Shiitake Citrus Salmon

We are back on the healthy eating wagon after our Valentine's celebration last weekend so we made this wonderful salmon dish this week. I would say this recipe is good enough for a special occasion or for having guests over for dinner  (When social distancing isn't a thing anymore.)  We had to postpone our Valentine's dinner on Sunday because we got 9" of snow over the weekend and all driving shuts down around here because of hills so we shoveled snow instead.  

It was a nice dry snow and we even had drifts around our house as if we were in the midwest or something!   We lived in Iowa for three years so we know what snow drifts are.  



Just like I mentioned previously, I made my Wine Braised Shortribs for Valentine's Day and everyone loved them.  The grandkids just slurped down those tasty, juicy noodles so fast and kept asking for more.  I set a lovely Valentine's dinner table for everyone's holiday enjoyment

and the grandkids got to decorate our heart cakes for dessert that were Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese frosting.  

Before 

After 

We also made my Show the Love salad that is a green salad with heart cut-outs of mozzarella cheese and red bell peppers.  Very fun.  



How can you resist such a charming and loving salad?  



Now, we are back to our normal routine and I'm trying some new recipes and once again this salmon recipe is from Hannah Freese, RD.  I am in her alumni group so she still sends us new recipes every month that follow her program to repair your broken metabolism.  For me, that mainly means to stop eating sugar, although she does allow us to eat dark chocolate that is greater than 70% cocoa that I wrote about here.  That is my biggest challenge, as you can see from Valentine's Day.   I was doing a lot of her principals before but now I am doing them (more or less) on a consistent basis.  The group has zoom calls with her twice monthly to keep us motivated, answer questions and teach us more about her 10 principals.  I always look forward to the meetings and learn new things each time.  I am using so many more vegetables in my dishes now and lots of spices and tasty sauces like in this recipe.  Bruce loves all our dinners, too, and since one of the principals of her diet is to plan ahead, we always know what we're eating each night.  He enjoys fixing the meals as much as I do because her recipes are so easy to follow.  I just lay out the recipe we're having for dinner each day and Bruce is happy to whip it up when the 5:00 hour comes around.  He made this salmon dinner, no problem.   The shiitake mushrooms have a savory or meaty flavor that is often referred to as umami flavor or the fifth taste sensation along with sweet, bitter, sour, and salty and they are a popular mushroom in Japan.  The tamari in the recipe is the Japanese version of soy sauce so you can easily substitute soy sauce,  if you want.  The sauce is just outstanding which is such a great compliment in any fish dish.  You'll definitely want to keep this recipe for one of your favorite seafood recipes.  

Serves 2

8 oz. salmon fillet

1 Tbsp. olive oil (divided)

1/4 tsp. salt (divided)

5 stalks green onions, chopped (divided)

1-1/2 cups shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

1 Tbsp. fresh orange juice

1-1/2 Tbsp. tamari or soy sauce

1 lime, juiced and zested

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Place the salmon in an oven-safe baking dish and drizzle with half of the olive oil  and season with half of the salt. Bake for 13-16 minutes, until cooked through and flakey.

2.  In a skillet over medium-high heat, add the remaining olive oil.  Add half of the green onions, mushrooms and the remaining salt.  Cook for 5-6 minutes, until the mushrooms and green onion are lightly browned and cooked through.  

3.  In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, tamari, lime juice, and zest.   

4.  Add the salmon to a platter along with the mushroom mixture and remaining green onions.  Drizzle the sauce over the top.   Serve and enjoy.