Sometimes, actually a lot of the time, I wish the food world was a bit more transparent about what you are buying. All kinds of things are advertised as healthy that actually aren’t. All kinds of things are said to be environmentally friendly that perhaps aren’t as sustainable and green as you might expect. And it seems sometimes like only the people who bother to do the research are the ones who are going to know this.
I try to do my research about what I am eating, and I try to make healthy and environmentally friendly choices whenever I can. But the majority of items in my pantry or fridge I know next to nothing about. It’s embarrassing when you think about people who kill their own chickens and make their own butter and constantly only serve homemade breads, and here I am with my pantry full of store bought items whose source I couldn’t even begin to guess.
Salmon is one of those items that I have researched though, and have recently tried to make more responsible decisions about regarding my purchasing of it. I love salmon. Like really really love salmon. And several months ago, probably prompted by some chef on the television telling me that wild caught salmon is the best, I started doing my research. Turns out, all that farm-raised salmon that is in the store year-round? Not so much the best for you. I mean, it’s still salmon and all and has those Omega-3s. But when salmon are farm-raised they come with all kinds of other toxins and cause a lot of pollution.
And the thing that I can’t believe recently, is that I have seen grocery stores advertising their salmon as farm-raised as if this is a good thing.
I still love salmon, but knowing this impacts my consumption of it. I buy less of the farm-raised type, and when the wild-caught salmon arrives at my grocery store (and you should be able to tell that it actually is wild caught because it has so much less fat), I make a point to buy it.
This is one of our favorite ways to have salmon now. It’s salty and briny but the flavor is still only complementary to the fish; it lets the taste of good salmon shine through. The marinade takes only a couple of minutes to mix together, and fish always only needs a few minutes sitting in it because it is always so eager to soak up flavors. We broil our fish, but Ina’s original recipe calls for grilling it, and I’m sure any of your favorite salmon cooking methods will work wonderfully.
And I’m really curious: have you changed your shopping habits concerning any particular food items because of healthy and/or environmental concerns? It’s a hard world to navigate through and I’d love to hear what y’all’s experiences have been.
Asian Marinated Salmon
adapted from Ina Garten
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Wait Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves 4
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
4 (6 oz.) salmon fillets
1. Preheat the broiler on your oven.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic. Add the salmon, and make sure that each piece is fully coated. Let sit for 10 to 20 minutes.
3. Place the salmon on a broiler pan (or another rimmed pan lined with foil). Broil fish for 8-10 minutes, until it is golden brown on top and flaky when pierced with a fork. Serve warm.
Salmon is something that I’ve changed my shopping habits about too, especially since the wild stuff tastes so much better! I also switched to only buying organic berries, since the regular kind have so many pesticides. I always wash my produce, but my one son is sometimes so eager to eat a berry that he nabs one before I can wash it. If it’s organic I worry less!
It’s sometimes really hard to navigate the way between what we should and shouldn’t be buying and you end up having to do so much work just to work out what to eat!
this sounds like a delicious marinade! I don’t think I could tell you the source of 10% of the food in my house, I would love to become a local pure eater but it’s so time consuming. I feel inspired to do what you’ve done, pick a starting product and go from there
It IS time consuming! It definitely feels overwhelming to me at times, but I try to do what feels manageable for me.