Healing Lifestyles & Spas

Balancing Acts

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Balancing Acts

One of the keys is to keeping our complex lives from getting away from us lies in the art of striking a balance, we need balances between our public and personal time; in our time alone and time with others; and in our time to travel and time for staying home. And it is always apparent when things aren’t in balance because we aren’t either.

Eating well also involves finding ways to strike a balance, say, between lean foods and rich ones, raw and cooked, hot and cold, and even color. An all-white meal is not a balanced one, nor is one where everything is baked in the oven or all the dishes are complex. There should be little peaks and valleys in a menu, even a simple one, that provoke and then calm our excitement, tease then satisfy. Balance in a menu isn’t about achieving some flat state, but about presenting a series of distinctions that keep us interested and engaged. Actually, balance in food is about contrast.

This little menu, for example, reads one thing, spring, note that is achieved through contrasts. The season’s new wild salmon is pink-fleshed, tender, and almost buttery. Since it is simply steamed, these qualities come through with great purity. Its bed of crisp, pale fennel (in contrast to the buttery flesh of the fish) is flecked with a lemony-laced salsa verde. The room temperature salsa verde is also spooned more generously over the hot fish. The heat of the fish brings out the sauce’s aromas and just slightly softens the fennel. Herbs, lemon, salmon, and fennel come together in each interesting, but harmonious, bite.

For dessert, the season’s first strawberries (or even frozen ones) are sugared and spooned over chilled and perfectly smooth ricotta custards. They make a bright, contrasting note to the cheesecake-like custards. Spring is a wonderful time of year to find balance in your meals. Below is this simple spring dinner for four.

Salmon with Fennel and Salsa Verde

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 small shallot, diced (about 2 teaspoons)
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 to 4 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 tbs. fennel greens, finely chopped
1 tbs. snipped chives
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
2 tbs. small capers, rinsed
4 very small trimmed fennel bulbs (stalks removed)
4 4-ounce pieces of salmon filets, about 3/4 inch thick at the center, skin removed

Preparation

To prepare the salsa verde: Put the diced shallot in a small bowl with the lemon zest and 3 teaspoons of the lemon juice. Set aside while you chop the parsley leaves and fennel greens. Add them to the shallots along with the chives, olive oil, salt and capers. Give a stir. Taste and add the extra lemon juice if you want more acidity, and more salt if needed.

To prepare the fennel: Remove any tough outer leaves of the fennel bulbs, or simply run a peeler over them to get rid of any tough fibers. Then slice the fennel as thinly as possible by hand or, if you have one, on a mandolin. Ideally the fennel should be paper-thin. When sliced, toss with two tablespoons of the salsa verde and season it with salt, to taste.

To prepare the salmon: Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Open a steaming basket wide and set it over a wide pot of simmering water. Cut a piece of parchment paper for each slice of salmon and lightly oil it. Set a piece of fish on each piece of paper and place on the steaming rack. Bring water to a boil, cover the pan, and steam until done but still moist and orange at the center, 9 to 10 minutes.

To serve: Divide the fennel salad among four places. Place it in the center of each plate and then spread it out so that it isn’t in a clump. Place a piece of the steamed salmon, minus the parchment paper, over the fennel. Spoon the remaining salsa verde over the salmon, and serve.

Ricotta Custards with Strawberries

Makes 6 small custards (two to have later)

This takes literally seconds to assemble and about an hour to bake.
They can be served warm, room temperature or even chilled.

Ingredients

1 lb. ricotta cheese, whole milk or low fat
1 cup creme fraiche, sour cream or fromage blanc
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup white sugar or equivalent stevia
2 tbs. flour
1 pint ripe strawberries
light brown or maple sugar, to taste

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter six 1/2-cup ramekins. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Combine the ricotta, creme fraiche, egg, vanilla, sugar, and flour in a food processor and process until completely smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides, then process again for 30 seconds. Divide the batter among the buttered ramekins, and then place them in a baking dish. Pour hot water into the baking dish to come up an inch around the sides. Bake in the center of the oven until the tops are pale gold and the custards are pulling away from the sides of the dish, about 11/4 hours, slightly less if using a convection oven. Cool to room temperature or chill.

An hour or so before serving put the berries in a colander and quickly rinse them. Set them on a clean towel or paper towel and blot dry. Remove the stems and the leaves, or calyx with a pairing knife, and then slice the berries thinly. If they are very small, garden berries you might prefer to quarter them instead. Sprinkle a little sugar over the fruit. Big commercial berries will need more than real, ripe berries from the garden so sugar accordingly. Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve the dessert.

Serve turned out onto a plate and surrounded with the berries, or in their ramekins, with the berries spooned right on top.

By Deborah Madison

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