Thai Salmon and Spiralized Vegetable Salad

I had something else planned to post today, but I couldn't wait to share with you how I used my new spiralizer! As some of you may have seen on Snapchat, I picked up a spiralizer attachment for my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer this past weekend. I immediately came home and spiralized just about everything I could find...or everything in my fridge that could be spiralized (and a couple things that couldn't). In the end I was left with a huge bowl of zucchini, cucumber, carrot, and bell peppers. What is a girl to do with all those veggie noodles. 

It only seemed appropriate with the mix of vegetables that I do something Asian inspired. And since I had some salmon in the freezer, Thai Salmon it was! I knew it would go perfectly with the cashew dressing I had in mind for the veggie noodles! 

For the salmon, I marinated it in a mixture of soy sauce and chili powder for about an hour, then broiled it for a few minutes until it was cooked through. It was so easy! Sometimes I forget how easy salmon is to cook at home. 

The cashew dress was a little bit more complicated, but it was oh, so worth it! Normally I would make a peanut dressing using peanut butter, but I'm avoiding that right now (thanks, Whole 30) so I used cashews instead. If you don't like cashews, you can easily replace the cashews with peanuts (or peanut butter). Since cashew butter is hard to find, I just ground up some cashews into basically a butter consistency, then mixed in some soy sauce, coconut milk, chili powder, and cilantro. 

Once the salmon and dressing were done, all that was left was to load up a bowl with some spiralized noodles and top it with the Thai salmon and cashew dressing. 

Not only did we have this for dinner, but I also had it for lunch the next two days. It was so good! And that's saying a lot for a girl who doesn't totally love fish. The cashew dressing is delicious and the marinade on the salmon is so flavorful and just a little bit spicy. Enough to hide the fishy taste, which is very important for me. 

If you aren't a salmon lover, you can make this same salad with with chicken. You don't have to replace any of the ingredients! I can see myself making up a big batch of spiralized vegetables and chicken for my lunches during this round of Whole 30, and even afterwards. That's what I love about this recipe, is that even though it is Paleo, it's not rub-it-in-your-face Paleo. Which is the best kind of Paleo. 

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Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour   Cook Time: 8 minutes   Total Time: 1 hour, 8 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Salmon:

• 1 lb sockeye salmon
• 1/4 cup coconut aminos
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (or more to taste)
• 1/2 tsp red pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ginger

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2 tbsp coconut aminos
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 4 tbsp coconut milk
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp cilantro
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Salad:

• 1 zucchini, spiralized
• 1 cucumber, spiralized
• 1 carrot, spiralized or sliced with a vegetable peeler
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned

Instructions

1. Mix together the marinade for the salmon in a shallow dish. Place salmon, flesh side down in the dish. Let marinade for about an hour.
2. Meanwhile, grind up the cashews in a food processor until finely ground, almost a paste. Add in the rest of the dressing ingredients and blend until smooth.
3. Set the oven to broil on high. Place the rack about 6 inches below the broiler. Place salmon steaks skin side down on a oiled baking sheet. Broil for about 8 minutes, or until fully cooked.
4. Portion out about 2 cups of the spiralized vegetables into a bowl. Top with salmon and dressing.