For An Omega-3 Fix, Try Salmon With Bok Choi & Ginger-Poached Apricots
I use the term "choy or choi" as a general catchall of the choi family, Chinese cabbages in the brassica family. This group includes bok choy, tatsoi, pak choi, and choy sum. All are cabbages that don't form heads and have broad leaves.
As cool weather-loving brassicas, they tend to turn up at farmers markets in the spring and fall. Should you not be able to find them, you can substitute other cabbages, such as napa or savoy. Wash carefully, paying special attention to the dirt that can collect at the base of the stem.
Ingredients
- 2 cups [480 ml] dry white wine
- 1 orange (about 3 oz [90 ml]), zest and juice
- 1 lemon (about 1.5 oz [45 ml]), zest and juice
- 2 in [5 cm] ginger, peeled
- 2 whole star anise pods
- 2 green cardamom pods
- 2 lb [910 g] apricots, halved and pits removed
- ¼ cup [60 ml] neutral oil
- 2 Tbsp chili flakes
- 4 salmon fillets (about 4 oz [120 g] each), skin removed
- Salt
- 4 to 6 baby bok choy (about 1½ lb [680 g])
Directions
- In a medium pot over medium heat, bring the wine, orange zest and juice, lemon zest and juice, ginger, star anise, and cardamom to a simmer. Add the apricots and poach until tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool in the poaching liquid.
- In a small frying pan, heat the neutral oil over high heat for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and add the chili flakes. Steep for 10 minutes.
- In a large pot fitted with a steamer basket, bring 3 in [7½ cm] of water to a rapid boil. Season the salmon all over with salt. Transfer carefully to the steamer basket. Steam, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the bok choy and steam for 4 minutes more.
- To serve, place a fillet of the fish on a plate next to a couple of bok choy. Top with a few poached apricot halves and drizzle all over with the chili oil.
Excerpted from Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking With Fruit by Abra Berens © 2023. Published by Chronicle Books. Photographs © EE Berger.
Abra Berens is the executive chef at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan, and the author of three cookbooks: Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Seeds, and Legumes, was named a Best Cookbook for Winter 2021 by Eater. Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables, was named a Best Cookbook for Spring 2019 by The New York Times and Bon Appetit, was a 2019 Michigan Notable Book winner, and was nominated for a James Beard Award. Her latest cookbook is Pulp: A Practical Guide To Cooking With Fruit.
Abra started her chef career at the storied Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, MI before going on to train in the garden-focused kitchen at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, Ireland. In 2009, she founded Bare Knuckle Farm in Northport, MI, where she farmed and cooked for eight years, and then returned to the kitchen full time to open Local Foods Chicago, IL. As the current executive chef at Michigan’s Granor Farm, Abra creates all of her dishes using ingredients from the restaurant’s organic farm and hosts popular one-of-kind dinner events with the goal of connecting people with the best of South West Michigan’s diverse agriculture.