I know a lot of you find paleo lunches a little challenging. You want something fast, easy, inexpensive and nutritious but there aren’t always many options around. I want to share this meal idea because it’s one of my frequent lunches and it ticks a lot of those boxes.

I hope that this way of eating canned sardines will inspire you to give them another go, even if you’ve been a non-sardine eater your whole life.

Let me introduce to my deconstructed salad (it’s always a different mix of vegetables, whatever I have on hand) with a canned sardines forshmak (I’ll explain), drizzled with lemon juice, olive oil and some sea salt. I almost always have some avocado and something green on the plate.

I have this kind of lunch at least once a week because it’s easy, fast and involves little cleaning up. It’s also one of those meals that you can easily transport in a lunch box or make in your office kitchen.

Now let’s chat about the sardines. I think they’re a bit like anchovies – you either love them or you hate them.

Most people like fresh sardines, grilled and seasoned with simple spices, lemon, parsley and so on. I had the best sardines in a coastal town of Biarritz in France, where sardines were so fresh and seasoned so perfectly, I thought I was eating a small snapper. It’s a completely different story with canned sardines, which have a stronger ‘fishier’ smell and flavour, and are often dismissed by fish snobs.

But, there is a way to enjoy canned sardines. You can experiment and find the best brand to suit your taste (I always go for the smaller sardines in olive oil or extra virgin olive oil, I avoid anything with soybean, canola etc), or you can disguise the otherwise fishy taste and smell with other yummy, strong flavours.

Try This Next Sheet Pan Salmon & Green Vegetables With Herb Garlic Sauce

Sure, you could go for canned tuna or salmon instead but think about the nutritional value of sardines – they are very high in Vitamin B12, vitamin D, selenium; one of the highest source of calcium outside of dairy; very high in Omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and low to none mercury levels. Plus, they are highly sustainable, easy to find and cheap. Make friends with sardines and your body will thank you for it.

What Is Forshmak?

Forshmak is a Jewish dish of chopped and mashed herring with onion, apple, egg, mayonnaise and other seasonings. It’s very popular in Ukraine and Russia, so I thought I’ll try to do something similar with sardines. A combination of red onion, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon and mayo works for me but you can experiment with different ingredients like capers, fennel, cucumber or olives, until you find what works for you. You can also use lemon and olive oil as a dressing instead of mayonnaise, or add a little tomato paste. One day, I will post a recipe for the actual forshmak as that’s also very tasty.

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1. Drain the sardines and mash with a fork, leaving the bones in. The bones contain most of the calcium and are small enough to eat.
2. Mix the mashed sardines with the onions, sun-dried tomatoes, mayonnaise, some lemon juice and black pepper. You can arrange everything around the sardines mixture on a plate or mix the salad in a bowl and serve the sardine forshmak mixture on top.

Make your own mayonnaise

Calcium-rich paleo foods

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Sheet Pan Salmon & Green Vegetables With Herb Garlic Sauce

This healthy and nutritious sheet pan baked salmon with herb & garlic sauce and green vegetables is quick and easy and suitable for paleo, keto, whole30 and AIP diets.

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Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been obsessed with quick and easy sheet pan meals recently. You might have tried my chorizo, chicken and asparagus bake, this quick and easy baked spiced cod with Brussels sprouts, my mushroom with balsamic chicken and onions, or my Italian sheet pan baked eggs. Today, I’m giving you a nutritious, delicious, super food packed meal of baked salmon with zesty herb and garlic sauce and green vegetables.

This sheet pan meal ticks so many boxes: paleo, keto, AIP and Whole30 friendly, it’s a perfect meal for anyone doing a reset. It has loads of green veggies, it has omega-3s rich fish, it’s quick and easy, and most importantly, it’s full of flavour.

 

Cook’s notes

I am using salmon fillets because I love oily fish and my partner really likes this particular type of fish. You can use any other part of salmon, like salmon steaks which are cheaper, or any other fish that suits your budget and location.

You can also make this with prawns or chicken instead of fish. For prawns, start baking the vegetables earlier and add the prawns in the last 5 minutes as they don’t need much time to cook. For chicken, it’s the other way around. Slice the chicken fillets into thinner strips and bake for 5 minutes before adding the vegetables, then cook for 15 more minutes together, so a total of 20 minutes for thin strips of chicken.

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Popular Recipe Shrimp Tomato & Avocado Salad Stacks

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Description

This healthy and nutritious sheet pan baked salmon with herb & garlic sauce and green vegetables is quick and easy and suitable for paleo, keto, whole30 and AIP diets.

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For the sauce

For the rest

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1. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F.
2. Mix together the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Grease a large sheet pan or flat-ish baking tray with about a tablespoon of olive oil and place the salmon fillets in the middle, leaving about an inch of space in between. Spread even amounts of the sauce over the top of each salmon fillet.
4. Scatter the green vegetables around and in between the fillets, overlapping each other is fine. Drizzle the vegetables lightly with olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and the juice of half of the remaining lemon. Sprinkle with a few pinches of sea salt and pepper.
5. Place the tray in the oven for 15 minutes, rotating halfway if your oven is slightly uneven in temperature (like mine).
6. Serve while hot with any additional vegetables, salads, or starchy carbs, if you needed.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 403
• Sugar: 4.4 g
• Sodium: 458.2 mg
• Fat: 22.2 g
• Saturated Fat: 3.4 g
• Carbohydrates: 14.8 g
• Fiber: 5.5 g
• Protein: 41.7 g
• Cholesterol: 82.9 mg

Keywords: Salmon, Sheet Pan, Dinner, Asparagus, Sprouts, Healthy, Gluten-Free, Low-Carb, Keto

 

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