This Salmon and Roe Salad is probably as close to the top of the nutrient dense foods as it gets: wild salmon, and salted salmon roe with all its goodness untouched by processing; kefir, sour cream and pickle juice to flood your belly with beneficial bacteria; cold cooked potatoes to supply resistant starch to feed that bacteria to help your body function smoothly; and some yummy herbs to top it all off.
But never mind the nutrition – this salad is amazingly delicious… tangy, salty and fresh at once. This is my variation on the endless holiday fare assortment that I grew up on in Russia, which used anything from pickled herring to jellied beef tongue. Try to get wild salmon; besides having a beautiful bright red color, it is high in astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant linked to a numerous health benefits and excessively studied (source). You can get wild salmon roe at stores like Whole Foods, or better – try ethnic markets, you would get lower price and fresher product because of faster rotation. Make sure it only has two ingredients – roe and salt.
Modify it to make it strict Paleo friendly by skipping potatoes and using homemade mayonnaise instead of sour cream and kefir. You can serve it on a bed of crispy greens for a striking presentation.
- 1 hard boiled pastured egg
- 1 medium cold boiled potato, with or without skin, you choose
- 1 medium cucumber
- 6-8 ounces smoked wild salmon
- 2-3 green onions (reserve some for topping)
- Several sprigs of fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons sour cream ([url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/how-to-make-sour-cream/” target=”_blank” title=”How to Make Sour Cream”]how to make sour cream[/url])
- 1/4 cup kefir ([url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/make-kefir-and-why-you-should/” target=”_blank” title=”How to Make Kefir, and Why You Should”]how to make kefir[/url])
- 2 tablespoons pickle juice (like Bubbie’s from refrigerated sections, or [url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/lacto-fermented-cucumber-pickles/” target=”_blank” title=”Lacto Fermented Cucumber Pickles”]make your own[/url])
- 1 teaspoon (or to taste) fine sea salt, or Himalayan salt
- A couple of shakes of pepper
- 1/4 cup salmon roe
- Chop egg, potato, cucumber and salmon into bite size pieces. Peeling cukes makes it more elegant tasting, I do it with bigger cukes.
- Mix well, add remaining ingredients except for salmon roe, and mix again.
- Taste for salt, add more salt if your smoked salmon is not too salty.
- Place in a serving dish, or little individual dishes, top with salmon roe and green onions.
