Salmon lasagne

Growing up in the arctic part of Norway, I was blessed having endless access to the most gourmet fish, freshly caught from the local ocean, lake or river by my Dad. Fish was cheap, easily available and typically a fish-dish found its way to our dinner table three times per week. Since moving to Australia, I must admit that my fish-consumption has gone down the drain. One reason is that fish doesn't quite taste the same as when it's caught and prepared by my Dad. Even salmon, which I used to love, doesn't smell "quite right" and has a strange after-taste when bought in my local, suburban-Brisbane Woollies. Therefore I am so happy to have found this recipe! Thank you thank you thank you to the lovely Linn from "Sprudlende sunn blogg"who posted it on her blog some weeks ago. The secret with this recipe is that it camouflages the salmon-odor between layers of delicious spinach-sauce, bechamel-sauce and garlic. What I'm talking about is salmon lasagne. Preparing this dish once per week will make sure I up my fish-intake considerable. Well, enough blabbing, here it goes:

Fish-base

500 g  salmon fillets 

Bake the salmon fillets with some salt and pepper on 200 degrees C for around 15 minutes. Continue with the other steps while the salmon is in the oven.

Spinach-sauce:

(It's not really a sauce, but I lack a better word)

500 g frozen spinach

3 tablespoons butter

1 finely chopped red onion 

2 stems of chopped spring onion 

A pinch of salt

Mix ingredients in a pot and let simmer for a few minutes 

Lasagna-plates 

I used the recipe from my lasagne-post:http://aussie-lowcarb-living.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/lasagne.html 

Bechamel-sauce

2 heaped tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour 

500 ml full cream milk 

120 g shredded cheese 

2 gloves of garlic 

Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pot, stir in flour and add the milk little by little. When thickened, add the garlic and the cheese. 

Now is the time to admit I did something very very naughty: I used white flour....(the shock! The horror!) But I reckoned it was a  very small amount, and when I calculated the nutritional values (see below) it wasn't too bad. However,  I'd be happy to receive some tips on what can be used in stead to get that silky, bechamel-feeling.  

Combining the layers: 

Mash the baked salmon with a fork. Place about half of the salmon in a buttered oven-safe dish. 

Place a layer of the spinach-sauce on top of the fish. 

On top of that, spread about  half of the lasagne-plates. 

Cover with a layer of  the bechamel-sauce. 

Add another layer: Salmon, then spinach, then bechamel sauce and lasagne-plates.

Cover with more shredded cheese (I ended up using 90 grams). Put it into the oven and bake on 200 degrees C for around 15 minutes. Let the lasagne rest for 5 minutes before you enjoy this little piece of heaven. 

The recipe is a little bit cumbersome, but so worth spending some extra time on, as it gave the two of us dinner for 3 days (a total of six servings)The approximate nutritional values per serving is as following: 

• kcal: 430
• Carbs: 7 g
• Protein: 31 g
• Fat: 31 g

(Not bad, considering that some of the evil, white stuff found it's way into the dish)

I have amended the recipe slightly from Linn's original. 

Note to myself: Next time I make it, I'll try with a bit more fish, perhaps around 750 grams. 

Fish-bake with whiting

I used to love a typical Norwegian fish bake-dish with lots of macaroni inside and with bread crumbs on the top. Naturally, this dish is not on the menu for me any more, and I was so happy to find a recipe for a dish just as good, but healthier.  Whereas I used to find it ready-made in the freezer in my local store at home, I had to make this dish from scratch. And surprisingly, it’s not much more time-consuming than buying the ready-made dish. Changing to a low carb lifestyle meant that I had to learn how to cook from ‘’scratch’’ rather than relying on ready-made food full of preservatives and cheap ingredients. And time after time it has surprised me how easy it actually is to cook healthy, using whole foods. Coming from someone who used to be a fast-food queen and who hated spending more than 5 minutes in the kitchen, it's quite a change... Well, enough rambling on, here is the recipe:

600 g white fish (I used whiting)

2 onions

4 eggs

200 ml cream

Salt, pepper, dill, other spices to  taste

Grated cheese

Chop the onions while you boil the fish. When the fish is well-cooked, mix fish with onion in an oven-safe tray. Beat the mixture of eggs, cream and spices lightly. Pour it over the fish. Sprinkle cheese on top and put the dish in the (pre-heated ) oven. Bake on 225 degrees C for around 25 minutes.  

Voila!

Let me know if you have got any suggestions on how to spice this dish up a notch: With other vegetables or perhaps some interesting herbs. I often find that plain fish can be a bit boring, but by making a fish-bake like this I ''camouflage'' the fish with lots of good stuff, so I trick myself into eating fish more often. 

This recipe is inspired by the wonderful Lena Beatrice who has the blog  www.lenabeatrice.net Unfortunately for the English-speaking world, it's in Norwegian... But google translator is improving day by day, so it's worth trying the translator function to see if it's making any sense. 

Salmon-bake

I've found a whole lot of yummy recipes involving meat, but not so many recipes with fish. Of course, fish in itself is perfect low carb food, just bake a piece of salmon in the oven and have it with an interesting salad and some dressing. But being Scandinavian and having grown up with all kinds of fish-recipes, I was longing to make something more exciting with fish.

Then I found this gratinated salmon recipe, from the wonderful blog www.linn-sin-verden.blogspot.com
I've translated it to English:


500 grams of salmon
1/2 cauliflower
1/2 capsicum
1 onion
1 tub of Creme Fraiche
1 packet of  chopped, frozen spinach
Grated cheese
Salt, pepper and dill

Dice salmon and put in a heat-resistant tray. Add cauliflower- buquettes, chopped capsicum and chopped onion. Sprinkle on some salt, pepper and dill. Mix ingredients together. Then make a dressing of the Creme Fraiche and the spinach (defrosted), and spread it on top of the fish-and vegetable mix. Lastly, add a generous sprinkling of grated cheese on top.

Bake in the oven on 200 degrees Celsius for approximately 25 minutes.

Easy as that! This recipe is enough to make 3 dinners for me and my partner.