Healthy, delicious, and simple to make. What more could you ask for?
People have mixed feelings about asparagus, and it’s really quite understandable. Let’s have a moment of honesty here: However healthy it is, it does make your pee smell! If you are willing to overlook this tiny little downside, the positive side is blaring with great health benefits. We’ll get into those in a minute, but first we want to convince you to eat more asparagus by making this Smoked Salmon with Asparagus and Egg Salad.
With all three key ingredients in one plate, this salad is exploding with nutrients, not to mention the flavors! There’s absolutely no reason to skip this recipe (unless you really don’t like asparagus). It’s easy and fast to prepare, and it stores well in the fridge, making it a great make-ahead recipe for lunch. But don’t take our word for it: Learn more about the health benefits of asparagus!
Super-Nutrient-Dense Asparagus Can Help You Lose Weight
Here’s the plus side to asparagus: It’s packed full of super nutrients. It’s full of fiber and protein, along with cancer-fighting antioxidants. You’ll also benefit from getting more vitamins A, C, E, K, B6, folate, iron, and copper. That’s a lot of vitamins and minerals!
It get’s better, because guess what? Asparagus can also aide you in your weight loss diet! It’s a low-calorie food and it practically has no fat, so it’s almost a freebie food for those of you counting the calories. Because it’s full of fiber (which the body digests very slowly), it also works hard to keep you feeling full for a longer period of time.
As if that wasn’t enough, asparagus also has a high level a natural diuretic called amino acid asparagine. This is great if you’re trying to detox your body the natural way because it aids in flushing away excess liquid. So many great qualities, and one smelly bad one. In this case, the good certainly outweighs the bad!
Asparagus + Salmon + Eggs
For this Smoked Salmon with Asparagus and Egg Salad recipe, we wanted to pair asparagus with two other flavorful (and, nutritious) foods. Eggs and smoked salmon were natural choices. They not only taste fantastic together, but the nutrients also compliment each other very well.
Eggs are often categorized as a superfood because they contain incredible nutrients. As we all know, eggs are rich in protein as well as a good amount of vitamins A, B5, B2, B12, folate, phosphorus, and selenium. They do happen to be rich in cholesterol, but they’re filled with the “good” kind which doesn’t affect the blood.
As for the salmon, it’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These beneficial fats occur naturally in oily fish and they help in healthy brain and heart functions. If you’re pregnant and breastfeeding women, though, you should check with your doctor before consuming fish high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Our wine suggestions would be to pair this Smoked Salmon with Asparagus and Egg Salad recipe with a smooth dry white wine with a medium body, good acidity, and minerality in the palate. Still white wine is good, but sparkling is almost better because the effervescence can help wash away the fatty flavor of the salmon. Wines made with international grape varieties like Chardonnay and Sauvignon work very well. Or, if you want to explore more Italian wines, try Pignoletto, Verdicchio, Fiano or Arneis.
Smoked Salmon with Asparagus and Egg Salad
Ingredients
- 8 cups water
- 2 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1 1/2 pounds asparagus hard ends taken away
- 8 eggs
- 1 pound smoked salmon
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest from an untreated lemon
- 2 teaspoons chives fresh, chopped
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 lemon juice only
Instructions
- Over high heat, in a tall medium cooking pot filled with about 8 cups of water, bring to a boil. When it boils, add all the coarse salt then cook the asparagus for 4 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness. Leave the water boiling in the pot as you will use it for cooking the eggs.
- Take the asparagus with a slotted spoon then put them in an ice bath (ice cubes and water) in a bowl immediately. If you don't have an ice bath, just let the drained asparagus cool down. Ice bath retains a more vibrant green color to the asparagus.
- In the same pot of boiling water, cook the eggs between 5 to 6 minutes, depending on how runny you want the egg yolks. In the picture the eggs were cooked for 6 minutes.
- Drain then let the eggs cool down before shelling them.
- On a large plate or individual dishes, place the salmon, asparagus, eggs, lemon zest, chives, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
Nutrition Information
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