Bite by Bite
Conquering My Culinary Bucket List One Dish at a Time
By Emily Banks Wooten

Tim Scallon is a registered dietitian nutritionist with years of experience practicing nutrition therapy in area hospitals and clinics, teaching nutrition and developing healthy recipes. About once a month, he submits a recipe to the Polk County Enterprise and we run it for our readers. We’ve been doing this for years. While I always take a look at it and see what he’s doing, I had never cooked one of his recipes before. However, that all changed not long ago and it really saved the day. He recently submitted a piece called “Greek Food, A Celebration of True Love,” a sweet story about the celebration of his wedding anniversary in which he prepared a Greek feast for his wife because their favorite Greek restaurant had closed. The accompanying recipe was for “Roasted Salmon on Mediterranean Vegetables.” It sounded wonderful. And if you’ve been reading my column for any time at all, then you know we love salmon.

Not too long after that, all three of us fell like dominoes, one after the other, and were all sick at one time or another over a two-week period. It was the kind of sick where you’re basically rendered worthless. And then when you do rebound a little bit and start feeling the slightest bit better, you find that you have no energy or stamina at all. That’s where we were. Having gone for a while without cooking, I knew that I needed to cook supper but it needed to be something easy and mindless, yet preferably tasty and healthy. I remembered Tim’s recipe for “Roasted Salmon on Mediterranean Vegetables” that had recently been in the paper. It had all the makings of something I knew I would love.

However, I knew I’d have to make a few substitutions or alterations to please Hubby and Daughter; specifically, the olives, as they simply don’t care for them. I omitted the olives and used a jar of marinated artichoke hearts in their place. I also added some fresh broccoli florets in an attempt to make it more appealing for Daughter. She loves her broccoli.

As you’ll see, it’s one of those recipes where you can easily tailor it to your own tastes, or those of your family, just like I did. It came together fairly easily, even in my weakened state. It was full of flavor and healthy too. We all loved it. I’ll definitely be making it again. Thanks for coming to the rescue Tim!

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”
– Ayurvedic Proverb

Roasted Salmon On Mediterranean Vegetables

By Tim Scallon, MS RDN LD
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

— 1 tablespoon honey
— 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
— 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
— Salt and pepper to taste
— 4 5-6 oz. skinless salmon filets, rinsed and patted dry
— 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
— 4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
— ½ teaspoon salt, divided
— ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper, divided
— 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½-inch cubes
— 1 large onion, sliced vertically and then cut into thin strips
— 2 medium bell peppers, green and yellow, sliced vertically and then cut into thin strips
— 2 cups cherry tomatoes
— ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
— ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
— ¼ cup fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped or 1 tablespoon dried
— 1 small lemon, washed and zest reserved

• In a small bowl, dissolve the honey in the Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the olive oil. Lightly salt and pepper the salmon. Spoon the marinade on both sides of the salmon and marinate in the refrigerator for approximately an hour.

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

• In a large bowl, combine 1 tablespoon oil with the garlic, ½ the salt and black pepper. Add the potatoes and toss to coat. Spread them out on a sheet pan. Roast 20 minutes, turning once.

• In the same bowl, combine the rest of the oil, onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley, olives, oregano and the rest of the salt and pepper. Toss to coat. When the potatoes have roasted, stir them and add the vegetable mixture. Spread them out evenly on the pan. Lay the filets on top of the vegetables and roast uncovered for approximately 15-25 minutes or until the salmon flakes easily.

• Zest the lemon. Squeeze the juice over the roasted salmon and vegetables and sprinkle with the zest.

Tim’s Notes: The key to this dish is cutting the ingredients so that they all reach desired doneness together. A ½ inch dice on the potatoes ensures their doneness. Thicker salmon filets will lengthen cooking time. Slicing the onions and peppers thin helps them to cook to doneness while cooking the fish.