Salmon with Swiss Chard

This is perhaps my favorite fish dish in the world. It’s taken me a long time to get it on the blog, primarily because I have had a hard time getting a good photo of it. The last time I made it, I was so eager to dig into it that I forgot to take a picture until the dish was in shambles: messy, half-eaten, unappetizing. So at last I have a photo that is good enough. What’s more I’m not waiting any longer to share it with you. You will love this dish—or at least I hope so.

2 pounds Swiss chard, red or green, about 2 bunches
5 ounces pitted Kalamata black olives
1½ pounds salmon fillets, cut into serving size pieces, skin removed if you desire

Marinade (chermüla):
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon paprika or smoky sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon ground chile molido or any chile powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon salt

1. Remove the stems from the chard; save for another purpose or compost. Wash the leaves very well to remove all the dirt and cut into ½-inch strips.
2. Put it and the olives in the top of a steamer. Cover and steam over high heat for 5-10 minutes or until the chard is al dente. Remove from the heat. Take off the lid, cover with a cloth, and leave the chard to cool.
Note: You can do this step the day before you’re making the dish, preferably before trying to stuff the unwieldy bunches of chard into your fridge.
3. Combine all the ingredients in the marinade. Rub it all over the fish and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours in a cool place. Less time is fine too.
4. When you are ready to roast the fish, spread the chard and olives on the bottom of a baking dish. Place the salmon fillets on top of the chard, skin side down, surrounded by the marinade. Pour the liquid of the marinade over everything.
5. Roast at 425ºF. for about 30 minutes, checking after 25 minutes to see if the fish is done to your liking. The time depends on the thickness of the fish fillets.
6. Serve with bread to mop up the delicious sauce.

4-6 servings

Adapted from Anissa Helou’s Street Café Morocco

Meat-Stuffed Chard Rolls or Etli Pazı Sarması

Sarma or Dolma?

These are not quite the same although the names are sometimes used interchangeably. These made from Swiss Chard leaves are called sarma because they are rolled. Cabbage and vine leaves can be used in the same way and strictly speaking are also sarma but you do hear them being called dolma.  The term dolma  really refers to vegetables eg courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes, and peppers which can be hollowed out and stuffed. I associate  these with summer when those vegetables are plentiful.

I have stuffed a good many vegetables in my time and rolled a great many sigara böreği, those little cigarette-shaped börek made with white cheese and parsley, so making these was not the challenge it might have been. As with much of Turkish cooking, the preparation can be time-consuming  but the end result is always tasty!

this is how it's sold

Confession time: pazı is a new vegetable for me!  Spinach has always been my winter vegetable of choice but the attractive bright green of these leaves finally persuaded me to buy a bunch.   I was inordinately proud of myself as these sarma worked out beautifully. My husband polished off the lot leaving me wondering if he had been missing them all these years!

Ingredients for Meat-Stuffed Chard Rolls/Etli Pazı Sarması

Serves 6

2 bunches large leaf chard/pazı

300 gr minced lamb (I actually used beef)

½  cup rice

3 onions, finely chopped

4 tbsp cooking oil

4 tomatoes (2 for the stuffing, 2 for cooking in the pan)

small handful each of chopped parsley and dill

½  tsp pepper

½  tsp flaked red pepper

1 ½ tsp salt

2 cups hot water

Method

·         Cut and discard the stems of the chard leaves and then wash the leaves. In order to soften them in preparation for rolling, boil up a pan of water and put them in, a few at a time, and immediately remove and plunge into a basin of cold water. This way the bright green colour is preserved.

 

·         Take the chopped onion and cook gently in the cooking oil till soft.

·         For the stuffing:  wash and drain the rice and put into a large bowl. Add the cooked onion, mince, salt, pepper, flaked red pepper, chopped parsley and dill, plus grated tomatoes and mix together with your hands.

·         Take one chard leaf and spread it out on a hard surface. Cut out the tough central vein with a sharp knife so you have 2 halves.  Make sure the shiny side of the leaf is face-down. Place a small amount of the stuffing  on one half and roll up, folding over the ends first.  Use your fingers to roll it up tightly. 

·         Take your pan and first spread one or two more battered leaves on the bottom. Place the remaining 2 tomatoes in the middle and then arrange the sarma next to each other in layers. Pour the hot water over them and then cover with a plate (see picture).

·         Bring to the boil then lower the heat and cook for about 30 minutes.  When time is up, they can rest quite happily and be reheated if necessary. Serve with garlic yogurt and a sprinkle of flaked red pepper.

Tips

1.    If the leaf is small, cut out the vein and then overlap one half with the other half. This will make it easier to roll.

2.    There is a tendency to put too much stuffing on each half which then makes it impossible to roll. Some of the rolls will be very small but that’s fine!

3.    A friend of mine says her mother-in-law always mixed a little tomato paste/salça in the hot water at the end which sounds like a good idea.

4.    If you have a little bit of stuffing left over, roll it into walnut-sized balls and place them in the pan. They will swell up and be tiny hedgehog meatballs.

5.    These sarma are truly delicious and so authentically Turkish! But you wouldn’t want to make them for a large family unless you had a trusty helper to assist with the rolling!

afiyet olsun!

A little aside about the spelling: you may have noticed that sometimes there is a dot on the Turkish letter i and sometimes not, it’s not just me! They are two different letters and produce different sounds. İ with a dot is pronounced like the i in ‘bit’ while the dotless ı is pronounced  like the er in water (English pron). Their usage depends on vowel harmony but we won’t go into that here!  The final ‘si’  or ‘sı’ that you may have noticed on the end of some of the names of these Turkish recipes, indeed like the one above, is a kind of genitive. Just in case you were wondering!

Menu 17: Fast Pasta Dinner

Linguine with Lemon Sauce

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1½ cups heavy cream
Grated zest from 3 lemons
Lemon juice from 3 lemons
1 pound fresh linguine
OR
9 ounces dried thin spaghetti
3 tablespoons salt for the pasta water
1 teaspoon salt for the sauce or to taste
3 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or other hard cheese, freshly grated at the table

1. Put 6 quarts of water in a large pot and bring it to a boil.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, combine the butter, cream, and lemon juice over low heat in a skillet large enough to hold the pasta later on. As soon as the butter is melted, remove the skillet from the heat, cover, and set aside.
3. When the water is boiling, add 3 tablespoons salt and the pasta, stirring to prevent the pasta from sticking. Cook until tender (fresh pasta won’t take long). Drain, leaving a few drops of water clinging to the pasta so that the sauce will adhere.

4. Transfer the pasta to the skillet, off the heat, and toss to blend. Add the salt, lemon zest, and toss once more. Cover and let rest for 1 to 2 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce. Transfer to warmed shallow bowls, sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately. Pass the hunk of cheese with a microplane or a cheese grater for you and your guests to grate as desired.

3-4 servings as a main dish
Adapted from Patricia Wells’ Trattoria


Simple Sautéed Fresh Spinach or Swiss Chard

Spinach for as many as you are serving, about ¼ pound per person, depending on the serving size
OR
Swiss chard, about 1 bunch for 2 servings, stems removed, washed well, cut into ½-inch strips
Olive oil, about 1 tablespoon per serving

1. Place your spinach or chard in a non-aluminum pot big enough to hold your quantity of greens. Add 2 tablespoons of water and up to 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Cover the pan and cook on low heat. The spinach will begin to wilt and give up its water. The chard will have the washing water still clinging to it; it will also begin to wilt but more slowly than the spinach. Stir to turn the uncooked spinach or chard toward the bottom surface of the pan. Keep stirring and cooking until all the spinach is cooked. With the chard, turn the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until tender.
3. Serve immediately. You can also hold it for a short while after cooking. Rewarm gently before serving.
I never find it necessary to add salt because of the high oxalic acid in the spinach.
To add garlic, mince or press several garlic cloves into the spinach or chard at the same time as you add the water and oil.

Makes as much as you desire or your pot will hold
My own devising