Low Fat, Low Salt, No Shrimp or Red Meat Recipes

Maryn · Apr 29, 2008

I'm still allowed to eat anything I want (but should eat less of it), while Mr. Maryn is supposed to eat low fat, low salt, little or no red meat, no shrimp, and few eggs. I had to learn to cook all over again, and it's an ongoing process.

But I've had one shining success that I make all the damned time. When you read the ingredients, you won't think it sounds good, but if you try it, you'll find it's really pretty tasty. It's also the fastest dinner I make.

SALMON WITH FRESH TOMATOES
22 minutes start to finish

1 cup uncooked long or medium grain white rice
2 cups water
1 tsp. salt (or less)
-----
2 1/2 tablespoons garlic oil (or 2 1/2 Tbsp. oil + 1/2 tsp. garlic powder)
2 (6-ounce) fillets of salmon, fresh or frozen and thawed
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon paprika to taste
2 fresh tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 bag fresh baby spinach, slashed to split any large leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon lemon juice, fresh or bottled
1/4 cup grated low-fat or fat-free Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
4 dashes hot pepper sauce

In a medium saucepan, bring salted water to a boil. Add rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 15-20 minutes, until done.

Heat the garlic oil (or regular oil to which you’ve added some garlic powder) in a skillet over medium heat. Season both sides of the salmon with salt, pepper, dill, and paprika, and cook in the hot oil 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until tender enough to break apart. Break salmon into cubes with a spatula or fork. If it has a skin, remove it now.

While the water is coming to a boil and the oil is heating, chop the tomatoes and set them aside. Dump about half the bag of baby spinach on your cutting board and slash it every 2 or 3 inches going left to right, then top to bottom, to cut up any large leaves. Sloppy is fine.

Mix the tomatoes, garlic, and lemon juice into the cubed salmon. Add the spinach. Continue cooking until salmon is easily flaked with a fork. This takes about 7-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of your salmon.

Mix the Parmesan cheese, butter, and hot pepper sauce into the skillet, and continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes, until well mixed. Serve over the cooked rice.

Notes:

Works just fine with frozen salmon that’s been thawed (or partially thawed--add a few minutes to the first step)
Great for spinach that’s wilted or too dry (pick out any rotten leaves)
Fine with tomatoes which are overripe and too soft, or kind of woody
Don't like spinach? Add 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley to the skillet when you add the tomatoes.

cray · Apr 29, 2008

sounds good, maryn

one of our favorites is salmon (broiled, grilled, whatever) with a balsamic reduction drizzled over it.

it’s good and simple –
pour a bottle of balsamic vinegar into a sauce pan and reduce it down until it is the consistency of syrup or thereabouts. smells up the house but it is very good.

i have no idea about the salt content in balsamic though.

Elodie-Caroline · Apr 29, 2008

Here's my very own recipe for Ratatouille.
I substitute carrots for aubergine, as I don't like aubergines.
This is 'also good for vegetarians.

2 large Courgettes chopped into chunks
2 large Carrots sliced thickly and then quartered
3 mixed red, yellow and green Peppers
1 large Onion, sliced and chopped int 1 ins bits
2/3 cloves chopped Garlic
1 Tin Tomatoes chopped
Tomato Puree
Salt (to taste)
Cayenne Pepper (or freshly ground black Pepper for original recipe)
1 teaspoon of Herbs De Provence
1 tblsp Vegetable oil

Warm the oil in a very large saucepan.
Then add Carrots, Courgettes, mixed Peppers and Onion into the large saucepan, fry until Onion is transparent. Add the tinned tomatoes ,squeeze in Tomato Puree to taste, add Garlic and Herbs de Provence, Salt and Cayenne Pepper to taste. Bring to boil and then simmer for around 10/15 mins until all vegetables are edible but still crunchy.

Elodie

Maryn · Apr 29, 2008

Okay, I'm not ashamed of my ignorance. I don't know what aubergine is, or courgettes, either. Does this product (vegetable?) exist in the US under another name? Or is it something readily available in Europe and exotic here, in which case the flagship Wegmans store will stock it if I act snooty enough when I ask.

Because the recipe sounds lovely, assuming they're not something yucky.

Maryn, eating carrots as we speak

Pthom · Apr 29, 2008

Courgettes are zuchinnis, aubergine is egg plant.

I'm wondering, Maryn, if Mr. Maryn isn't supposed to eat a lot of salt, why you add it to 1) the rice water, and 2) to the salmon. Rice cooks just fine without any salt, and if any of the diners need the flavour of salt, it can be added at the table. Salmon are just inately salty, living as they do for most of their lives in the ocean.

TV chefs (Emeril is the worst in this regard) use way too much salt in my opinion. There are times when adding salt during the cooking is necessary to draw out flavors, and so on, but in my experience most recipes use way too much of the stuff. And whenever a recipe says "salt to taste" it means you can just leave it out (it's not required for any chemical change in the cooking process) and those who need their food more salty can add it at the table.

I have discovered a fool-proof method of cooking rice. It isn't new or mine. I read about it in a chinese cook book. The method is as follows:

Put as much dry rice as you think you need into a fairly heavy pan with a tight fitting lid. I like to use long-grain rice for this, but it works for any type of raw rice (except that wild rice stuff). Figure the rice will at least double in bulk or maybe more, so don't fill the pan!

Wash the rice in cold water, pour off the milky water that results. Add enough fresh cold water so that the depth of the water above the level of the rice is about 2 centimeters (1 inch) or so that if you touch your index finger to the rice, the water comes up to the first joint. It doesn't matter if you're cooking 1 cup of rice or 4... this works!

Cover the pot, place it on high heat, and from now on do not lift the lid. When the pot comes to a boil (you'll know, because it'll overflow a bit), turn the heat down to simmer (the very lowest setting). Simmer until you can no longer see any steam escaping from the pot. Take the pot from the heat and, still covered, let it sit 10 minutes. DO NOT PEEK INTO THE POT!

When I first read this method, I was skeptical it would work. But it does. Every time. Regardless of the quantity of rice. I've made a quart of cooked rice and gallon of it using this method. The rice is fluffy, somewhat sticky (some of that depends on whether you use long or short rice) and oh, so very good!

Or, I suppose you could go out and buy a dedicated rice cooker, but then what do you do with that extra appliance between times?

BTW: the salmon recipe looks delicious. I'm gonna make it tonight.

Elodie-Caroline · Apr 29, 2008

Yep, Pthom is correct about the names of the vegetables, sorry that I forgot they were called different in the US

Maryn · Apr 29, 2008

Mr. Maryn isn't a heart patient, so he doesn't have to keep salt to a bare minimum. He just isn't supposed to have a lot of it. To him (and to me), rice requires it, although I often short it and don't put in the full teaspoon.

Zukes and eggplant are readily available here, so I'll try that recipe sometime soon. Thanks!

Maryn, whose dinner tonight was not so great

Low Fat, Low Salt, No Shrimp or Red Meat Recipes

Maryn

At Sea

cray

Superior Life form

Elodie-Caroline

Maryn

At Sea

Pthom

Word butcher

Elodie-Caroline

Maryn

At Sea