Blue Corn Crusted Salmon

For my roommate, Celadon's, birthday we all went to one of her favorite restaurants: Nolita House Restaurant. It was delicious, standard American fare with a little twist. Appetizers included a generous portion of calamari and macaroni and cheese spring rolls. For the main course we had a delicious spinach and Swiss stuffed chicken served over a rice pilaf, the Nolita House cheeseburger, shrimp tacos, and a blue corn crusted salmon served "over a bed of julienned vegetables with vegetable rice pilaf & whole grain mustard sauce." This is of course the inspiration for this meal replicated at home! But first here are some pictures of the food at Nolita House. The stuffed chicken was a huge portion and had a portobello mushroom sauce on top.

Here is a picture of the salmon from the restaurant. This salmon was great, but the only problem was that there was too much mustard sauce on top so we couldn't taste the blue corn chips. Otherwise, it was cooked to perfection and the julienned vegetables were the perfect accompaniment.

For my blue corn crusted salmon, I omitted the mustard sauce in order bring out the savory flavors and crunch of the blue corn tortialla chips. I served mine over a brown rice medley with a garlicky soy succotash on the side.

Blue Corn Crusted Salmon (with soy succotash)

Ingredients:

2 salmon filets

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1/3 cup egg whites

1/3 cup crushed blue corn tortilla chips

Olive oil

For Soy Succotash:

1 cup soy beans, peeled

1 cup corn kernels

1/2 red pepper, diced

Dried chili flakes

3 tablespoons minced garlic

Olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and pat dry the salmon fillets. Coat the top with a thin layer of whole wheat flour. Using a pastry brush, brush them with the egg whites. Cover the top, over the egg whites, with the crushed blue chips, pressing to adhere.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Sear the fillets on their non-crusted side first for about 3 minutes, then carefully flip them over and sear them on their crusted side for three minutes. Transfer fillets to a glass baking dish and bake them through, about 8 to 10 minutes.

For Soy Succotash:

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and then all the vegetables, sprinkle with dried chili flakes. Saute until vegetables have softened and absorbed the garlic.