The holiday season is here, and there’s much more salmon on the menu than usual. Which invites new recipes! So we tried one with a marinade of pressed garlic in olive oil and lime juice, with parsley and a dollop of sharp-flavored Dijon mustard. Yum! And yum again!
Today’s Dijon Salmon Baked en Papillote Quick & Easy Recipe is adapted from this one on Natasha’s Kitchen.
You need 600 grams/21 oz salmon fillets and here are the ingredients for the garlic Dijon marinade:
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lime
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 tbsp parsley
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
a dusting of black pepper
Instructions:
Preheat the oven at 180°C/356°F.
Combine the above marinade ingredients in a mug.
For two wide salmon fillets or four narrow ones, place two sheets of parchment paper on your kitchen worktop. Place each large fillet (or two thinner ones) toward the bottom of a sheet and half the marinade on it (them), and then come with the upper part of the paper toward the bottom and start folding it at the edges, small fold over fold until you get a small curve at either side.
Place the two parchment pockets on an oven tray and bake at 180°C/356°F for 40 minutes. I know most recipes say fish bakes much faster, but I like flavors like these when they have mixed longer in the heat.
Enjoy! 🙂 And delight in knowing that you have managed to make a meal that’s both comfort food and super healthy—and to top it off, very easy to put together!
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A note on nutrition. You probably know that salmon is chock-full of omega-3 fatty acids (about four grams per 154 grams of wild Atlantic salmon), but did you know that this fish is also an amazing source of B vitamins (so important for energy, and brain and cell functions) and minerals? NutritionData.Self.Com doesn’t give info on wild Atlantic salmon cooked in moist heat, but here’s what they give for dry heat for 154 grams: 78% DV vitamin B12, 78% DV niacin (B3), 73% DV vitamin B6, 44% Dv riboflavin (B2), 30% DV pantothenic acid (B5), and 28% DV thiamin (B1). Then there’s 103% DV selenium, a powerful antioxidant that boosts the immune system and protects cells and major organs, such as the heart and the thyroid, by removing free radicals and reducing inflammation in the body, 39% phosphorus, crucial for the health of bones, 28% potassium, an electrolyte which helps nerves and muscles and the health of your heart, 25% copper, good for energy, brain function, blood vessels, and the immune system, and 14 % magnesium, important for everything from your brain to your heart and other muscles, and your energy levels. (Info from NutritionData)
Then come the health benefits of olive oil, lime juice, garlic, parsley, and Dijon mustard! You’re probably aware that olive oil protects your heart and blood vessels, but did you know that it also reduces the risk of several cancers and type-2 diabetes, and may help with Alzheimer’s disease as well?
Garlic is another powerhouse. For one, it helps the immune system overall. A friend of mine who eats two cloves of garlic every night hasn’t had a cold in more than ten years now. There’s also some data that it reduces the length of the common cold should you get one. Make sure you chop it or crush it to allow the allicin, its main active compound, to form. With its allicin and other antioxidants, garlic helps with high blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, the risk of several cancers, and, it too, may help with Alzheimer’s. Garlic also helps with post-workout fatigue.
Lime juice is, of course, high in vitamin C, but it also contains other antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals which help the immune system and the heart, protect against some cancers, and help with many other things, from digestion, weight loss, and healthy skin to reducing the risk of kidney stones. Vitamin C also aids in the absorption of iron—and there’s iron in parsley. But then parsley, too, contains 133% DV vitamin C per 60 grams. True, this vitamin gets a little lost when cooking, but still, some of it remains. Parsley is also a good source of vitamin A (101%) and folate/vitamin B9 (23%). But it’s probably best not to use a whole lot of parsley, especially if you are on dialysis or have problems with blood clotting, because it contains 1230% vitamin K per 60 grams.
And then mustard seeds come with their own health benefits, given that they are a good source of selenium, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, and other minerals. And the white wine that goes into Dijon mustard is, well, very tasty! And full of phenolic antioxidants!
A word of advice, if I may: Make sure you use Dijon mustard, not regular mustard. Dijon mustard is usually made with white pepper, dry white wine, and allspice, among other things, and it has a bite that is so well worth it in this dish (and many others).
That pretty much sums up the health benefits of today’s recipe! Enjoy this very healthy comfort food!
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To a happier, healthier life,
Mira
P.S. I’d appreciate a pin or share if you liked this baked salmon Dijon recipe! 🙂
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