Prepare yourself. Might be one of my most fav food pics I’ve taken!
If that pic doesn’t make you want to eat this you might be blind.
What you see above isn’t even the completed dish, but it certainly could be a meal on its own! (All that’s missing from the recipe is the salmon on top.) If you’re fan of plant-based/vegan food, eat your heart out! (Just sub your favorite liquid sweetener in for the 1 teaspoon honey that’s in the balsamic dressing.)
Today’s recipe has a special place in my heart. If you’ve been following the blog, you know that I majored in dietetics in college but it wasn’t until seven years AFTER college that I pursued dietetics as a career. (A little more about that here.) Like anything else worth having, it’s been a lot of change (like jobs), transition (moving to another state for the 4th time), and work (the internship is basically going back to school full-time). When I think back to the time I decided to shake up our lives with this new plan of becoming a registered dietitian, it was almost two years ago. I remember it clearly. I even reached out to my fellow collegiate dietetics buddy Rachel from Delicious Balance for advice that day. So to be here, after taking so many risks is hard to describe. The LAST project (of many, many projects) I completed for my dietetic internship was to make a healthy AND tasty meal to serve up in the hospital cafeteria. Not to mention calculating nutrition facts, cost, profit, sales, scaling a recipe to serve mass quantities, ordering, prepping, and serving. This was the recipe I chose to serve.
I was so tickled to see my hubby show up at the hospital in the middle of the work day on his lunchtime to have my dish.
It looks a little different above in a to-go container, no?
The inspiration for the dish started back in January when my mom, sister and I had a rare occasion when we were all free at the same time. From three different states, we picked a destination we’d all never been before and met up in Miami, Florida. It was JUST what I needed at the time. Being with them was a huge pick-me-up, not to mention the beach, sun, and pool in the dead of winter. Yes please.
We had an amazing salad at our hotel for lunch one day. It was grilled halloumi cheese on a quinoa salad over frisée and mixed greens with radishes and cucumbers. As soon as I came back from this trip I had my meeting at the hospital with the head chef to conceptualize the dish. We knew I wouldn’t be serving it until summer and that it would be offered at the station that typically serves a healthy salad or just a healthy option in general. My original idea was a “summer spa salad” – a light, refreshing, healthy salad. Through planning, it eventually morphed into this dish.
I could not think of any other name for this quinoa salad other than Intern Quinoa Salad. Dan and I tossed around more names over this dish than you want to know about! When it comes down to it, I will never be able to think about it without thinking immediately of being “the dietetic intern”. It’s my Intern Quinoa Salad, plain and simple. Some customers got just a bowl of the quinoa salad at lunch that day! You could certainly just make it as a stand alone dish on its own.
Here are some tips for pan searing the salmon. I like to take the salmon out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before I cook. I like it to have come to room temperature before cooking it. If it’s ice cold the outside might overcook by the time the center is heated through. Also when searing it’s important that your fish isn’t wet at all. First, when the moisture hits the oil it will spatter. Second, too much water on the fish just evaporates in the heat making steam. If you steam your fish, you won’t get that excellent crusty sear. I take a paper towel and pat dry the flesh of the salmon. Because salt draws out water, I wait to season the fish (liberally) with salt and pepper until just before I’m adding them to the pan.
I used a stainless steel pan, but I’m sure non-stick would work as well. I heat the pan over medium/ medium-low heat (or a 4 out of 10 on my gas stove). With salmon, the color of the flesh goes from a sort of translucent darker color to more opaque lighter color as it cooks. I wait until it looks cooked about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the pan and then I flip. It took me about 6-7 minutes to get that with the salmon I cooked here. The photo below shows what the salmon looked like just before I flipped it.
After flipping, I let it go for about 2-3 more minutes then took it off the heat.
For being a home cook not a trained chef by any means, it was perfect. Crunchy, crusty top with a soft tender interior. I’m pretty sure that white line you see along the top means my heat was a little too hot and the fat started to come to the exterior. So maybe I could have done a 3/10 on my heat instead of 4/10 and cooked it a little longer? But honestly, it does NOT have to be technically perfect. I’m telling you if you’re a home cook too and you make this at home and it turns out anything like the picture you will impress yourself and your guests. No one will be the wiser!
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon each salt and ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- ¼ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup shelled frozen edamame, thawed/ cooked according to the package
- ½ cup sliced green onion (about 3 each)
- 3 tablespoons fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons Balsamic Dressing (above)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- (2) 4-6 oz pieces of salmon
- salt and pepper
- ½ cup diced English cucumber
- ½ cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 3-4 cups spring mix greens
- In a small liquid mixing bowl, whisk together all the Balsamic Dressing ingredients. Set aside.
- For the quinoa, add the olive oil to a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the dry quinoa and stir occasionally until it's lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Carefully add the water (it will spatter a bit when it hits the hot oil) and ¼ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn down to a simmer for 15 minutes until tender.
- While the quinoa is cooking, to a medium mixing bowl add the pecans, cranberries, edamame, green onion, parsley, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, black pepper and 3 tablespoons of the Balsamic Dressing. Once the quinoa is cooked, add it also and stir to combine. Set aside.
- For the salmon, heat a skillet over medium-low heat (I use 4 out of 10 on my range). Pat the flesh side of your salmon dry with a paper towel then season liberally with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil to the pan and place the salmon in, flesh side down. Cook 5-7 minutes (and don't move it!). Flip and cook 2 minutes on the other side then remove from the heat.
- To plate, divide the greens among two plates. Garnish with the tomatoes and cucumbers. Drizzle with your desired amount of the remaining Balsamic Dressing. Top with quinoa salad and salmon.
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