Brainy Salmon Pate

I heart salmon...

In fact you could say I’m a salmon addict. Trawl through the latest research and you’ll find countless reasons why this super fish is one of the healthiest types of fish around. One of my favourite reasons to eat wild caught salmon is the omega-3 fat content which helps to reduce inflammation and reduce the pain of inflammatory conditions. Even if you don’t suffer from inflammation, we all need to increase the amount of heart healthy Omega-3s in our diets and oily fish is one of the best sources for these essential fatty acids (did I mention that they were ESSENTIAL?).  Here are some more healthy fats.

Another reason to celebrate this wonder fish is that, contrary to other common fish varieties; beautiful wild salmon can be eaten without dramatic concern for its mercury content. So there’s no need to be salmon-phobic about heavy metals. Read more about Wild Salmon and Super Foods here.

Above and beyond the obvious health benefits of salmon, its source of Omega 3s and protein content, Wild Salmon has some other unfamiliar but highly beneficial claims to fame.

As little as 110gm of Salmon contains your daily allowance of Vitamin D. Vitamin D, is not abundant in most food choices, and one of the best ways to get a shot is a good dose of sunlight! Given the sedentary nature of the jobs we lead today, a good daily measure of sunshine is usually hard to come by, that’s why many of us have become severely deficient.

It also contains vitamin B-12 THAT wonder vitamin which assists in the prevention of anemia and combats tiredness, anxiety and depression. Canned salmon also has a wonderfully large amount of calcium, due to the fact that the bones are preserved with the fish. Don’t fear these little critters, they literally disintegrate once you mash the salmon! Vertebrae have never been so healthy!

Pay particular attention to the type of canned salmon you buy and ensure its Wild. Most ‘Atlantic Salmon’ has come from farmed sites, where fish are crammed together and fed an horrific concoction of soy protein, corn, antibiotics (the fish are bound to get sick in such tight confines!) and even pigments to ensure what we see looks like the real deal ‘pink’ or ‘red’ salmon.

To keep this pate together gelatin is my go to ingredient. Gelatin is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless thickening agent, which when dissolved in hot water and cooled, forms a jelly to hold other ingredients together.  Supercharged with nutrients the truth is that it’s essentially a cooked form of collagen which helps to repair skin, hair and nails.

Gelatin is 35% glycine, an amazing anti-inflammatory compound, particularly good at healing and soothing the intestinal lining aka gut and digestion issues. Gelatin is also a great source of arginine, a well-known component to many ‘fat loss’ supplements.  Here's some more info about the wonders of gelatin. So why spend fortunes on expensive amino acids that help regulate the metabolism, when we can find them in nature?

All of the pate ingredients are readily available and not cost prohibitive (yay!) so why don’t you create a little salmon variation in your diet and served it up as the French do?

Enjoy with gluten free bread or crackers or crunchy kale chips.

Ingredients

• 1 can salmon (415 gms)
• 2 TBS lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon rind
• 1 TBS chopped fresh dill
• 1 TBS gelatine
• 1 small red onion chopped
• 1 TBS fresh parsley chopped
• 1 TBS capers (rinsed and drained)

Here's how to get smart

• Remove any bones from salmon and drain but reserve the liquid
• Place salmon, lemon juice, rind and dill into a food processor and blend until combined
• In a saucepan on a medium heat sprinkle the gelatine over 2 TBS of the reserved liquid until the gelatine dissolves
• Add to the salmon mixture, stir in the onion, parsley and capers.
• Refrigerate until set

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Lee 🙂