Quick Dinners

Quick Arroz con Mariscos with lime-pickled onions

Arroz con Mariscos
It just means rice with seafood and a whole lotta of cilantro and cumin!
Arroz con Mariscos is a popular dish of rice and seafood in Peru and also Portugal. This quick version is perfect with shrimp and/or scallops. The convenient thing about seafood is that it’s quick and simple to prepare and the juices that are released add a lot of flavor to the dish. Our local Sprouts has a ‘dealicious’ sale on both this week. Add frozen or fresh veggies to this recipe. This time I added extra cilantro (one large bunch) and some chopped spinach. The greener the better, right?!

Quick Arroz con Mariscos with lime-pickled onions

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Ingredients
  

  • 3 to 4 cups of cooked/steamed white rice long grain
  • 1 ½ to 2 lb of seafood I used defrost shrimp and scallops
  • 1 bunch of fresh cilantro chopped
  • 1 medium red/purple onion 1/2 chopped and ½ cut in thin slices
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped
  • 1 small lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon cumin powder
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • ½ tsp of oregano
  • ½ cup of chicken stock or chicken broth save another ½ cup in case rice looks dry after all ingredients are mixed
  • ½ cup of peas frozen it’s fine
  • ½ cup of diced carrots
  • ½ red yellow or green bell pepper diced
  • 3 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • “To taste” ingredients
  • salt about 1 tbsp but it depends on how salty the chicken broth you are using is
  • cayenne pepper 1 tsp

Instructions
 

  • Before starting on the “Arroz con Mariscos” marinade the thin onion slices in the lime juice and set aside.
  • On a big pan sauté diced onions on the OOil. Add bell pepper+peas+carrots or any other veggies you like (green beans, corn, etc.) Saute for a couple of minutes and add the chicken stock, lemon juice and spices (including chopped cilantro). Add the seafood and cook it for 5 minutes (Note: if you’re using frozen seafood use less chicken broth. If seafood is still frozen cooked for 8 minutes or so).
  • Taste the broth before adding the rice. It should be on the salty side. Add more salt/pepper/cumin or anything your taste buds tell you. Add the cooked rice. Make sure you gently smash the rice clusters so it will absorb the broth evenly. Add more chicken broth if the rice looks dry. The rice should look pretty moist.
  • Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving allowing the rice to absorb all the juices.
  • Serve with the marinade onions on the side.

Notes

You can add any vegetable to this recipe (green beans, lima beans and even chopped kale will taste good). I added chopped spinach on this batch. Also there’s no rule for the amount of cilantro you can use here. If you are a cilantro lover this is the time to abuse it!

30 minute Honey Sesame Baked Salmon

30 min sesame honey baked salmon

This is a family favorite and you only need 30 minutes to get it done. We try to eat fish once or twice a week. Salmon is the kids and ‘hubs’ favorite fish. I’ve made baked salmon all sort of ways, but this is the winner.

The ‘Deal’:  Sprouts has this delicious super fresh Chilean salmon for $9.99 lb. this week.

Start by placing the salmon skin side down on a baking sheet lined with foil. Wipe the fish gently with a paper towel, removing excess juices and scales. Sprinkle 1/2  tsp salt over it and let it sit while you mix the sauce. Note: I used smoked sea salt from Trader Joe’s for extra flavor and I recommend having this delicious and super salty salt handy.

Baked Sesame Honey Salmon

Make the sauce

Sesame Homey Baked Salmon ingredients

For each 1 lb. of salmon you’ll need the following ingredients for the sauce:

  • 1 tbsp Liquid Aminos or 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil (I used black sesame oil)
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder

Mix all the ingredients well and pour sauce over the salmon slowly, making sure all sides are cover.

Honey Sesame Baked Salmon 30 min

Here is the “dirty little secret” for this recipe. I added 1/2 tbsp of MAYO after fish absorbed the sauce for a couple of minutes to seal the taste and add some evilness to such a clean recipe (Mayo is optional but it tastes so much better with it. It’s only 1/2 tbsp but it’s worthy! Just sayin’)

Honey Sesame Baked Salmon 30 mi

Spread the Mayo like you mean it, until the fish is covered with a brownish homogeneous coat. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds to taste and let it bake for about 20 minutes at 400-420F. The sauce around it will burn due to the honey at high temp, but don’t panic. The salmon should be cooked through, crispy on the sides and moist in the inside.

Honey Sesame Baked Salmon 30 min

To place salmon on a serving dish, gently run a thin spatula between the fish and the skin. The salmon skin should remain stuck to the foil and the spatula should run easily under the fish.

We ate our salmon tonight with a side of jasmine brown rice and steamed broccoli but we also love it with coucous and quinoa. If you happen to have any leftover, ad it to a salad. It tastes great cold too!

Happy Healthy Eating everyone (minus the MAYO)