Feasting on Mammoth. Roasted Salmon over Mixed Greens.

By Stephen Unterberg

Alright, hope everyone is doing well. Not sure if you all have tried any of the recipes that have been posted so far, but as long as you’re enjoying the pictures, I guess that’s good enough for me! Now that winter break is over (10 days in Guatemala was a blast), and school has started going again, the recipes will begin dying down a bit.

Along with cooking I’ve still been  reading lots of articles and books on food and nutrition and have been pestering my professors like mad trying to get more clarity on certain metabolic pathways (we’re currently learning about the endocrine system and metabolism). As I discussed in the previous post, Wild Game, I planned on checking out a few cook books that seemed pretty interesting and I promised to report on them. The Grazing Across Texas book is very cool, especially if you’re interested in finding some pretty tasty recipes on game meats. It’s also filled with really cool pictures of people and dogs hunting all around different parts of Texas (may not be too appealing to most!). I also picked up The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook by Shannon Hayes, which does a really nice job breaking down most types of grass-fed meats with nice recipes and great descriptions on cooking methods. Finally, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, a nutrition researcher who works with the Weston A. Price Foundation, is a really great book with very useful nutritional information. There are also a lot of recipes that take you back to the basics, which I look forward to attempting such as: homemade fermented vegetables, buttermilk, crème fraiche, chutneys, and stocks. Also, I ordered a bunch of pastured meats from www.burgundypasturebeef.com and I’m working through them. It’s amazing the difference in taste and texture between pastured and grain fed products, I really encourage you all to seek out some local farms and find ones that have a wide range of animals and deliver for cheap. There are plenty of them around the California area for sure. I’m also hoping to get some grass-fed raw milk from a farm a little outside of San Antonio so I can start making some fresh cheeses and other recipes involving milk from the Nourishing Traditions book. For those of you a little behind on current research publications or reading up on your blogs, a recent paper was published in the American Journal of Investigative Nutrition by Dr. Krauss that deserves a look-over.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-saturated-fat-review-article-by-dr.html

Now for the recipe – I made the dish below for a few girls that came over to watch the Cowboy’s game against the Vikings. They enjoyed the food while I suffered through the game. Enjoy!

Roasted Salmon over Mixed Greens

1. Wild Caught Salmon (I used Sockeye)
2. Seasoning to Taste (salt, pepper, coriander, cumin)
3. ghee or coconut butter
4. Kerrygold herb butter

Mixed Salad

1. organic mixed greens
2. red onion
3. yellow bell pepper
4. cherry tomatoes
5. hearts of palm
6. avocado, diced
7. broccoli
8. raw bleu cheese

Balsamic-Goat Cheese Vinaigrette

1. omega 3 egg yolk
2. 1 tsp hot sauce
3. 1 T Dijon mustard
4. salt and pepper
5. balsamic vinegar
6. 2 T fresh goat cheese
7. olive oil

For the salmon,  soak the fish in a lemon-water bath for 30 seconds to remove any fishy flavor. Pat dry and add seasonings. Turn oven to 300 degrees and heat a skillet on medium-high heat. Add fat to the pan and place salmon skin side down in the skillet to begin developing a crust. Cook for a few minutes before placing a meat thermometer in the flesh, scattering a few pieces of the herb butter on top, and then placing the pan in the oven. Cook until internal temperature reads 120 degrees. Remove salmon and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

For the salad dressing, follow the  instructions I listed on a previous post describing how to make homemade mayonnaise. The dressing is exactly the same; just add balsamic vinegar and the goat cheese to the food processor along with steps 1-4.

Add all salad ingredients (whatever vegetables you want) to a bowl; add some of the dressing, and mix to incorporate. Place  on a plate and place the salmon fillet on top. Squeeze a bit of lemon or lime over the dish for extra brightness. Note: Taking the dish to another level is pretty easy here. Just make the basic mayo recipe and divide in half, with one half make the balsamic-goat vinaigrette, and with the other half add chipotles, truffle oil, thyme, or another interesting flavor to the mayo and drizzle on top of the salmon.