sesame seared wild salmon over a bowl of quinoa, leeks, kale + broccoli

Sometimes I get caught up on coming up with unique recipes for this blog, that I get away from the real deal food I eat on a daily or weekly basis. Not today.

This meal right here is pretty much our go-to Monday night meal, especially this time of year when we're in the peak of wild salmon season. It's feel good food that is easy to make and hits all the right notes of flavor and health to makes this one of my favorite at home. A great dinner for just the two of us.

Since I post mostly vegan and vegetarian recipes on this blog, I thought twice about posting a seafood recipe here, but this blog is really all about overall health, and wild salmon is one of the healthiest foods on the planet.  

Wild salmon is so good for you. You know this. Loaded with Omega3's, wild salmon is straight up food for your brain. When looking for salmon, the only word you need to look for is WILD. None of this organic farmed salmon. There simply is no such thing as "organic" salmon.   

I am pretty picky about my seafood, just like I am my produce and most other things I eat and prepare. I eat salmon because of all of the health benefits, but I stay away from many other types of seafood, especially farmed seafood and deep water fish that contain high levels of mercury. 

It's all about being a conscience eater and knowing exactly where your food comes from before it makes it's way back to your kitchen. 

 

For my vegan and vegetarian friends, you can make this as a warm quinoa salad and omit the salmon all together. On days I cannot find a good piece of wild salmon, that's what I do. I am kind of addicted to the ginger sesame dressing that goes over this dish. You can put that dressing over anything and it will make it feel like a special meal.

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swiss chard + roasted garlic dumplings with a walnut sesame miso

I usually start thinking about my next meal before I've finished the current meal in front of me. Sometimes I start day dreaming about meals days or weeks ahead of time. If you're reading this, I am guessing you do the same.

This past weekend I visited one of my closest friends from college, Michal, in Switzerland. Michal and I both think about food and talk about food a lot. I knew this trip would involve some pretty great meals. And don't let those mountains in the background fool you, there was no physical activity happening on this trip ...... we didn't want anything to get in the way of our eating. 

Before my trip, I was already thinking about the food I would eat while I was there, and what I would bring with me to eat on the plane. As you might remember, I have been trying to make food for my flights, especially the longer ones. Since I don't really enjoy flying, I like to make food that will make me happy. Looking forward to a good meal is one way to take my mind off of take-offs and bumpy rides. 

Dumplings make me happy. I just love a good dumpling. I get excited when I see a dumpling, and even more excited when I eat a dumpling.

Before I made my first dumpling, I have to admit, I was intimidated (and maybe just a little lazy) to take on the task. Leave it to the experts, I thought. But let me tell you, once you start making your own dumplings, you'll never stop. It is so much easier that you would think, and this way you can come up with crazy concoctions that you would not be able to order from take out.

I bet you wouldn't find swiss chard dumplings at your local chinese food delivery place.

I love the idea of stuffing what is fresh and seasonal into a dumpling. Last fall I made some pumpkin dumplings, maybe this spring I will do some sort of pea dumpling. Right now there has been some stunning swiss chard in the markets, so I thought a fantastic dumpling combination would be swiss chard and roasted garlic, because swiss chard and roasted garlic go so well together. 

The walnut miso was inspired by my favorite cookbook of the moment: Japanese Farm Foods. That book is such an awesome source of inspiration, I am sure you will be seeing more recipes + influences from that book here. 

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sesame crusted quinoa + kale cakes

If you follow my twitter or instagram feed {or if we are real life friends - hi!} you know that I am currently in Beijing. I've been here since Wednesday and we have packed our days with as much site seeing and touring as a person {who does not particularly like site seeing} could handle. We have two more stops after this, Hong Kong + Tokyo. It's my first trip to Asia, and I am so excited I have finally made my way to the other side of the world. 

I will be sharing photos from the trip, but before I do that I wanted to share these quinoa cakes which I made so Michael and I could have a little snack of something homemade and healthy for our 13 hour flight.

If you read 101 cookbooks, you're probably familiar with Heidi's packing and plane food posts. I am not nearly as organized before a long trip as Heidi appears to be. I'm usually scrambling to pack at the very last minute or running off to the store at some ridiculous hour to buy travel size things, so cooking a meal to pack for the plane ride never crossed my mind. However, after reading Heidi's posts on how she makes and packs these delicious little snacks for long plane rides, I was totally inspired and determined to get myself organized to do it for our next long trip. 

I thought about what I would make, what would be easy to take and eat, but most of all what would be the most satisfying. Michael loves these red bean + zucchini cakes, so I knew that I should stay in that direction. Then I thought, I might as well go with Heidi all the way on this and make the quinoa patties she made recently for a trip to London. I've made them before and they were so good, I knew I would be excited to whip them out mid-flight.

I made a few tweaks, mostly being the addition of the sesame seed crust. In case you haven't noticed, I have been on a bit of a sesame seed kick recently. I cannot get enough of them. Being a sauce kind of person, I wanted something to dip these in, taking into consideration that they would not be able to be refrigerated while in-transit. A tamari based sauce was the perfect solution and compliment to these cakes. 

Thank you Heidi for the inspiration. I was not only able to get myself organized + packing slightly before the 11th hour, but Michael and I were so excited to snack on some home cooked food at 30,000ft while watching hours and hours of Mad Men + The Office. 

sesame crusted quinoa + kale cakes
(adapted from the quinoa patty recipe by Heidi Swanson of 101 cookbooks)

makes 
about 12 small cakes

ingredients

2 cups of cooked quinoa, room temperature
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
pepper
1/2 cup of kale, finely chopped
1/4 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
3 shallots, minced
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of garbanzo bean flour
1/4 - 1/2 cup of sesame seeds
2-4 tablespoons of grapseed oil, if you are frying 

tamari dipping sauce: 
2 tablespoons of tamari or low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of brown rice vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of diced green onion 

method

• Pre-heat the oven to 350º.
• In a medium bowl, combine the quinoa, eggs, salt, and pepper. Add the kale, cilantro, shallots, garlic, and cumin and stir until everything is combined.
• Then add the baking powder and the garbanzo bean flour. Stir again and set it aside for a few minutes so the moisture can absorb. 
• While the mixture is resting, make the dipping sauce. Whisk together the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 
• At this point, your mixture should hold together well. If it does not, add another egg or maybe a little more flour, but be careful not to add too much flour as you do not want the mixture to be dry. 
• Line a baking sheet with parchment and pour the sesame seeds out onto a small plate. Take about a tablespoon or two of the mixture and roll it between your palms and then flatten it out. The cakes should be about an inch or so in diameter. Press each side into the sesame seeds making sure you get a nice coating of the seeds on each side, and then place them on the baking sheet. 
• Bake for 10 minutes. While they are baking, if you are going to finish them in a pan (which I recommend) heat up a couple of tablespoons of grapeseed oil in a cast iron pan over medium high heat (do this about 3 minutes before they are done baking). If you are not going to fry the cakes, leave them in the oven for another 10 minutes until they are cooked through. 
• For frying: Make sure the oil is very hot, then place a couple of cakes in the pan. They should sizzle when they hit the pan. If the oil is not hot you might overcook the cakes and they will be dry. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, just enough to brown the cakes. Continue until all of the cakes are browned. 
• Serve warm with the tamari dipping sauce. They will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. If you are traveling with them, they will be fine in an air-tight container for 12-24 hours.