Poached Salmon with Creamy Leeks

This recipe has all the heaviness you want in comfort food and all the lightness you'd like for a healthy meal.  Soft poached salmon and buttery leeks makes for a perfect one pot meal that goes very nicely with white wine.

What you'll need:

2 bunches leeks (pick ones with the most white-green ratio because you'll be using only the white parts)

1/4 cup half and half or light whipped cream

1 shallot

1 cup chicken stock (plus a little bit more if your leeks need it)

1 salmon fillet for each person (about 4 oz per person)

olive oil, salt, pepper

Cut the leeks on a bias up to the green, and toss the dark green tough parts.  Run the leeks under cold water and left them soak for a while.  Leeks are really dirty so you'll want to let them soak for a bit to get all the grime out.

Heat up some olive oil on medium heat and place the salmon skin down on the pan.  You want the skin as crispy as possible but you are going to cook the fish later so don't cook it all the way through.  Remove the fish to a plate as soon as the skin is cooked.

Roughly chop the shallot and saute in a few tablespoons of olive oil in the same pan until translucent and everything smells delicious.  Then, put all the leeks in with the shallots and saute until a bit caramelized. You may need to add a little bit more of olive oil at this point if the pan is dry. 

Put a cup of chicken stock in with the leeks and let it all simmer on low heat.  

When the chicken stock has mostly reduced, taste the leeks.  They should be soft and buttery.  If they're not, add a bit more stock and allow to reduce, repeating until leeks are the proper consistency.  Add cream and salt and pepper to taste.  

Gently place the salmon filets on top of the leeks and cover the pan for 3 minutes.  Check the salmon to make sure its done to your liking.  3 minutes cooked the salmon almost all the way through, leaving the fish moist and flaky.

Serve immediately with some crusty bread and wine!

Enjoy!

**As a side note, the creamy leeks are delicious on their own and can be used as a pasta sauce.  Toss the leeks with some fresh linguine and top with grated parmesan--yum!

Fish Tacos

Recently, I've been on a Mexican food binge.  I can't seem to get enough of it, especially the real delicious kind of Mexican food with hot sauces, vibrant flavors and cheap bills.  What's caught my eye especially though are fish tacos.  I tried them for the first time a few weeks ago and they strike me as the perfect meal--softness, crunchiness, meaty and flexitarian-friendly goodness.  I am obsessed with them!  So, obviously, I tried to make my own version of them after visiting Fairway for the first time ever.  (Yes, I live within a 15 minute walk and I hadn't made it there since I moved in!)

The tacos I dreamed of had a few components:

small tortillas

carmelized onions (1 large white onion)

guacamole (2 avocados and a few cherry tomatoes)

a white flaky fish (2 Tilapia filets+salt, pepper, chili powder, lime)

Slaw (green cabbage+shaved carrots, sriracha, light mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper)

Cheese (your choice!)

I like to load up my tacos but feel free to leave any of those components out.

Slaw: cut the green cabbage very thinly and shave some carrots into a bowl.  Add in mayo, sriracha, salt, pepper and lime juice to your level of creaminess and spiciness.

Next, the easiest guac you'll ever make!  I bought 2 really ripe avocados and mashed them up with a fork.  I washed and cut up cherry tomatoes into fourths for "delicious treasures of juicy goodness in the guacamole."  Salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste!

I wasn't able to get a good pic of the caramelized onions but just cut a yellow onion into strips and let it simmer in a pot with a little olive oil and sugar while you're cooking everything else.  Stir occasionally so the onion doesn't burn.

Last but not least, FISH: I've been really afraid of cooking fish.  I'm not sure why--maybe because I didn't really eat cooked fish for a long time but regardless of the reason, I have never bought or cooked fish from a grocery store before.  This all changed with the sweet, flaky, CHEAP (2 fillets for $6!) Tilapia I bought from fairway.

I covered the fillets with salt, pepper, lime juice and chili powder and put them in a large skillet.  I cooked them until they were opaque and flipped them over once.

YUM.

Assemble your tacos!!

Ahhh I forgot one thing--Oaxaca cheese.  I saw this at fairway and snatched it up.  It's a Mexican cheese that tastes kind of like mozzarella and is described as "melting cheese."  I put it on top of the tortillas as I heated them up in a pan and it added just the right touch of saltiness.

Enjoy!