Roast Wild Salmon on Broccoli Bulgur Pilaf
Here’s a low calorie meal that you could get away with serving at a dinner party – in just twenty minutes! ‘Roast Wild Salmon on Broccoli Bulgur Pilaf’ combines the flavours of the fish with the subtle, earthy tastes of the broccoli and bulgur wheat... And it’s made even more delicious with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese. With all that going for it, and only 308 calories per serving, you really can’t go wrong with this recipe.
Ingredients
Instructions
6 steps
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, then brush over the salmon fillets.
Place the salmon fillets on a lined baking sheet and roast until cooked (approx. 12-15 minutes).
While the salmon is cooking, bring the vegetable stock to a boil in a pan.
Add a pinch of salt to the stock, then the broccoli and bulgur wheat. Put a lid over the pan, switch off the heat, and leave to sit for ten mins – until the liquid has been absorbed.
Serve the salmon fillets on top of the bulgur wheat mix, and throw on the tomatoes and goat cheese.
Nutritional value per serving:
Calories: 308 | Total Fat: 10 g | Saturated Fat: 1 g | Trans Fat: 0 g | Cholesterol: 69 mg | Sodium: 327 mg | Carbohydrates: 28 g | Dietary Fibre: 7 g | Sugars: 0 g | Protein: 29 g
Notes: Ingredients
Salmon
- Prized for its health benefits – it’s a fatty fish, full of Omega-3 fatty acids, which most people lack.
- But the quality of salmon – and its inherent health benefits – can vary enormously.
- The main two types of salmon are wild salmon and farmed salmon.
- Wild salmon is caught in the wild, in its natural environment – oceans, rivers and lakes.
- Farmed salmon is bred in fish farms, also known as aquacultures.
- Wild salmon eats other organisms found in its natural environment.
- Farmed salmon is given a processed high-fat feed in order to produce larger fish.
- In half a salmon fillet (198g), you get 281 calories if it’s wild, and 412 if it’s farmed.
- BUT, farmed salmon is still good for you! And wild salmon can be expensive and/or difficult to find.
- Pregnant women and children are advised to eat wild salmon, since farmed salmon can contain more potentially harmful contaminants than wild salmon.
Bulgur wheat
- A cereal food made from the groats of several different wheat species, most often from durum wheat.
- Bulgur is a common ingredient in Armenian, Assyrian, Kurdish, Syrian, Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian, Lebanese, Turkish, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean dishes.
- It has a light, nutty flavour.
- Compared to unenriched white rice, bulgur has more fibre and protein, a lower glycaemic index, and higher levels of most vitamins and minerals.
Sun-dried tomatoes
- Buying proper sun-dried tomatoes from a supermarket can be very expensive
- But they’re really good ingredients for adding flavour to a dish
- Thankfully, it’s possible to make your own – even if you live in the gloomiest city in the world!
- If you have a dehydrator, you’re halfway there already. But even if you don’t, you can still make your own…
- To make approx. 400g of your own, using the oven:
- Preheat the oven at 170F
- Cut out the hard centre of approx. 12 plum tomatoes (Roma ones are good because they’re not as watery as other varieties)
- Now cut the toms in half, lengthwise and scrape out the seeds (without removing any of the flesh)
- Arrange on a non-stick baking sheet or in a glass or porcelain dish (but DO NOT use an aluminium tray or foil!!), skin side down
- Mix some basil, thyme and oregano with some salt and sprinkle over the toms
- Pop in the oven for approx. 3 hours, with the door open a little, to let the moisture escape
- After 3 hours, press the toms a little and turn, then leave for another 3 hours – repeat two more times… (total cooking time is 12 hours)
- They are done when they are very dry, but still pliable – you may find that this happens at a different time for each slice!
