Sometimes I get caught up on coming up with unique recipes for this blog, that I get away from the real deal food I eat on a daily or weekly basis. Not today.
This meal right here is pretty much our go-to Monday night meal, especially this time of year when we're in the peak of wild salmon season. It's feel good food that is easy to make and hits all the right notes of flavor and health to makes this one of my favorite at home. A great dinner for just the two of us.
Since I post mostly vegan and vegetarian recipes on this blog, I thought twice about posting a seafood recipe here, but this blog is really all about overall health, and wild salmon is one of the healthiest foods on the planet.
Wild salmon is so good for you. You know this. Loaded with Omega3's, wild salmon is straight up food for your brain. When looking for salmon, the only word you need to look for is WILD. None of this organic farmed salmon. There simply is no such thing as "organic" salmon.
I am pretty picky about my seafood, just like I am my produce and most other things I eat and prepare. I eat salmon because of all of the health benefits, but I stay away from many other types of seafood, especially farmed seafood and deep water fish that contain high levels of mercury.
It's all about being a conscience eater and knowing exactly where your food comes from before it makes it's way back to your kitchen.
For my vegan and vegetarian friends, you can make this as a warm quinoa salad and omit the salmon all together. On days I cannot find a good piece of wild salmon, that's what I do. I am kind of addicted to the ginger sesame dressing that goes over this dish. You can put that dressing over anything and it will make it feel like a special meal.
Gluten-free, although it might not be a new term in the world of food, it is a new term in my kitchen. With many friends and family who have become gluten-free recently, I found myself having to come up with gluten-free meals to make at home. No biggie, right?
Well, I have found this particularly tricky since, as you may know from following my blog, I avoid dairy as much as possible mainly because of dairy allergy I discovered I had about a year ago.
Bread & cheese, two of the most wonderful and easy foods to throw together. Who doesn't love bread and cheese?
People who have to live gluten and dairy free, that's who.
I always thought to myself ... okay ... I can sacrifice most of the butter and cheese as long as you don't take my bread away from me. Please.do.not.take.my.bread.away.from.me. And thankfully, I have zero sensitivity to gluten. However, I am discovering more and more that friends, and friends of friends, and family are having trouble with the gluten. So, you know what that means. Dinners and dinner parties around here are including less and less gluten. And, you know, it might not be such a bad thing.
Luckily, there are tons of great recipes and alternatives out there for doing things both gluten and dairy free.
Sometimes I just want to take a giant piece of bread and slap some soft, tangy, gooey goat cheese on top and call it a day. I had yet to find anything that really replaced that taste and gorgeous texture. I really needed to come up something that would nix that craving.
This recipe right here might be the answer.
Let me start with the "creamy" leeks. The creaminess comes from a tofu base. I know that might not sound so exciting, but hear me out. The tofu is blanched to get rid of any bean-like taste. Then a lot of other delicious seasonings are added to give it a lovely flavor. Once you throw it in with the caramelized leeks, it's heavenly.
Socca, if you're not familiar with it, is a crepe that is made with garbanzo bean flour and then baked. It is super easy to make, high in protein, and it's gluten-free.
Slap those leeks on top of the rosemary and garlic socca, place some roasted tomatoes on top, and you have one yummy, creamy, delicious, gluten-free and dairy-free snack or party-time app that everyone can eat.