Salmon

I have always avoided cooking fish. Maybe I just haven't found good fish recipes, maybe I don't like getting that fishy funk out of my cast iron now and then. (Just need a little baking soda, it's not so bad). I do love sushi though.

In my search for info about creating a heart-healthy menu, one thing that comes up over and over is the need to have at least one fish meal per week, but maybe two depending on which website you ask, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation. 

Certain types of fish are very high in unsaturated fats known as Omega-3 fatty acids. In a previous post, I mentioned that there are good fats, not-so-good fats, and superbad fats. Good fats include mono and polyunsaturated fats, and this includes omega-3 fatty acids. 

Omega-3s:

• Reduce inflammation
• Reduce blood pressure
• Controls clotting
• Decrease Triglycerides

All together these benefits reduce your overall risk of strokes and heart attacks. 

So Fish are our friends, as Bruce the Shark says in Finding Nemo. But unlike Bruce, we're going to eat them. These are the friendliest: 

• Salmon
• Light Tuna
• Cod
• Mackerel
• Lake Trout

So I can work in a few more tuna sandwiches without much trouble, otherwise my preferred Fishy friend here is salmon. 

A few other easy sources of Omega-3s that I can easily add to my diet include 

• Walnuts
• Canola oil
• Dark Leafy Greens
• Eggs fortified with Omega3

Back to the salmon, I'd be delighted to just order sushi once a week, but the goal is to come up with things I can cook easily at home. As it happens I also know how to roll my own sushi, but honestly, it's not a quick midweek meal. Too fiddly. Maybe with practice, I could bang out a tray of maki on a Tuesday night, but realistically that's not going to happen. Luckily making fish is easier than I thought with a little practice, and even better, my son loves it. 

This is one of several recipes I found for salmon, Honey Garlic glazed salmon. The glaze is a basic honey garlic glaze, similar to one I've made a hundred times, and it goes well on ribs or on chicken, whether breast, thigh, legs or wings (I need to reduce thigh, leg and wings and stick to the white meat).  It's prepared in a cast iron pan, one of my favourite things, so it can go from stovetop to oven easily.  

The recipe I've used here is from The Chunky Chef and it takes about 20 minutes to make

Rice is nice

This is served with rice, and I'm always amazed to run into so many people who don't know how to make rice without investing in a dedicated appliance. 20 years ago I wrote out the directions for rice on my parent's kitchen whiteboard and it's still there. Making rice in a pot is only slightly harder than boiling water. So as a bonus I made a making rice video and posted it on my twitter. 

Watch this before you replace your rice maker. pic.twitter.com/FxtwGLTDer

— MrSexton (@MrKSexton) January 25, 2022

That's a lot of butter...

Three tablespoons of butter. For my heart health, I've replaced it with soft margarine. 

Dairy is high in saturated fats, which are on the "Minimize" list, so I've been managing my dairy consumption in a number of ways. I've switched to almond-based coffee cream, and also soft margarine is much lower in saturated fats. Hard margarine, like the kind that comes in sticks, is high in trans fats. This is because hard margarine is Hydrogenated. Hydrogenation is adding hydrogen to oil so it becomes solid. This works by turning the good fats into Trans Fats, which we might recall from an earlier post are the worst of the bad fats, on the "avoid at all costs" list. 

My Salmon video

Before we get to the recipe, here is a video of me making the salmon. 

Honey Garlic Salmon

From The Chunky Chef

SALMON

4 (6 oz each) salmon filets

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika)

1/4 tsp blackening seasoning (optional)

SAUCE

3 Tbsp butter

2 tsp olive oil

6 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup honey

3 Tbsp water

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sriracha sauce

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Pat salmon dry, then season with salt, pepper, paprika and blackening seasoning (if using). Set aside. Adjust oven rack to middle position, then preheat broiler.

Add butter and oil to a large, oven-safe skillet over MED-HIGH heat. Once butter is melted, add garlic, water, soy sauce, sriracha, honey and lemon juice and cook 30 seconds or so, until sauce is heated through.

Add salmon, skin side down (if using salmon with skin), and cook 3 minutes. While salmon cooks, baste frequently with sauce from the pan by spooning it over the top of the salmon.

Broil salmon for 5-6 minutes, basting with sauce once during the broil, until salmon is caramelized and cooked to desired doneness.

Garnish with minced parsley if desired.

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Why fish: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/omega-3/art-20045614

Why Margarine: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/butter-vs-margarine/faq-20058152 

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At this stage, I need to start assembling my recipes into a little pdf book.