South Beach Diet Phase 1: Seared Salmon with Spinach and Mushrooms
We have all heard the words “Clean Eating” but many of us may not know what it exactly means. Before you jump into this eating concept, you should start by cleaning up your pantry and fridge. Clean eating is a great way to refresh your eating habits. It’s all about making the right choices. The choice that makes sense to us. It is about eating fresh and healthy food and eating less not-so healthy foods. You can eat lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats and proteins. Clean eating is also about cutting down refined and processed grains, extra salt, unhealthy fat and sugars. South beach diet is also all about that. You don’t have to count calories. Just eat the right stuff and eat until you feel full. Ofcourse be rationale about how much goes into that tiny stomach of yours.
Today, I am sharing the recipe of one of the beautiful salmon dish. It has salmon, mushroom and spinach in it. This was inspired by a meal I ate at my company’s cafeteria. They were served it with basil-chimichurri-cilantro pesto. I made my version without the pesto. I used minimal seasoning in the pan. I just let the natural flavor cook and caramelize to perfection.
Ingredients
- 2 palm sized chunk of wild caught salmon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 4 cups button mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cups baby spinach
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
Instructions
- Clean and pat dry the salmon with kitchen tissue. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Heat oil in a cast iron pan on high. When the oil smokes, place the salmon skin side down and let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Gently slide the spatula and flip the salmon. Let it cook the other side for 3-4 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, add little more oil and add mushroom, spinach and sriracha. Let it cook for 5 minutes until the mushrooms sweat and spinach wilt. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle thyme.
- In a clean plate, place the sautéed vegetables and top it with seared salmon. You top it with homemade or store bought pesto for added taste. You can find my spinach pesto recipe here.
