Greek Salmon Lettuce Cups

Lettuce Cups or wraps are a common site in Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants around me. One of the first times I ever saw them was in the Asian Fusion restaurant P.F. Changs. Its been years since I have been to one of these and to be honest my Asian inspiration stops there! This dish uses traditional Greek flavors with a little twist. If you are trying to eat low carb, lettuce wraps can be a great invention since a single leaf of lettuce is almost no calories! I love using fresh local ingredients and when I saw this Boston lettuce at my local farmer's market the other day I decided that I had to create something fresh and healthy. I have done a few other versions of this type of dish using shrimp and crab so don't be afraid to make this your own based on the ingredients that you have handy.

What do Lettuce Cups have to do with phylo dough and grape leaves you ask? Well the connection here is in the spices that I used - garlic, parsley, oregano and lemon were my base ingredients. There are two ingredients that always makes me think Greek that I didn't include - Feta Cheese and Olives. My boyfriend only has one real food hate and that is olives so they usually aren't in the house unless I get them on takeout and while I do often use grated cheese on my pasta with seafood I didn't think that the flavors really worked in this situation. This recipe calls for about 1 lb of wild salmon (I used Coho which is a bit thinner than other types) if you can't find wild salmon or don't want to spend the money consider using another type of wild fish versus using a farmed fish. The health benefits of wild fish are greater than the farmed versions so the difference in price is absolutely worth it!

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Roasted Cauliflower and Red Lentil Curry

I love to use my Moroccan spice blend every time I roast veggies - especially cauliflower but this time I went a bit further. I decided to try my hand at a Indian flavored dish that using red lentils.  There were many recipes for dishes that were more like a stew with all the ingredients together in one pot but I decided to roast the cauliflower to maintain some of the texture of the dish. By not cooking the cauliflower in the lentil stew you have more distinct tastes and textures. Usually we don't eat to many Indian type dishes as curries are often a bit overpowering to me. In this dish  most of the ingredients retain their own flavors which is more pleasing to me. I also used some lemon to brighten up this dish.

I used chicken broth in this recipe just since we had an open container available but feel free to use water or veggie stock to make this recipe appropriate for vegetarians/vegans. If you would like to serve the dish with the roasted cauliflower I would suggest putting that in the oven before starting on the lentils - I usually roast at 400F  but feel free to use 350F if something else is in there! Just toss with some olive oil and a bit of spices into the oven for about 30-40 min depending on the size of the florets. If you aren't a cauliflower fan you could try adding rice or even a protein like grilled chicken or fish.

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Cajun Shrimp Lettuce Wraps & Salmon Ceviche

As part of the seafood extravaganza, I made quite a few dishes but these two stood out as the favorites of what I made! My original thoughts for the night included a fried shrimp po'boy but concerns over my ever expanding waist line and wanting something a bit fresher tasting over a heavy fried shrimp I kept the main idea but changed my execution. I kept the cajun spice flavors on the shrimp and the all-important creamy remoulade sauce but dropped the roll in favor of a leaf of Boston lettuce.   For my recipe, follow the link at the bottom of the post.

The salmon ceviche was my first attempt at this South American classic. While versions are served in many countries south of the border, I think that Peru is probably the most famous for it. I think that one of my first encounters with ceviche is at a restaurant in NYC called Sushi Samba which blends traditional sushi dishes with South American flavors for an exciting fusion cuisine. I took a look online to see if there was anything that matched up to what I had eaten there and serious eats had posted a recipe! I followed this recipe pretty closely but instead of making lox-like slices with the salmon I cubed it to make it easier for eating and added avocado as suggested in the comments.