Spiced Salmon & Cabbage

EarthFare had another salmon coupon this week, so obviously we took advantage. We decided to look for another recipe to try and Will came across with an interesting spice combo of coriander, cumin, cloves and nutmeg. All sound good in individual combinations, but together they sounded more intriguing than a normal spice combo. We also had some leftover cabbage still, so we decided to cook that up with the salmon along with some Israeli couscous. For this meal, I was put in charge of the cabbage (easy peezy lemon squeezy, as my piano students like to say) and Will was in charge of the salmon. Needless to say, he should've have cut our huge salmon piece into halves or quarters before cooking it, because it took forever to turn pink and we left it fairly rare. So it was not our best effort at cooking salmon. However, we loved the spice combo, so next time EF does a salmon coupon, we're going to try this recipe again and cut it before cooking it.

Cooking Notes for Salmon: We halved the recipe for the salmon because we only had a 1-lb. fillet that we were splitting between two people. We also used ghee instead of peanut oil, since it is a type of clarified butter. Our edited recipe is included below.

Four-Spice Salmon (adapted from The New York Times Diner's Journal; serves 2)
2 6-oz. skinned salmon fillets
Salt & fresh ground pepper
1/2 tbsp coriander seeds or ground coriander
1/8 tsp whole or ground cloves
3/4 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tbsp ghee

Season fillets on both sides (or one if you leave the skin on like us) with S&P. If necessary, combine spices and grind them to a coarse powder in a coffee or spice grinder. Press some of the mixture on the top of each fillet. Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the oil or butter and when shimmery, place the fillets, coated side down, in the pan. Cook about 2-3 minutes or until spice mixture forms a nicely browned crust. Turn the fillets and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until salmon just slightly resists when pierced with a thin-bladed knife.

Recipe: NY Times: Four-Spice Salmon

Cooking Notes for Cabbage: We only used about 1/4 head of cabbage, so you can just kind of toss in how much butter you need. I'll include the "full" recipe here, but really, it's up to you to judge what you need to do.

Simple Cabbage Saute (adapted from Budget Bytes; serves however many people necessary)
1 head cabbage
2 tbsp butter
Salt & pepper, to taste

Remove any wilted outside leaves from the head of cabbage. Cut the cabbage in half. Remove the core by cutting diagonally and removing a "cone" shaped chunk surrounding the core. Cut each half in half again, lengthwise to yield four wedges. Lay the wedges down and slice horizontally into thin strips.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When the butter is hot and bubbly, add the cabbage. Add about 1 tsp of salt and approximately 10 cranks of black pepper. Continue to cook and stir until the cabbage is tender but still has a little bite to it, approximately 4-6 minutes. The leaves should still be bright green-you don't want them to turn brown because that will yield mushy cabbage.

Recipe: Budget Bytes: Simple Cabbage Saute