Tasty Paleo Salmon Recipe

Photo by Ben Toombs, Miso Studios

So I have a salmon recipe!  It’s true!  And I’ve been talking about it for years, bragging about it even.  And now it is here.  And now in a new and approved Paleo version!  I must give credit where credit is due, this is originally my mother’s recipe, I just hacked it a bit.  So, thanks mom!  This is the best way I know to cook salmon!  Of course, it is the only way I know to cook salmon.  Good thing it is quick, easy, and tasty!

Normally I make this recipe with white wine (and then have a glass or two of it with dinner), but for my recent potluck for the Seattle Paleo Life Group Meetup (also known as Western Washington Paleo Enthusiasts), I decided to take it one step more Paleo!  So here you go, for your eating pleasure…

FIRST!

Take out some sort of oven safe dish that will fit your salmon.  Get out some aluminum foil (enough to wrap your salmon in), and put your precious little wild salmon fillet or steak or what have you on the foil.  I don’t take the skin off, I was eagerly advised by the fish guy at my local market to leave it on for more flavor.  But, if you want to take it off, I suppose you could.  I’m just lazy.

Oh, yes, and start pre-heating your oven to 350!

THEN!

Pour some coconut juice – yes, juice, NOT MILK!  This may also be called coconut water.  It seems to be all the rage these days, and can be found amongst your bottled teas.  I actually went with the coconut juice + lime, to give it a little extra zest.  This is where I normally use white wine, if you would like to try that instead.

Anyway, pour it over the salmon.  Not too much is needed, I’d guess about a cup would be about right.

AND!

Photo by Ben Toombs, Miso Studios

Add your spices!  You can use dry spices if you like.  This time I went all fancy for my guests, and bought some fresh organic herbs.  I just broke up some dill, thyme, and italian parsley, and sprinkled it liberally over the fillet.  I also tossed on a little bit of sea salt, I’d say about a table spoon for that large of a fillet, less for a salmon steak.

NOW!

Wrap it up and put it in the oven!  To wrap it, just bring the opposite sides of the tinfoil together and fold them over.  You don’t need to close it tightly, just enough to seal the fish in, so that it can cook in all those lovely herbs & juices.

Put it in the oven for about 8 to 15 minutes, maybe even 20 depending on how big your fish is.   I peak in every now and again to see how its doing; you don’t want to over cook it (as I used to) because it loses a lot of its flavor.  Once it looks almost done, but still a little raw, I open up the tinfoil for the last 3-5 minutes.

It’s done when it’s lost its transparency, and flakes easily with a fork.

FINALLY!

Pull it out and serve it up!  The liquid can be left behind, it isn’t a sauce, just something to make the salmon nice & moist.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 slices thick cut bacon
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill leaves
• 6 ounces smoked salmon
• 1 cup arugula, divided
• 2 large or 3 medium tomatoes, sliced

Directions

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and drain on paper towels.

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon zest, lemon juice, and fresh dill. Spread the lemon mayonnaise over 1 side of each slice of bread. Arrange the smoked salmon on 4 slices of the bread. Break the bacon in half and put on top of the smoked salmon. Top the bacon with 1/2 cup of arugula and arrange 2 to 3 tomato slices on top of the arugula. Cover with remaining slices of bread, lemonmayonnaise side down.

Arrange the sandwiches on a platter and serve.

Bacon-Wrapped Mini Salmon Cakes with Asparagus

Bacon-Wrapped Mini Salmon Cakes with Asparagus

Yeah, okay. That's a really long title. What I wanted to call these things was LITTLE BITES OF AWESOME but, alas, that doesn't query well in search engines.

I have to give credit where credit is due. This recipe is entirely my original creation. No one else's. However, it was Dan from At Darwin's Table who got my wheels a'turning to come up with this.

He commented on my Bacon and Crab Stuffed Mushrooms but said he was going to try a different fish instead of crab. I suggested a few other flaky, light white fishes I thought would work - sole, bassa - and then I mentioned salmon. And then I thought: Bacon + Salmon = HELLSYEAH.

I stock up on frozen wild-caught salmon whenever I see it on sale. So I always have some on hand. And we ALWAYS have bacon; there's no primal household that doesn't I'd argue. I checked the fridge for whatever else I could finagle. I saw the bag of leftover raw asparagus from when Mike made these easy peasy appetizers the other day for football:

Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus appetizers

I know asparagus and salmon are good together either cooked or raw (sushi), so why not figure out a way and put them all together? And these were born:

Bacon-Wapped Mini Salmon Cakes with Asparagus


What you need:

• 10 oz salmon
• coconut/olive oil
• pat of butter
• 1 tbsp finely diced onion
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• 2/3 c. pine nuts
• 1 tbsp mayo
• 1 tsp Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp old bay seasoning
• 1 tbsp fresh chives
• 1 egg white
• bunch fresh asparagus
  thick cut bacon

What you do:

• In a pan, cook the salmon with the coconut oil (you can use olive oil), breaking apart as you cook. 

• When this is finished stick in a bowl in the fridge to cool down.
• Either in a blender or a food processor, blend the pine nuts until they look like this. Thee nuts are very moist and work great as a binder and give the cake a nutty taste.

• In another pan,  melt butter and add garlic and onions and cook until trnaslucent.

• Remove salmon from fridge and add cooked onions/garlic, egg white, pine nuts, mayo cheese, mustard, old bay, and chives (basically everything except the bacon and asparagus).

• Mix well and put back in fridge to chill for at least an hour. This helps make the mixture firmer and easier to work with.

• Lay out the strips of bacon lengthwise and place a few pieces of asparagus perpendicular to the bacon.

• Put a good sized mini cake amount of the salmon mixture, roll up tightly, and hold with a toothpick.

• I put these right on foil but because of the bacon grease, the bottom of the bacon never got crispy so I recommend you put these on a raised tray with foil lined underneath to catch drippage.

• Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, checking often.

• Serve as a fancy schmancy appetizer at your next holiday party!