Paper Chef #14: Quinoa Moai
Babies? What were you people thinking?
Oh, wait. That was us.
Seriously, we’re utterly gobsmacked by the quality and quantity of Paper Chef entries this time, and it’s going to be a full day’s adventure going through them all, just for the round-up, never mind the judging! You people are all insane. And we mean that in a loving, join usssss, be one of ussss way.
In the meantime, we’ve got our own N.E.E. (Non-Entry-Entry) to post. Now, since we’re non-competitors, we’ve allowed ourselves a wee bit of laziness. We didn’t come up with brilliant takes on “baby” ingredients, nor were any actual babies baked into our dish. Instead, we simply snagged two of the ingredients we’d featured in our Paper Chef Announcement Baby Food Photo Set: Baby Food and Baby Ruth bars.
Ahem, make that baby bok choy, and baby Yukon gold potatoes.
Chopper, always one to find ways to envelop seafood in a crust, zipped to the market for a few salmon fillets and produced this tasty dinner treat: Quinoa crusted salmon with baby bok choy, baby Yukon gold potatoes, and chipotle yogurt sauce.
Quinoa crusted salmon with baby bok choy, baby Yukon gold potatoes, and chipotle yogurt sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb salmon filet
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1/2 cup cashew butter
- 5 baby Yukon gold potatos
- 3 baby bok choy
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 4 chipotles, de-stemmed
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablesppon fresh sage, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- Kosher salt to taste
- Ground black pepper to taste
Method
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Slice potatoes into rounds and toss in a mixing bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Lay out seasoned rounds on a parchment-lined sheet-pan and place in oven. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
- While the potatoes are cooking, remove skin from the salmon filet and cut the filet into one inch strips across the grain season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Cook quinoa until tender in a one quart pot with 2 cups of salted water.
- Transfer quinoa to a mixing bowl and add cashew butter and sage; mix until combined and season with salt and pepper.
- Place a sauté pan over medium high heat and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom.
- When the oil begins to smoke, sear the salmon slivers on both sides for five seconds, then remove and allow to cool.
- When the salmon is cool enough to handle, wrap the slivers in the quinoa mixture, and arrange on another parchment-lined sheet-pan.
- Brush the crusted slivers with olive oil and place in the oven, cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is brown and crispy.
For Sauce
Place yogurt in small sauce pan over medium heat. Add whole chipotles and paprika. When the yogurt begins to simmer, transfer to a blender and puree. Season with salt to taste, and strain through a fine sieve.
Some notes on our curious dish:
The crust was crumbly, very crumby, which meant we had a limited number of plating options. Salmon medallions were out of the question, as was slicing the fillet lengthwise and standing one half up against the other. So, after various ill-fated architectural endeavors, we opted for the simple, upright, halved fillet.
Hmm… Something almost mythic about that stark statue of salmon. What is it?
Ah, yes. Now I see it:
Now, the sauce. A word about the sauce. It’s hot. I mean really hot. Yosemite Sam biscuits-are-burnin’ hot. You might want to tone it down with more yog(H)urt. Or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
Meanwhile, we’re reviewing this month’s record number of Paper Chef entries and we promise a round-up tomorrow or Friday, with judging and awards to follow soon after. (And, let me tell you, this is not going to be easy! I mean… can I trade places with an Oscar voter? Please? Please?)
January 11th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Aw, jeez. You guys.
(I was gonna say Quinoahenge, but yeah, it’s a lot Rapa Quinui.)
January 11th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Chopper does come up with the most amazing combinations. I would have to tone down the sauce because I’m a bit of a hot sauce wimp for a woman who almost lives in the southwest.
January 11th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
it looks a little bit suggestive to me.
Please do not hereafter analyse the workings of my mind.
Thank you.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
I’m with Sam on this one.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
You got me with the potatoes. Yum! And, of course, the presentation. Good job!
January 11th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
OMG!!!!!!!!!
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
i *blush* at what that quinoa crusted salmon looks like to me. probably the same as sam and syvlie. LOL!
January 11th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Mrs D, what do they think it looks like? It surely isn’t a sexual reference. Maybe Pig in a Dog-Doo Blanket? I’d eat it.
January 11th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Now, now, girls. Sometimes a quinoa encrusted salmon plinth is just a quinoa encrusted salmon plinth.
January 13th, 2006 at 3:04 am
Hello, Mrs.D and Chopper Dave!
Okay, consider this as a N.C.C. (non-comment-comment).. Haha. I like your post about messing up with food. Yeah, what’s up with always being prim and proper with the cutlery anyway?
Don’t you just love salmon?
I haven’t tried eating them with bare hands, but what d’you know, your baby niece just gave me an idea.
Take care!
January 13th, 2006 at 3:55 am
great job as always :)
I always like to see kitty kaga out and about ;)
and I think it looks soooooo suggestive ;)
January 13th, 2006 at 10:01 am
Great idea to crust the salmon with quinoa! And yes, I can see how the salmon could look like a *ahem* certain something but me, I see Fred Flintstone. Looking forward to seeing what everyone did with babies!
January 13th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Fred Flinstone works for me! :-)
We’re working on the round-up right now, so (cross fingers) it should be up by the end of the day today!
January 14th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Fred Flintstone? I see a bunny rabbit.