’s to be exactly the way I like it.
To serve, remove salmon and wash under running water to clean off excess brine. Slice into thin slices, accompany with dill/mustard sauce and rustic bread of your choice.
(To think, first time I prepared Gravlax was in the summer of 1973 at the Hotel Kattegat, Torekov, Sweden. Good times 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Note:
Start out the first time by following my standard recipe, the next few times experiment with the marinade and curing time until you find your own sweet spot.
Variations can be, but are not limited to, different salt/sugar ratios, different herbs, different seasonings, different liquors, different curing length’s.
Enjoy your gravlax journey !
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mise en place

Gravlax

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Preparation :
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mise en place

sprinkle top of salmon with plenty of dill leaves, mix dry-marinade ingredients

sprinkle top of salmon with plenty of dill leaves, drizzle with vodka,, mix dry-marinade ingredients

add half of the marinade to chemical-reaction-free vessel

add salmon filet, top with remaining dry-marinade, cover airtight, store in fridge for 3 – 5 days

flip salmon every twelve hours, cover again, back into fridge

4 day’s later – done, rinse under cold running water, carefull not to rinse of the dill

Gravlax

the beauty and the beast

Gravlax

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Smoked Salmon And Vodka Risotto

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I was lusting for this the whole morning, so I decided to have an early lunch today at 11.00 am.
What a great dish to celebrate a lazy Sunday with 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

saute onion and garlic in butter until fragrant

add diced smoked salmon, saute one minute

arborio rice

add rice, saute for two minutes

deglaze with vodka, season with sea salt and cayenne pepper

add vegetable stock in small quantities, just enough to barely cover the rice. Stir constantly. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes

add vegetable stock in small quantities, just enough to barely cover the rice, simmer. Stir constantly. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes

when the rice is tender but sill has a bit of a bite, add heavy cream and more diced smoked salmon. Simmer one more minute, check/adjust seasoning

sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

finish with more smoked salmon and finely sliced scallions

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

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(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
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Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

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Egg’s and smoked salmon – alway’s a winning combination in my book.
This morning I needed something that could re-vitalize me after a sleepless night, so this easy to prepare beauty was just the right thing. Three minutes of preparation, two minutes of cooking time and voilà – ready for breakfast and a movie, accompanied by a large pot of peppermint tea and a nice pork leg bone (for Bella ) 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Happy Saturday !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

Garlic bread – Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video below. ( You don’t have to watch it, just click once ) Thank you 🙂
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Breakfast Of Champions # 27 – ” Smoked Salmon Sandwich “

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You might have noticed in the past few posts when I used smoked salmon that the salmon is sliced much thicker and narrower than we usually cut it. I buy my salmon mostly at publix and while they have different quality salmon to offer, I prefer this “inferior” cut. It is cut from trimmings of the belly, which can not be sliced into the thin, wide slices we usually serve. But in my humble opinion, the texture and taste is far superior to the regular “pretty”part we usually buy.
There you have it – cheaper and better 🙂
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Breakfast Of Champions # 27 – ” Smoked Salmon Sandwich “

: Sour Dough Bread, Sautéed In Garlic Butter

: Herbed Boursin Cheese

: Salmon

: Onion Rings

: Hard Boiled Egg

: Caviar

: Diced Marinated Cucumbers

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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page. (You don’t have to watch it, just click once). Thank you 🙂
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Breakfast Of Champions # 18 Smoked Salmon

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If this breakfast doesn’t get you going, nothing ever will ! 🙂
Smoked salmon, sautéed garlic potatoes, Guacamole, onion, freshly grated horseradish with lime.

Bon Appetit ! Have A Wonderful Day !
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