Large Plates
Salmon with Strawberry, Cucumber, and Mint Relish
In the spring, just as local strawberries begin popping up their red bodies, I make this dish and I make it time again throughout the summer. It makes entertaining easy and impressive--it is just so darn pretty. While it may be eaten hot, it is truly best room temperature. The pink flesh of the cooked salmon looks so inviting with the crunchy sweet strawberries salsa. This preparation is a keeper and a spring and summer plate lovely enough for the most distinguished guest, Easter, or Mother's Day brunch.
Go wild! Salmon begin their lives as eggs laid in the gravel of cold mountain springs. As they grow, these nutrient dense, brain building fish migrate hundreds, even thousands, of miles to the ocean and journey back to their fresh water stomping grounds to spawn. Known for its brain building Omega 3 fatty acids, one serving boasts more than the average American gets from all other food over several days. The healthiest salmon in the world is wild Alaskan salmon. Researchers confirm regular consumption of wild Alaskan salmon is beneficial to overall health. Farm raised salmon with its milder taste is fed corn--a diet unnatural to this marine creature--lowering the high level of important fatty acids, protein and amino acids. Salmon produced on farms is also exposed to higher levels of contamination and has less nutritional value than its wild cousin. The extensive use of antibiotics in some farmed salmon also poses human antibiotic resistance issues--choose wisely.
