Living Low Sodium Recipe - Sockeye Salmon Fillet

Since arriving home this weekend I've spent the better part of the past 2 days food shopping, analyzing/modifying recipes and cooking.

My focus is 4-fold:

1. Re-gain the 9 lbs I lost due to the Endolymphatic Hydrops,
2. Stabilize my blood sugars to limit the possibility of another attack,
   
3. Keep my sodium intake to approx. 1000 mg/day and,
4. Ensure that I'm adding more anti-inflammatory foods to my diet, while limiting ingredients that cause inflammation.

Knowing that I need to start consuming less meat and more fish - in particular, sockeye salmon and black cod (sablefish), both being rich in Omega-3 and highly anti-inflammatory - I've focused alot of my efforts towards finding recipes for these two ingredients.

While I LOVE sushi, I've never been a huge fish fan. Go figure - I like raw fish but really have no taste for fish once it's cooked!

I came across a recipe by Jamie Oliver (you may have seen him on the Today Show or on Food Network) that after a little modification I am quite pleased with. I removed the yogurt dressing (trying to limit my dairy) and instead of using 2 slices of prosciutto, managed to wrap my 4 oz sockeye salmon fillet with just one.

Prosciutto is clearly NOT an anti-inflammatory food, nor is it low-sodium. I managed to find pre-packaged Prosciutto whereas 1-slice has approx. 153 mg/sodium. By carefully planning my day around this meal, I was able to stay pretty close to my target sodium goal coming in at 1,049 mg for the entire day.

Because I'm not typically a cooked salmon fan, the prosciutto really enabled me to enjoy this meal. Additionally, I took into consideration the fact that lentils are a rich source of fiber, folate, iron, vitamin B-1 and protein. Add a serving of spinach in for good measure and I felt the trade-off was well worth it.

Salmon Fillet Wrapped In Prosciutto With Herby Lentils and Spinach

4 oz French lentils
2 (4 oz) Sockeye salmon fillets
Freshly ground pepper
1 slice Prociutto
1 Tbsp Olive Oil, halved
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 handful of mixed herbs (basil, parsley, and anything else you enjoy), chopped
2 handfuls spinach, chopped

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Rinse lentils, put in a pan, cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer until tender (approx. 30 minutes).

Season the salmon fillets with pepper before wrapping each piece in a Prosciutto slice. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for around 10 minutes. You can cook the salmon for less time if you prefer it to be pinker.

Drain the lentils and season with pepper, the lemon juice and olive oil. Put the lentils back into the pan and just before serving stir in the herbs and spinach and cook on high heat until spinach wilts.

Yield: 2 servings

You can find Jamie's original recipe here.

Nutritional Information for Susan's version, per serving: 449 calories; 18 grams fat (3 grams saturated fat); 36 grams carbohydrates; 34 grams protein; 219 mg sodium

A note about the ingredients: The brand of Prosciutto I used is Busseto. The sodium content of a product such as Prosciutto can vary significantly. For example, one slice of Citterio Fresco Prosciutto contains 365 mg/sodium. Lesson learned? Make certain to read labels, and if there is no nutrition label, stay away!

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan