Dinner Tetris with seaweed, sesame & salmon
"I wish my cooking could evoke feelings of being in the forest and the ocean."
Welcome to Dinner Tetris, an advice column here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand and I dream up three dinners using those ingredients. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinner, head here.
The Cook: Nimi, she/her
Occupation: Works at a hospital
Residing in: California
Feeding: 1
Notes: Vegetarianish-with-some-fish. I wish my cooking could evoke feelings of being in the forest and the ocean.
Forever ingredients:
Proteins & dairy: coconut based yogurt, salmon
Fruits & vegetables: shiitake mushrooms, kale, peas, frozen passionfruit, mango, pineapple, frozen cherries, lemon juice, mixed berries, frozen mixed vegetables, spinach, ginger, pumpkin, purple cabbage, green beans
Pantry: nori seaweed wraps, black vinegar, rose vinegar, Irish oats, walnuts, pine nuts, black and white sesame seeds, tahini, Dutch processed cocoa powder, olive oil, avocado oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, red miso
Three land & sea dinners using Nimi’s ingredients
🍄🟫Sesame-nori stir-fry🍄🟫
Shiitake mushrooms, purple cabbage, green beans, avocado oil, salt, black vinegar, sesame seeds, nori seaweed wraps
This one’s inspired by
’s cabbage stir-fry. Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms and purple cabbage. Halve the green beans crosswise — though the vegetables you use can really be anything that sounds good. I had green cabbage, asparagus, and radishes.I’d stir-fry each vegetable individually so that they each have enough room to spread out and get a good sear. Start with the mushrooms because they need the lowest heat. Heat avocado oil in a cast-iron skillet or wok over medium, then add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden-crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Up the heat to high and add more oil. Add the green beans, season with salt, and leave undisturbed until charred underneath, 2 to 3 minutes. Toss, then leave undisturbed for another couple minutes, then toss and repeat until crisp-tender and charred all over. Transfer to the plate. Follow the same process for the cabbage.
Reduce the heat to medium, transfer all the vegetables to the skillet, and drizzle with a few teaspoons of black vinegar. Stir until the vinegar has been absorbed, then season to taste with salt and more vinegar. Top abundantly with sesame seeds and nori seaweed wraps that have been crushed or cut into bite-size pieces.
🥣Pumpkin-miso porridge🥣
Pumpkin, Irish oats, spinach, red miso, ginger, lemon juice
Inspired by Amy Chaplin’s barley and squash bowl, in a covered pot, simmer 4 cups cubed pumpkin, 1/2 cup Irish oats, and 3 cups water until very tender. Add water as needed until it resembles porridge. Add a few handfuls of spinach and stir until wilted, then stir in 2 tablespoons red miso and 1 inch of grated ginger. Add lemon juice and more ginger and miso to taste.
🫛Salmon with yogurt & peas🫛
Green beans, peas, salmon, olive oil, pine nuts, yogurt, lemon juice
This one’s inspired by Sara Jenkins’s creme fraiche salmon, With crispy-skinned salmon softened by dairy- and lemon-dressed spring vegetables.
Heat a broiler with a rack 5 or fewer inches from the heat source. Snap the green beans in half and transfer to a sheet pan. Add some shelled peas as well; if they’re frozen, no need to thaw. Pat salmon dry — this can be fillets or one big slab — and transfer to the sheet pan. Coat everything with olive oil and salt, if you have it. Arrange the fish skin side up. Broil until the green beans are blistered and the salmon flakes easily with a fork, 6 to 10 minutes. Stir the vegetables partway through to avoid burning.
Now scatter pine nuts on top of the sheet pan. Broil, watching the nuts like a hawk, until they’re toasted, really just a few seconds. Transfer the salmon to plates skin side up. To the sheet pan, add a spoonful of yogurt and a squeeze of lemon. Stir to coat the vegetables, then taste and add more yogurt and lemon until creamy and tangy. Serve alongside the fish.