Salmon Gyro Grain Bowls

Nutritious, nourishing, nice.
#entrees 

Ingredients⌗

Salmon⌗

  • 1.5 lbs/ 24 oz skin-on salmon fillets (in one large piece or two to three smaller ones)
  • 3 large slicing tomatoes (“vine tomatoes” at the supermarket are fine)
  • 1 large red onion
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 large lemon or 2 small lemons
  • 4-6 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • ~1/2 cup chopped flatleaf parsley
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Cucumber Sauce⌗

  • 2 large English cucumbers
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • 2 tbsp mayo
  • 1 tbsp fresh dill or 1/2 teaspoons of dried, and about 1 tbsp chopped parsley
  • Splash of vinegar, any kind
  • A little olive oil
  • Cooked rice, brown or white, and/or quinoa, millet, or farro, for serving
  • Chopped fresh spinach and more chopped parsley, for serving

Instructions⌗

  1. Cook the rice, quinoa, millet, or farro up to 2-3 days ahead, but before the rest of the recipe.

Salmon and Tomato Topping⌗

  1. Unwrap the salmon and put it in a shallow bowl or tray that will hold all of it spread out, skin side down, plus have room to marinate. Refrigerate until about an hour before serving time.
  2. Set the oven at 375.
  3. Slice the tomato and the red onion into 1/4 inch or so slices and arrange them overlapping in a shallow casserole or baking dish. Set aside.
  4. Juice the lemon and add 3 smashed/ grated cloves of garlic, some salt and pepper, the oregano, and the paprika. Blend well and add 3-4 T olive oil and the parsley. Pour about 1/2 of that mixture over the tomatoes and onions. (You will use the rest of the marinade on the salmon - see below). Move the baking dish to the hot oven and let the vegetables roast for about 25 minutes. You want them to soften but not brown too much.
  5. Use the other 1/2 of the lemon juice mixture to marinate the salmon for about 1/2 hour at room temperature, while the tomatoes are cooking and you’re working on the cucumber sauce.

Cucumber Sauce⌗

  1. Grate the cucumbers into a colander or strainer and sprinkle with about 1 tsp kosher salt. Mix everything in the strainer over a bowl - the salt will help the cucumbers release their juices. Leave the mixture on the counter for 15-20 minutes (or longer). Check to make sure the strainer is not sitting in the already drained juices. Pour the juices off and discard them if that happens.
  2. When the cucumbers have released most of their juices, squeeze them into the strainer to push out as much more juice as you can, with your hands or with a soft spatula. Then turn the cukes into another bowl (or use the one you had them draining into, just DUMP THE JUICES first :))
  3. Add the yogurt, another clove of smashed/ grated garlic, the bit of vinegar, and the mayo. (If you use full fat Greek yogurt you can skip the mayo IMO). Add the dill and more chopped parsley, some black pepper, and, at the very end, once you’ve smoothed it for serving, add a little olive oil on the top. Set aside for serving.

Salmon⌗

  1. Increase the oven temp to 425. If the tomatoes are soft but not browned, leave them in the oven - the higher heat will brown them just a little. Put the marinated salmon on a sheet tray and roast for about 10 minutes - check and see, it may need 5 minutes more, but it may not. Also watch the vegetables - a little charring is OK but you don’t want them to burn.
  2. Pull everything from the oven and let it all rest. That will give you a minute to re-heat the grains.
  3. To serve, use a spatula to separate the salmon into chunks, leaving the skin on the sheet tray. Let everyone add their grains to a bowl, and top with the chunks of salmon, the tomato sauce, and the chopped spinach and parsley. Pass the cucumber sauce, please!!

Makes roughly 4 servings.

(recipe cred: my mother Dorothy)