Salmon Andre-style

Almost a month without a new post...that's due to the Christmas preparations, my sister visiting me and then the holidays. So I'm coming back with an every-day recipe, something that I make very often and thought I should share with you: It's salmon with a twist.

My friend Andre had prepared salmon for dinner when I visited him and Evi in Porto. Salmon was not my favourite fish even though I love fish and seafood in general. But this one was prepared with Andre's vinaigrette which makes the salmon taste less "fishy" and oily so I have been using this recipe ever since whenever I make salmon - which is pretty much once a week! So, credits to Andre for this!

Ingredients for two:

2 salmon fillets

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

oregano or any dried herbs (such as parsley, tarragon etc)

1 bag green beans, trimmed

2 tbsp sesame seeds

olive oil and vinegar 

-Prepare the vinaigrette: Mix the 2 tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and oregano or herbs. 

-Place the salmon fillets on a baking tray/dish and cover with the vinaigrette. Add the crushed garlic cloves and place in the oven for about 15 minutes (depends on the oven too) covered with aluminium foil so that it doesn't get too dry. Towards the end, uncover and leave for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven.

-Place the sesame seeds under the grill for 5-10 minutes and toast them.

-In the meantime, bring 2 litres of water to a boil and add the green beans for just 3 minutes. They should not be raw, bust should still have a green vivid colour and be crunchy.

-To serve, place the salmon fillets on the serving plates, add some beans and sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the beans. Add olive oil and vinegar to the salmon according to your taste. Very healthy!

I am now trying to decide what to make for New Year's Eve when all my family will sit together for dinner and the most likely of choices is a Boeuf Bourguignon. I need to see which recipe to use though as I've only made a quick one in the past and this has to be the long and hard one - with 18 hours of marinade and 4 hours of cooking. I'm between the Julia Child recipe and a traditional French one (not that the Julia Child one isn't traditional) and it's very likely that I will do a mix of both.

Will post recipes of all the delicious food I've eaten during the holidays soon including my grandma's turkey and yummy stuffing!!

Have a great start into 2011!!