nutrition Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Wild, Wild Salmon Salad: A Super Nutritious Meal

September 20, 2020

This Salmon Salad is loaded with omega-3 nutrition.

I love a simple, one dish meal. They can be easy to toss together and even nutritious. Here’s one I use often, especially when there’s a sale going on at the fish counter.

Recently, I came upon a leftover piece of salmon in the far recesses of my freezer, deposited there in a by-gone era, possibly when I went off a diet.

Salmon: Farm-Raised or Wild?

“I am what I eat.”

Before making the salad, let’s talk about the salmon. There’s some debate over which is better: farm raised or wild? On such issues, I turn to nutritionist and author Dr. Jonny Bowden.

He reminds us that salmon is high in omega-3 fats, the kinds that are helpful for heart and brain health, as well as inflammation, circulation, memory, mood, and blood sugar control.

But Not All Salmon Are Equal

The old saying, “You are what you eat” applies to salmon, too. Farm-raised varieties eat grain and produce less omega-3s. The wild variety dines on krill and other fish and produces essential fat. Color is often added to the farm-raised fish to enhance the look it lacks, because of the grain diet. So if you’re wanting a heavy jolt of omega-3, stick with wild salmon.

A Meal in a Bowl

This salad comes together easily since three of the vegetables cook in the same water, one after the other.

Dousing the salad with a simple dressing made of oil, vinegar, lime juice, honey, and mustard brings it all together in a jiffy. What an incredibly satisfying dish. It’s easy, healthy, and one that tolerates substitutions. I often leave out the cukes. When fresh tomatoes start tasting like cardboard, I substitute sun-dried ones.

Give this salad a try the next time there’s a salmon sale at the supermarket—unless you’re lucky enough to find a piece in the far reaches of your freezer.

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

1 salmon fillet (about 1 lb.)
Salt and pepper
4 potatoes (Yukon Gold or red, peeled and quartered)
2 ears corn, cooked
Handful of thin green beans, trimmed, cooked, chopped into 1” pieces
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped (optional)
5-6 scallions (include green part) chopped
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

Vinaigrette:

¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. sugar or honey
Fresh lemon or lime, a squeeze
½ cup olive oil

Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients and set aside.

Directions

Rub salmon with a mix of oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of honey and grill over medium hot coals for 4-5 minutes on each side or bake in oven on foil-lined baking dish for 15 minutes.
Bring water to boil and add potatoes and cook about 12 minutes or until knife can be inserted. Remove potatoes with slotted spoon to large serving bowl. Add the corn to the same water. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove corn to cutting board and slice kernels and put in the serving bowl.
Add green beans to same pot of water and cook for 3 minutes. Remove beans and add to serving bowl.
Add the tomatoes, cucumber (if using), scallions, and cilantro to bowl along with salmon chunks. Toss with vinaigrette. Serves 4.

150 Healthiest Foods on Earth

January 29, 2015

Among the many cookbooks in my kitchen is one that has no recipes. It’s Jonny Bowden nutritional masterpiece, The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, ($18.25 paperback, Amazon). Known as the “Rogue Nutritionist,” Bowden has appeared on all the major networks and his writings in major publications throughout the country. His theory is that we need fewer expensive supplements and more delicious, nourishing foods on our plate each day.

He polled leading nutritionists as to which ten foods they ate regularly. The most votes went to blueberries, spinach, kale, nuts (especially almonds), broccoli, and wild salmon.

Take a look at what Bowden calls the vegetable Superstars. In his book, all vegetables are stars, but these are even more potent.

Beets: Loaded with potassium and cancer fighting properties.

Broccoli: A nutritional powerhouse recommended by the American Cancer Society in helping reduce cancer.

Brussels Sprouts: In addition to their cancer preventive properties, a good source of potassium and bone-building vitamin K.

Cabbage: Another vegetable that offers an anti-cancer wallop as well as fiber and everyday vitamins and minerals. One of the lowest calorie foods on the planet.

Carrots: Research shows that a carrot a day could possibly cut your chances of getting lung, bladder, prostate, colon and esophageal cancer nearly in half.

Kale: Bowden’s favorite of the superstars with its high calcium, iron, and vitamin A, C, and E content.

Mushrooms: Bowden’s definition of vegetable is that it should have leaves, or crunch or be green, red, orange or yellow. Mushrooms are the exception with their long-recognized healing properties,

Onions: Builds strong bones and gives stomach cancer protection. In Vandalia, Georgia, where onions are the major crop, stomach cancer rates are 50% less than they are nationally. Also, onions are the least contaminated by pesticides.

Spinach: Loaded with vitamin D, magnesium, iron, and calcium. Lab rats fed blueberries and spinach loss fewer brain cells, even when those foods made up only 2% of their diet. Buy organic spinach since spinach is one of the vegetables most contaminated by pesticides.

In a bit of good news, Bowden says that coffee, wine, butter, eggs, chocolate, and watermelon are good for you. Whoopie! The bad news is that processed white grains are terrible and should be avoided—so long Wonder Bread.

What Jonny Bowden Eats

Found on the author’s plate regularly: oatmeal, guava, raw certified organic milk, eggs, blueberries, spinach, sardines, kale, whey protein powder, free-range beef, apples, wild salmon, turmeric, nut, coconut oil, avocado, green tea, fresh vegetable juice, and green drinks.

The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth is a great motivational book. Bowden makes the complex simple and entertaining and presents his ideas in a layout that is easy to read and reference.