Citrus Beet Salad with Slow-Roasted Salmon is absolutely packed with brain-boosting MIND Diet essentials. Simple and nutritious, yet so flavorful, this salad is perfect for your late summer and fall table (or any time of year, really!). The bitter arugula is balanced by the acidic, well-seasoned dressing and the sweet beets and oranges on top. Serve with crusty whole-grain bread or sourdough for a complete meal.
You can simply omit the salmon to make this a quick and easy side dish. I’m planning on making this version my traditional holiday potluck offering as a contrast to all those rich celebratory foods.
Enough about how delicious Citrus Beet Salad with Slow-Roasted Salmon tastes, let’s talk about all the amazing brain-health benefits:
- Salmon is one of the most brain-beneficial foods you can eat, thanks to its high levels of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that is essential for brain health. Slow roasting the salmon at a low temperature helps preserve its delicate healthy fats and keeps it from drying out.
- Arugula is a double-whammy MIND Diet food: it’s a leafy green and a cruciferous vegetable. As a leafy green, arugula contributes to a healthy brain thanks to its high levels of vitamin K, which helps build healthy brain cells. As a cruciferous vegetable, it contains sulforaphanes, which help produce brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a substance that helps protect and repair brain cells.
- Extra virgin olive oil is an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, neuroprotective MIND Diet essential, due to its monounsaturated fatty acids and other bioactive components.
- As a fermented food, miso paste contributes to good gut health because of its probiotic properties. Researchers are continually discovering that brain health and gut health are inextricably linked; a healthy gut microbiome may help give you a healthy brain.
- Beets contain a substance called betalain, which is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective vasodilator (increases blood flow to the brain). Try saying that three times fast!
- Along with their brain-healthy nutritional profile, eating pistachios can actually induce gamma wave production within the brain. Gamma waves play an important role in REM sleep and cognition, including memory retention and learning.
I hope you’ll give this colorful, brain-healthy, nutritious and delicious salad a try soon.
Citrus Beet Salad with Slow-Roasted Salmon
Notes
Ingredients
- 4 4- to 6- ounce salmon filets
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Kosher salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice from 1-2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 2 cloves garlic pressed, grated, or minced
- 5 ounces baby arugula
- 4-6 mandarin oranges peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
- 1 8.8- ounce package pre-cooked beets chopped
- 1/2 cup lightly salted pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 °F. Place salmon on a baking sheet and pat dry. Coat with olive oil; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake until salmon reaches 120 °F for wild-caught salmon, or 125 °F for farmed salmon, about 15 to 20 minutes. Gently remove skins from salmon if needed.
- While salmon is roasting, combine 1/2 cup oil, lemon juice, syrup, miso, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a jar. Cover tightly with lid and shake well.
- Toss arugula with one-third of dressing (about 1/3 cup) in a large bowl. Transfer to a serving platter. Top with oranges.
- Add beets to bowl; toss with 1/4 cup dressing and arrange on top of oranges. Sprinkle with pistachios. Serve the salad topped with salmon, drizzling with the remaining dressing over all, to taste.
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