Rhubarb Pepper Salmon

This recipe was elusive but I felt very motivated to figure it out because it's so unique and yummy. One day I was preparing salmon, and I had bought some rhubarb to make kind of a fakey crustless rhubarb "surprise". I looked at the salmon, the rhubarb, and a bottle of "cabfandel" and had a vision. I try to eat salmon a couple times/week but how often can you eat pan fried salmon with a squeeze of lemon? Boring! So anyway, 1st time was great, but not totally balanced. It took me a couple times to get the proportions right mostly because I got overzealous with the wine and rhubarb - too much of a good thing. That's why I like doing this blog because I get a recipe that's repeatable and I spend extra time to balance it because I want to be honest with ME and YOU. It's a HUGE 5 block meal(2 actually) - each person eating a pound of veggies alone! Strictly paleo (if you assume the alcohol boils off from the wine) with zone proportions. Here it is.. .

Rhubarb Pepper Salmon

•12 oz salmon (preferably wild) - cubed
•16 oz broccoli – cut up
•16 oz zucchini - sliced
•2 Cups sliced mushrooms
•1 Cup diced leeks or scallions
•2 Tbl olive oil
•1 Cup Cabernet or red zin
•½ Cup diced rhubarb (fresh in Feb!)
•½ tsp ground pepper
•2 Cups strawberries - desert- but I munch them with the meal.. ;-)

•Prepare all the ingredients. The zucchini goes in a steamer by itself. Get that going.
•Next, get the Cabernet, rhubarb, and pepper simmering in a pan. We’ll let this reduce to about ½ original volume. Enjoy the smell!! Don’t let the rhubarb get mushy.



•At the same time, saute the leeks and mushrooms for a bout 5 minutes then add salmon, mix a little, then add broccoli on top and cover. Cook on high another ~ 10 minutes or until broc and salmon is done. Mix occasionally.
•Put rhubarb reduction over salmon/broc. Add zucchini on the side, throw on some fresh ground pepper - chow! Munch the berries with dinner or keep them for desert (or snag some of that left-over wine depending on how strict you are feeling!)
... if you're a 2X or 3X fat type, like me, just throw in a handful of nuts or snack on them while you're cooking (that's what I do).
Oh - one more thing.... broccoli has a lot of protein (how? - I'll never know), almost 7 gm per 8 oz. I DON'T care and I DON'T count it! Broccoli does NOT have all the essential amino acids (essential means you cannot produce them) so you're counting on some other food with the other amino acids to make up the difference. (Kind of like having lots of lumber but being short on nails and hoping you find some along the way somewhere) That's too complicated and too chancy for me. I'll err on the too much protein side - thank you very much.

Steve "Paleo"