Low-Carb Lesson #42: Low Carb Broiled Salmon With Zesty Lime Mustard

Low Carb Cooking 101: Lesson #42

My husband loves salmon – to the point that I think that if I dabbed salmon behind my ears I’d get a lot more “attention” from him. Of course, I’d probably be shunned by the rest of the world.

I’m always trying out new salmon recipes for Rod, and came up with Broiled Salmon With Zesty Lime Mustard a while ago. While the recipe calls for broiling the salmon fillets, you could cook these on an outdoor grill, too. I have a nifty little device that was made especially for grilling fish on an outdoor barbecue. It is a metal “cage” with a long wooden handle, and eliminates the problem of the fish fillets sticking to and/or falling apart when you cook them. Mine is a big one that holds 6 to 8 salmon fillets, but I have seen smaller ones for 1 or 2 fillets. In fact, I saw one at one of the dollar stores earlier this spring, and bought several to give away as presents – and kept a couple for myself, too, of course. They were only about $3.00 each, and worth every penny.

My kids both like snow peas, which led to the creation of the Snow Peas And Mushrooms. Sometimes I had a few thinly sliced onions to the recipe, and they like that, too. Rod is less enthusiastic, but we’re talking about a 51-year-old man who still tries to sneak his vegetables onto the kids’ plates when they’re not looking. The fact that he eats the Snow Peas and Mushrooms at all tells me that they’re pretty good.

Everybody likes the Honeydew And Spinach Salad, and it adds the fruit I am always craving to the menu. Sometimes raspberries are just too expensive, though, so I substitute strawberries. I’ve even substituted blueberries, since I always have some in the freezer. I buy berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, etc.) in quantity when they are in season and freeze them for use when they’re out of season and the price is sky-high.

If you have the garden space – and the inclination – strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are excellent plants for your garden. You can get 50 strawberry plants for under $25; they’re a real deal. You can buy all one variety, or several different varieties to extend your fresh strawberry season. If you want blueberries, though, you need to buy two different varieties, since blueberries are not self-pollinating. However, blueberries don’t have to be planted in the vegetable garden; they make nice landscaping shrubs, so you can plant them anywhere you need shrubbery.

Raspberries are a bit more work than strawberries and blueberries, since they grow best when they supported and, of course, you have to be wary of the thorns when picking them. (There’s a reason they’re so expensive!) But they are worth growing. Planting several varieties will give you a long fresh raspberry season, and will save you quite a bit of money. When I lived in a small town in northwestern Ohio (and by “small,” I mean that there was still horse and buggy parking behind the bank), many of my neighbors had raspberry patches behind their garages. They didn’t bother with the posts and wire supports, so their yields were less than optimal, but they got enough raspberries each year to eat them fresh and to make some jams and jellies each season.

And, as long as I’m on a gardening sidebar, asparagus is a wonderful vegetable to grow, too. You’ve never really tasted asparagus until you’ve had some of the delicate steamed stalks a half an hour after they’ve been picked! The difference between homegrown and store-bought (whether fresh or frozen) is phenomenal!

Asparagus is a long-lived perennial vegetable. A well-planted asparagus bed will last for 25 to 30 years. Most older beds contain the variety named “Martha Washington,” but recently a new asparagus variety called “Jersey Giant” was developed at Rutgers University. Because “Jersey Giant” is an all-male strain and doesn’t set seed, this variety produces 5 times the yield of the older “Martha Washington,” and is well worth the small additional cost of the plants.

Here’s this evening’s simple menu:

• Broiled Salmon With Zesty Lime Butter
• Stir-Fried Snow Peas And Mushrooms
• Honeydew Spinach Salad

Here’s the shopping list for the meal.
You may very well already have some of these things on hand:

• 4 6-ounce salmon fillets
• 1 lime
• fresh or frozen raspberries (You may substitute strawberries if raspberries are too dear.)
• 1/2 medium honeydew
• 1 16-ounce package prewashed spinach
• 1/2 pound snow peas
• 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
• shelled pistachios or sliced almonds
• butter
• olive oil
• raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing (or salad dressing of your choice)
• lemon juice
• sesame seeds
• coarse-grained mustard
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Here’s the game plan:

The meal goes together very quickly, so before you begin cooking construct the salads and put them in the refrigerator to chill. Set the table, too. If you have a family of dawdlers, you would be smart to call them for dinner NOW.

Preheat the broiler or grill next.

Make the lime mustard sauce for the salmon and set it aside. Prepare the vegetables for the Snow Peas And Mushrooms. (Everything should be “ready to go” before you begin the actually cooking.)

Toast the sesame seeds. Remove them from the skillets and set them aside.
Begin broiling the salmon. As soon as the salmon fillets are in the broiler or on the grill, begin stir frying the vegetables.

Turn the salmon fillets and put the lime mustard on top of them before returning them to the broiler/grill.

Add the butter and lemon to the vegetables. When the butter is melted, toss the vegetables to coat them completely with the lemon/butter mixture. Place the vegetables on the dinner plates and sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on top of the servings. Take the salmon out of the oven or off the grill and place it next to the vegetables on the dinner plates.

Put the dinner and salad plates on the table and sit down to a well-deserved, relaxing meal.

And, finally, here’s the recipes:

Broiled Salmon with Zesty Lime Mustard

• 2 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard
• 2 tablespoons lime zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 6-ounce salmon fillets

Preheat the broiler.

In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Place salmon, skin side down, on broiler pan. Broil about 5 minutes.

Spoon equal shares of the mustard sauce onto each salmon fillet. Broil 3 to 5 minutes more or until salmon is done.

Serves 4.

Stir-Fried Snow Peas And Mushrooms

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 pound snow peas
• 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the sesame seeds about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Remove the sesame seeds from heat and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Stir in the snow peas and mushrooms and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until tender.

Add the butter and lemon juice to the skillet and toss with the snow peas and mushrooms until the butter is melted.

Garnish with the toasted sesame seeds.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Honeydew And Spinach Salad

• 1/2 medium honeydew, thinly sliced into 16 pieces
• 4 cups torn fresh spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup pistachios or sliced almonds
• raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing (or salad dressing of your choice)

Cut the honeydew into 16 thin slices. Remove the rind with a sharp knife and cut each thin slice in half. Arrange the honeydew slices in a “star” pattern on the salad plates. Place 1 cup of the torn spinach leaves in the center each of 4 salad plates where the tips of the honeydew slices meet.

Sprinkle the spinach leaves with the raspberries and the pistachios or sliced almonds. cantaloupe around the plate with the ends touching.

Serve with raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing.

Serves 4.