SAWCLicious: Potato Salad with Sausage & Pan Fried Salmon Fillet served with Spinach & Carbonara

Since I moved to Brussels, I have been cooking or should I say experimenting a lot with food. I decided even if I'm living alone, I wanted to be able to eat good food. I had to depend on my artistic brain to prepare food I like. 

I normally don't have a recipe that I follow. I would go to the grocery, look at what's fresh, contemplate about what I can cook with it, and decides to purchase it. Yes, it is a long process and I can spend 1/2 a day in the grocery. So last week, I went to the grocery to refill my fridge coming back home from the US, I saw a very nice fillet of salmon and just had to purchase it. I initially thought I can cook Penne with Salmon and Spinach in Cream Sauce. The salmon was too fresh that I find it a waste to flake the fish. So here is what I got.

Starters: Potato Salad with Sausage

Ingredients

• Potatoes (3-4 pcs)
• Sausages (You can use Frankfurter or hotdogs. I used cocktail sausages in can.)
• sliced chives (save some for garnishing)
• 2-3 tbsp. Ricotta Cheese
• 2-3 tbsp. Mayonnaise
• Fresh Cream or Sour Cream
• 2 tbsp. Paprika 
• 1.5 - 2 tbsp. Tarragon
• Salt & Pepper

Procedures

1. Peel the potatoes and boil them. (Boiling time depends on the type of potato). Once soft, cut the potatoes according to your preference. I like the crosswise cut or quarter cut as it is nicer for presentation purposes.
2. Boil the sausages or saute in olive oil. Again it depends on your preference. Slice the sausages into bite size.
3. For the dressing, in a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, paprika, tarragon, and chives. Slowly add fresh cream or sour cream while mixing. You want to have a smoothie consistency. Add some salt and pepper. NOTE: Make sure you taste it. If too salty, add some sugar. If bland, put more salt & pepper.
4. Combine potatoes, sausages, and dressing together. Mix them using a spatula. Serve in small bowls, adding some chives and paprika as garnish.

Main: Pan Fried Salmon Fillet served with Spinach & Carbonara

Ingredients

• Salmon Fillet
• Spinach Leaves
• Olive/Corn oil
• Butter

      For the Carbonara

• 1 Onion chopped
• Bacon/ chopped ham
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tbsp. Philadelphia Cheese
• 1 small bottle Fresh Cream
• Penne Pasta around 150-200mg

Procedure

1. Saute spinach in olive oil and set aside. Don't forget to put some salt & pepper. You can put a tbsp. of butter to make it more fragrant.
2. Pre-heat over to 200 degrees Centigrade.
3. Heat a non-stick pan (should also be a pan that can be used in the oven) and add around 2-3 tbsp. of olive/corn oil. 
4. Brush the salmon fillet with salt & pepper. Then place the salmon fillet.
5. Cook for 1 minute. Then cover pan with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven for 5 minutes.
6. Once cooking is done, leave it in the oven for an additional 5 minutes. Do not slice the fillet at once.

    Carbonara

1. Cook pasta according to instructions and serving suggestion.
2. In a separate pan, heat corn oil. Saute onion and bacon together in medium heat. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolk, philadelphia cheese, and fresh cream. Once onion is transparent and bacon smells good already, put the sauce into the pan and turn it to low heat.
4. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes. Then put the pasta in the pan and mix well while in low heat.

Lastly, be creative when plating. :) Try it out & let me know your thoughts about this dish... 

Best served with white wine. I prefer a Spanish dessert wine to go with it or some Coke.

Bon Appetite!