Well, it's my weekend to work again. That's means I need to cook all my meals in advance so that I am prepared and ready for my busy week. This week I also prepared a couple dishes for my Mom so she has paleo meals for the next few days. She wanted me to prepare the Saudi chicken dish that I found over at
PaleoMiddleEastern the other day. I also prepared an old family favorite, hamburger stew, which is very paleo friendly. I usually try to make a meal when I visit my parents just so I can
dazzle them with my culinary brilliance show them how tasty and easy paleo cooking can be. Tonight I chose to prepare a dish from
Mod Mex: Cooking Vibrant Fiesta Flavors at Home by Scott Linquist. I have quite a few Mexican cookbooks but they are all traditional cooking. Mod Mex is the only modern Mexican cookbook that I own.
I was raised on Mexican food and in the first few weeks of my Paleo life I had the most doubt about my new lifestyle whenever I thought of Mexican food. Let's face it, a taco isn't a taco without the shell. I've been hesitant to try any Mexican style cooking because it's just not going to be the same without tortillas, rice and beans. I did make a cauliflower dish a few weeks back that was a riff on Mexican rice. It turned out really well so I made it for my Mom. She was really pleased with it and said it satisfied the urge she was having for those flavors. So, I browsed through some of my cookbooks and thought I'd try a few things from Mod Mex. Mainly because they aren't the traditional dishes that I grew up with and I thought that maybe I could work my way towards trying more Mexican flavored dishes in the future.
Pepita Encrusted Salmon
2 C. of pumpkin seeds, raw
2 T. olive oil
s & p to taste
Salmon fillets, skinless
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1. Toss the seeds in the oil and season to taste with the salt and pepper.
2. Toast in a skillet until they are lightly brown and starting to become crisp. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Once the seeds have cooled slightly add them to a food processor and pulse until they are coarsely ground.
4. Dip the fillets in the egg wash and then dredge in the ground pepitas.
5. Cook in a hot skillet until fish is done.
* I was suppose to serve this over chili verde but I forgot to make it.
I served this with mashed rutabaga that had a few cubes of butternut squash in it and some collard greens with bacon bits and tequila soaked golden raisins.
