Salmon: It's What's for Dinner

I mentioned before that Carey and I are making an effort to increase our intake of omega 3s, and there probably isn't a better way to do just that than by eating salmon regularly. Tonight we were in a bit of a hurry so I did a simple baked fillet with a healthy slaw dressed in a dijon dressing and whole grain brown and red rice with barley and rye.

The salmon we have, as you can see, is absolutely beautiful and really doesn't require a lot added flavor. I just brushed on some EV olive oil and added kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, some thinly sliced lemon and fresh flat-leaf parsley. I let it sit while I assembled the slaw and started the rice. When the rice had 10 minutes left to cook, I popped the salmon into a 450 degree oven and voila! Dinner was served.

When I was grocery shopping I picked up a head of purple cabbage knowing that I'd be assembling a slaw of some sort this week. Cabbage has tons of health benefits and of course eating it raw is best so that the nutrients aren't cooked out. The process for the slaw was as follows:

• Core one Granny Smith apple and julienne (match-sticks), toss with some lemon juice and a little honey in a large mixing bowl
• Shred one carrot, season with salt and pepper and add to bowl
• Shred one half of a head of red/purple cabbage, add to bowl
• Thinly slice a few green onions, add to bowl and toss mixture to combine

In a separate bowl, mix dressing as follows:

• Good amount of dijon mustard in mixing bowl
• Add the juice and zest of one lemon
• Add a drizzle of honey
• Add some apple cider vinegar
• Add a bit of canola or vegetable oil (extra virgin olive oil lends too much flavor to a dressing like this)
  
• Add kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and some cayenne pepper; whisk to combine
• Toss dressing with the cabbage/apple/carrot mixture and let macerate in the fridge for 15 minutes or so. DON'T FORGET TO TASTE AND SEASON AS NECESSARY BEFORE SERVING!

We both thought that the salmon actually took a back seat to the slaw as far as flavor goes. The contrasting textures between the rice, slaw and salmon all played well off of each other and I must admit, for a 30 minute meal it was pretty good.

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." -Luciano Pavarotti