Easy Roasted Salmon with Fresh Greens, aka the Emerald Isle Bowl
Here’s how this one got invented: Steve and I had a chance to do a home swap in Ireland. Dun Laoghaire, which is pronounced “dun-lear-eh”, and which is right on the ocean and about a 15 minute train ride from Dublin. It was perfect.
The produce in Ireland is insanely wonderful. There are little tags on all the bags telling you if it’s domestic or imported, and if the latter, from which country. The fish is ridiculously fresh. Thus, the Emerald Isle Bowl was born: Salmon, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, a right mess of raw greens—cabbage, kale, and herbs—and a green apple for good measure. A simple horseradish sauce and some pistachio nuts finish it off.
Lots o’ textures: juicy-crispy apples, crunchy cabbage and celery, chewy kale, delicate salmon, golden-outside-soft-inside cauliflower, savory roasted broccoli. The herbs, ideally, would be a throw-caution-to-the-Irish-wind blend of tarragon, dill, mint, and parsley, a serious burst of fresh-meadow flavor. Here in the Michigan/supermarket-stuck winter, I had to make do with parsley, chives and dill. But it was still sparkly and yummy.
As for the dressing: horseradish, either the traditional kind or some wasabi you make from the powder, does that thing where it kind of opens the top of your head. I love that. When we were in Dublin, I especially loved Graham’s horseradish sauce. But, barring your proximity to Irish delis, any good horseradish cream sauce will work. I make my own here: just Greek yogurt, a little mayo, and the aforementioned wasabi. Up to you.
It also goes together quick; you got about 15 minutes of chopping, max, if you like to take your time. I mean, I wish it went as quick as it does in this nifty movie I made using my Jumprope app. (I am currently working with Jumprope; full disclosure.They have converted me from hating to make videos to going, hey, that’s kinda fun. You can grab the app from the app store for free, btw.)
So while the recipe below may look long, it’s just because I’ve written things out fairly explicitly for folks who like things spelled out. But honestly, you can get a good idea of what to do from the video and wing it; the amounts don’t need to be too precise with this one.
For a fabulous follow-up, please visit the Jameson’s Chocolate Mousse page. I don’t like whiskey. But DAMN. This is good.
Enjoy, friends.
