Salmon Florentine

You had me at Goat Cheese

 From past blog posts, you all know that I am a huge fish fan! Salmon is one of my favourites to cook up and I make sure I buy a big enough piece that there will be delicious leftovers for lunch the next day. I was looking to make a fancier salmon for a birthday celebration and came across this Salmon Florentine recipe (http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2009/11/salmon-florentine?mbid=enws_row0326). Honestly, the ingredients list sparked my attention and I thought that it looked and sounded delicious. The recipe was easy to follow so I knew that this was worth a shot!

The recipe called for ricotta, however, I decided to be a bit of a rebel and go with a delicious goat cheese...how can anyone say no to goat cheese?! Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 2 packages (10 oz each) frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
• 4 skinless salmon fillets (6 oz each), rinsed and patted dry

Preparation was very simple!! I had my game face on while cooking this meal so here are step-by-step instructions with photos (iPhone photos...I really need to start pulling out my camera). Please note that if you decide to use frozen spinach, you need to defrost and drain it first.

Step 1:
Heat oil in a large pan and add your sliced green onion (shallots). Make sure you keep stirring the shallots for about 3 minutes or until soft.

Step 2:
Add garlic and spinach to the soften shallots and oil. Stir them until they all mix in together.

Step 3:

Add sun dried tomato pieces along with salt and black pepper. Stir everything together and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 4:

Take spinach mixture off of heat and add some goat (or ricotta) cheese to mixture. It will melt into the spinach mixture as you stir.

Step 5:

Place your salmon on top of a drizzle of olive oil in a baking dish. I squeezed some fresh lime juice on top of the salmon plus added a little lemon dill seasoning. I did not add much seasoning to the salmon, just enough to put a very fine layer on. Pile on the spinach mixture on top if your salmon and spread it so that the spinach covers the salmon. I took the rest of the goat cheese (I had purchased a small package) and sprinkled it on top of the spinach mix. I found that it makes this recipe looked finished and nothing wrong with a little extra goat cheese :p

 Step 6:
Place salmon in oven. Here is a trick to cooking fish...are you ready??!! DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN. I put my salmon into a cold oven and turned on the heat to 425 for 30-35 minutes. I have found that not preheating the oven makes the salmon taste super fresh and keeps it from drying out. I cooked a very large and thick piece of salmon, so please note that heat and cooking times will vary depending on your oven as well as the size and thickness of the salmon you are cooking. Heat and cooking times also depends on whether or not your fish is boneless or bone-in. I always buy boneless fish because I have this massive (possibly irrational) fear of choking on fish bones.

Once your salmon is ready, cut into desired piece size and then plate and enjoy!! I served my salmon with a side of honey lime shrimp (see blog post from March 15 for recipe) on rice and Caprese Salad (blog to come!!)

Rating:

Preparation: 8/10...There were very few steps in preparing this salmon recipe, however, you really need to make sure your spinach is completely defrosted and drained (if you choose to use frozen spinach). I could see the extra moisture causing some consistency issues with this dish. If you use frozen spinach, you will have to plan to make it as you will need to take out the spinach before you head off to work or school. There is a lot of chopping (shallots, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic) but they do not take long. Cooking the spinach topping is quick and easy with very little clean-up.

Taste: 9.5/10...This was almost perfection! I think next time I will add a little fresh squeezed lemon juice to the spinach topping just for a little extra taste.

Servings: 10/10...Even though this was for a dinner party, there was still left-overs for my lunch at work the next day. I actually placed a piece on top of salad with a raspberry dressing.

Out of a possible 30, this recipe was a solid 27.5!! Where it loses points is in the preparation and only because it is not a quick and delicious throw together meal due to your spinach needing to defrost and drain completely first.

Enjoy!!