Matcha tea is my latest obsession. I love the color and the texture and I’ve been adding it to pretty much everything. Lucky for me, this month’s recipe redux challenge is cooking with tea:
Tea cups around the world are bubbling up with bold new flavors: From cardamom chai and sencha green to bubble teas and veggie teas. We wish we could attend the World Tea Expo the end of this month – but in lieu of a plane ticket, we’ll be cooking and baking and stirring up tea-inspired healthy dishes.
I immediately thought of doing a matcha smoothie but soon realized that was terribly boring and it’s been done a million times. Just type matcha smoothie into a Pinterest search and you’ll see what I mean. I decided instead to focus on something my clients ask me about all the time…new ways to cook salmon. So this tasty little salmon number is inspired by you!
Now, you might be thinking, why matcha? Well, for one it’s a little different than regular green tea because you consume the ground up whole leaf rather than an infusion of the leaves. You can see in the picture above, the tea itself is a powder. It’s also super-rich in the polyphenol EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is a potent antioxidant known for its cholesterol lowering and cancer fighting properties. The taste is unique too. It’s got a grassy, green leafy vegetable vibe.
I was really excited to test out my tea-infused salmon idea. Although I love combining salmon with nutty flavors (remember my delicious salmon lettuce wraps with pistachio cream?), this time I went with pumpkin seeds. I think this combination is just as delish. I started by blending just the pumpkin seeds and matcha tea. Then I added a bit of almond meal for texture, and my go-to Herbamare seasoning for flavor. I felt like it still needed a little something, so I tossed in bit of Parmesan cheese. Oh yes, this mixture is some serious good eats!
You can substitute the Herbamare for any sea salt seasoning blend, but I think the Fish and Seafood Blend has great flavor. I always season my fish with it. I got it at Wegman’s I think, but you can always find it online. The best part about this recipe is that from start to finish it took only about 20 minutes. So simple and satisfying…and of course, healthy.
I hope you’ll give it a try!
Matcha & Pumpkin Seed Crusted Salmon
Ingredients
- 2-3 fillets salmon
- 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 1 tsp matcha green tea powder
- 1/2 cup almond meal/flour
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
- 1/2 tsp Herbamare Fish and Seafood blend
- juice from 1/2 a lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In your blender or food processor, process the pumpkin seeds and the matcha until seeds are chopped. Add almond meal and seasoning salt and process for a few seconds. Then add Parmesan cheese and process for a few seconds. The texture should be like very coarse sand.
- Place salmon fillets onto glass baking sheet. Squirt lemon juice over fillets. Season with a bit of salt if you want. Place matcha-pumpkin seed mixture onto salmon fillets. Roast for 15 minutes or until cooked to your liking.
