White Wine Poached Salmon With Quinoa and Arugula

Isn't the title just enough to get your mouth watering?!  I came across the original recipe on Epicurious, and I have modified it below to trim down on the calories while maintaining the flavor.  

Sometimes when I come across a great looking recipe, all it takes is one esoteric ingredient that I have to hunt for to make me lose interest.  This recipe calls for harissa, a North African hot chili sauce.  Instead, you can use a generic hot sauce; in that case, you can also play with the recipe below by adding a little garlic, caraway seed, and/or coriander to get a little closer to the flavor of harissa.


Ingredients: 

1 cup white wine

4 skinless salmon fillets (3 ounces each)

1 white onion, sliced

3 sprigs thyme

1/2 cup quinoa 

1/2 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup raisins

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups arugula

Juice of 2 lemons

4 tablespoons harissa (or generic hot sauce)

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Directions: 

1.  In a large pot, boil wine and 4 cups water.

2.  Add salmon, onion and thyme. Reduce heat to simmer; poach salmon until cooked through, about 7 minutes.   Remove salmon; cool. 

3.  In another large pot, boil 4 cups water. Add quinoa and cook until tender, about 11 minutes (or according to package directions); drain.

4.  Mix quinoa, chickpeas, raisins and spices in a bowl; cool.

5.  Toss quinoa-chickpea mixture with arugula. Dress salad with lemon juice. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

6.  Divide salad and poached salmon among 4 plates. Top each salmon fillet with 1 tablespoon harissa, and garnish with cilantro.  

Makes 4 servings.  Per serving: 

• calories: 388
• fat: 12g
• protein: 24g
• carbs: 33g

Enjoy!


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