Simply Paleo: Steamed Hake with Spinach, Onions, and Tomato

It may not come out looking pretty, but the taste of this dish will make you want to redefine your conception of beauty, so that you can say, “Yes, it is gorgeous just as it is.”Each Simply Paleo features a Paleo meal that requires minimal effort and delivers maximal tastiness. With these meals, preparation time, from washing the veggies, to preparing the plate, should be no longer than twenty-five minutes.

Steamed Hake with Spinach, Onions, and Tomato

Ingredients:

• 1 Tomato
• ½ Onion
• 1 Big Handful of Spinach
• 1 Boneless Hake Filet

These Simply Paleo meals are all easy to prepare, but this one is probably the easiest. First, chop your tomato, onion, and spinach, so that the tomato and the onion are in bite-sized pieces, and the spinach in short ribbons. Because the tomato’s juice will provide enough lubrication for the pan, cooking oil’s not necessary in this dish, but if you’d prefer, you can add a tablespoon to the pan before dropping in the veggies, and then setting the flame at medium-high. Once the tomato’s juice has filled the pan, which shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes, add your hake filet, and then cover the pan. After seven minutes, flip the filet, but do so gently, because with this dish, hake tends to fall apart rather easily. After about fifteen minutes, the food should be ready, with the hake cooked throughout, and the vegetables having melded their flavors. With five minutes prep time, and fifteen minutes cook time, this dish is ready in twenty minutes.

So easy to prepare, and yet so tasty. The hot pan causes some kind of alchemy of tastiness to occur among the veggies, with the onion and the tomato releasing their flavors into the tomato juice, and then the spinach soaking it up; just the veggies alone in this dish are absolutely delicious. But the hake offers a succulent counterpoint to the flavor amalgam of the vegetables, with the fish’s smooth taste contrasting perfectly with the vegetables savory goodness.

Simply Paleo: Pan-Fried Salmon Steak with Brussels Sprouts

By John Michael

Each Simply Paleo features a Paleo meal that requires minimal effort and delivers maximal tastiness. With these meals, preparation time, from washing the veggies, to preparing the plate, should be no longer than twenty-five minutes. 

Pan-Fried Salmon Steak with Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

• 12 – 14 Brussels Sprouts
• 1 Salmon Steak
• 2-3 Tbsp. Sunflower Seed Oil

Take a few minutes to cut your Brussels sprouts in half; this will reduce your preparation time, and ensure that the sprouts are cooked evenly. Then add a few drops of sunflower seed oil to your pan, set the flame to medium-high, and then toss your sliced Brussels sprouts in. Allow them to soak up the oil as the pan gets hot, and then, once the oil has more or less vanished, drop a swig of water into the pan, and then cover it with a lid. This quick steaming will speed the cook time of the sprouts without making them mushy. After four or five minutes, and once the water has completely evaporated, add 2 tablespoons of sunflower seed oil to the pan, and then, after reducing your flame to low-medium heat, drop your salmon steak in with the Brussels sprouts. Keeping the flame low is important; if too high, the salmon will stick to the pan, and begin to break apart in flakes as it cooks. Every five minutes for the next fifteen, flip your salmon steak so that a different side touches the pan; I find I get the best results if I cook every side except for the one with skin. After twenty minutes, turn off the heat, and then transfer your salmon and Brussels sprouts to a plate. With five minutes to cut your veggies, and twenty minutes for cooking them with the salmon, the total time for this dish comes to twenty-five minutes.

Salmon is one of my favorite fish, and cooking it in this simple manner allows the meal to be dominated by its rich and succulent flavor, which is then contrasted pleasingly by the leafy heartiness and faint vegetal bitterness of the Brussels sprouts. Don’t be surprised if, with this meal, you find yourself eating every morsel on your plate.

Simply Paleo: Sautéed Chicken with Broccoli and Carrots

By John Michael

Each Simply Paleo features a Paleo meal that requires minimal effort and delivers maximal tastiness. With these meals, preparation time, from washing the veggies, to preparing the plate, should be no longer than twenty-five minutes.

Sautéed Chicken with Broccoli and Carrots:

 Ingredients:

• Half a crown of broccoli
• Half a carrot
• 1 Skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 1 Clove of garlic
• Herbs/spices of your choice
• 1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil

Start with a skillet, and add about a tablespoon of olive oil to it. Then chop your clove of garlic, and add it to the pan. After washing your veggies, chop both the carrot and the broccoli, and then add those as well. At this point, turn on the heat, setting the flame at medium. (You may also want to cover the pan to decrease cooking time.) While the vegetables cook, cut the chicken breast into knuckle-sized cubes. Then toss these cubes into the pan, alongside the vegetables. I find that at this point it’s best to season, as whatever herbs and spices I drop in the pan will stick to the raw chicken as it cooks. Alternate between leaving the pan covered, and then removing its cover and shuffling the veggies and chicken around so they don’t burn. If necessary, add a bit more olive oil, but be sparing. Cook time should take no more than fifteen minutes. Adding in five minutes for washing and chopping the veggies brings the total time for this dish to twenty minutes.

Overall, this is a savory meal, although one finds a bit of sweetness in the carrots, and the hearty flavor of the chicken is offset by the broccoli's faint bitterness.

Simple Paleo: Salmon salad

For a simple Paleo lunch, try baby romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes and black berries dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and turmeric. Add asparagus drizzled with truffle oil and steamed in the microwave and top it off with canned salmon, in this case, Pacific Northwest wild pink salmon from RainCoast Trading.

Dr. John & Mother Hen

A Paleo Mother's Day Dinner

Two of our older boys joined us (the oldest is in Ecuador) and together with our youngest son, five of us celebrated Mother's Day with a family dinner.

Appetizers included store bought smoked oysters and shrimp.

Baby romaine & fresh herb lettuce were mixed with carrots, celery, strawberries, and olives. The salad was dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

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Simple Paleo: Lamb chops, artichokes, and broccoli

Looking for a simple yet delicious paleo meal? Try lamb chops with artichokes and broccoli.

“Mother hen” steamed the broccoli in the microwave. The artichokes, with their base sectioned, were steamed on the stove. The lamb chops, spiced with rosemary and Limnos Lamb Rub, were roasted in the oven at 375 degrees for 43 minutes.

That’s it! Simple, yet paleo delicious!