Salmon bowl recipe a nutritional powerhouse

Pardo’s Restaurant Executive Chef Alex Moss, left, and owner Osman Rodas were the featured chef in Healthier Northshore’s latest Eat Well, Live Well cooking demonstration series, produced with key support from St. Tammany Health System, the American Heart Association and NAMI St. Tammany. (Photo by Tory Mansfield / STHS)

The ingredients list for Chef Osman Rodas’ Salmon Power Bowl recipe looks ordinary enough: garlic, olive oil, ginger, spinach, things like that. If there is a surprise to be found, it is probably the blueberries.

But the real rock star is one most people probably aren’t quite as familiar with, as he told the two dozen or so people in attendance at Healthier Northshore’s quarterly Eat Well, Live Well cooking demonstration on Sept. 25 at St. Tammany Cancer Center – A Campus of Ochsner Medical Center.

“The menu today is based on polyphenols,” he said. “I wanted this dish to be polyphenol-rich.”

As he went on to explain, polyphenols are micronutrients that occur naturally in certain plants, including all those foods listed above. Packed with antioxidants, they have been shown to offer protection against development of certain cancers, as well as benefiting people suffering from any of a variety of chronic conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure and others.

To Chef Osman, owner of Pardo’s Restaurant in Mandeville, that’s important both for his cancer center audience but also for himself.

“I recently turned 53, and I noticed my body started changing,” he said. “Everything about me started changing, physically.”

Specifically, dishes that his body used to tolerate well when he was a younger man simply didn’t make him feel right anymore.

“I was like, all right, I’ve obviously got to start paying attention to what I put in my body,” he said.

That meant reconsidering his ingredients list to include foods that pack a nutritional punch, like his Salmon Power Bowl recipe, which is served with a side of pecan quinoa and topped with a blueberry ginger sauce.

In addition to getting a sample of it as part of September’s cooking demo, all audience members also received a box of fresh ingredients – as they do at all Eat Well, Live Well demos – so they could re-create the dish at home, courtesy of Rick and Tina Flick of Banner Ford.

And while it might sound fancy, it’s a breeze to whip up.

“This is a very simple dish,” Chef Osman said. “It should take you no more than 20 minutes.”

Find Chef Osman's Salmon Power Bowl recipe below (click here for downloadable PDF version), and learn more about Healthier Northshore at HealthierNorthshore.health.

MORE EAT WELL, LIVE WELL RECIPES

Shrimp Ratatouille

Chef Dave Solazzo of Del Porto Ristorante in Covington shares his recipe for garden-fresh ratatouille with shrimp.

Grilled Pork Chops

Chef Jeff Mattias of Pyre BBQ in in Mandeville shares the recipe for his Grilled Pork Chops with Roasted Carrots.

Roasted Chicken Thighs

Chef Gavin Jobe of Meribo in Covington shares his recipe for Roasted Chicken Thighs with a Garden-fresh Vegetable Medley.

Jerk Pork Chops

Kids crash the kitchen as Chef Gavin Jobe of Meribo in Covington shares his recipe for Jerk Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes.

Pecan Pesto Pasta

Pecans, chickpeas are the stars of this dish, shared by Chef Osman Rodas of Pardo's Restaurant in Mandeville.