Tuscan Tomato Basil Salmon w Warm Kale Salad

About

Roasted salmon is inspired by Tuscan summers on the vineyard. Thick, meaty salmon fillets are marinated with seasonings and olive oil. Then, they’re roasted in butter in a cast-iron skillet. After roasting, your skillet is filled with a creamy tomato-basil mixture that thickens around the fish. A sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese tops the dish before it’s toasted under your oven broiler. Served on the side is a warm, lemony side salad. Keeping the Tuscan theme, the salad is topped with chopped green olives, buttery pecans, and pepperoncini. This is an excellent Keto meal to impress the family at dinner time or your date on date-night. If you don’t want so much protein, you can cut the salmon fillets down to 4-ounce fillets for meal prepping. Since the salad is warm, you can keep the finished recipe in your refrigerator and microwave it all together when you’re ready to eat.

I Don’t Have A Cast-Iron Skillet

If you don’t own a cast-iron skillet, you’ll want to use a non-stick, oven-safe pan. The non-stick part is the most essential! In order to keep your salmon in whole pieces and at that perfect flaky texture, the fillets must be able to release from the pan naturally while cooking. Otherwise, the spices will stick and burn beyond the ideal “blackened” taste. If you don’t have a pan that is oven-safe, you have two options for Step 4. You may simply omit using a broiler or you can transfer the contents of your pan to a glass baking dish. If you transfer the ingredients, you may need to keep them under the broiler for longer than directed.

Drinks To Pair With Your Meal

Keeping the Tuscan inspiration throughout your meal, you may want to have a beverage that follows the theme. As much as wine would pair perfectly, that simply won’t do on the Keto diet. Carb Manager has several Keto cocktail recipes that have little to no carbs you can choose from. The Keto Blackberry Basil Cocktails features fresh blackberries, your favorite vodka, and sparkling water – perfect for a meal on the balcony! The Keto Fizzy Moscow Mule tastes just like what you order at the bar but uses fresher ingredients and natural ginger. Check out Carb Manager’s Keto beverage recipes for more cocktail creations.

Ingredients

1 lb salmon, red (sockeye), raw, alaska native
1 teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon seasoned salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
⅛ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
½ teaspoon italian seasoning
½ tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
½ teaspoon, chopped garlic
5 oz grape tomato
⅛ teaspoon salt
10 leaf basil
3 tablespoon cream heavy whipping
1 tablespoon, grated parmesan cheese, fresh (hard)
3 oz kale
¼ each – juice from one lemon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ oz pecans, raw
1 teaspoon, chopped garlic
¾ teaspoon, whole pieces sesame seeds
1 oz green olives
1 ¼ oz pepperoncini
½ oz scallions

Instructions

Prepare whole, 8-ounce salmon fillets by patting them dry with paper towels. Then, rub the olive oil into the flesh. Season the fillets with seasoned salt, black pepper, onion powder, lemon pepper, and italian seasoning. Set the fillets on a plate or in a clean container and marinate them in your refrigerator for 1-2 hours. When you’re ready to cook, melt the first amount of butter in a cast-iron skillet on high heat.
Place the salmon in the hot butter seasoned-side down. Let the salmon sear on one side for 5-6 minutes. When the salmon naturally releases from the pan and the seasonings are blackened, flip the fish over. Reduce the skillet heat to low and melt the second amount of butter in the pan. Add the garlic into the melted butter.
While the garlic is toasting in the butter, halve the grape tomatoes and add them to a mixing bowl. Toss the tomatoes with salt and chopped basil. Pour the seasoned tomatoes into the skillet and let them cook in the butter for about 8 minutes. Cook the tomatoes down until they split and become very soft. Meanwhile, turn your oven broiler on to preheat to high heat.
Pour the cream into the skillet. Continue cooking the skillet over low heat until the cream mixes with the tomatoes and starts to bubble. Take the skillet off the heat and sprinkle parmesan cheese over all the ingredients. Set the cast-iron skillet in the oven and cook under the broiler for 4-5 minutes. When the salmon has blackened just a little more, the parmesan turns golden, and the creamy tomatoes gain a golden edge around the skillet, the dish is done. Set the skillet aside to rest.
While the skillet is in the oven, you can prepare the kale salad by removing the kale leaves from the stems. Discard the stems and chop the kale. The ingredient list provides the weight of kale that does NOT include the weight of the stems. Add the chopped kale to a large mixing bowl with lemon juice and salt. Use your hands to gently massage the kale. The salt will extract liquid from the kale and wilt it. Massage the kale for up to 5 minutes – until the leaves are tender to your liking.
Set the bowl of kale aside to rest. In a small pan or pot, combine the olive oil, chopped pecans, minced garlic, and sesame seeds. Heat the olive oil over low heat and let the ingredients begin to toast in the oil until their fragrant. When you can smell the pecans and seed the garlic and sesame seeds have started to turn golden, remove your pan from the heat. Leave the toasted ingredients aside momentarily.
Go back to the bowl of kale. Chop the olives, pepperoncini (remove any stems), and green onion. Add these ingredients to the kale. Slowly pour the warm olive oil and toasted ingredients over the kale salad. Fold the ingredients over in your mixing bowl until you have a consistent salad mixture and you see everything coated in the oil and spices. Serve the kale salad warm with the Tuscan salmon.