AIP ginger-lime baked salmon over zucchini with coconut aminos marinade

There is a quiet assumption that food doing real work for your body has to be complicated: many ingredients, many steps, hours at the stove. This is 20 minutes and 1 pan, and it is still doing exactly that.

Salmon is a source of omega-3 fatty acids, specifically EPA and DHA, which some research connects to lower systemic inflammation, particularly relevant when your immune system is already running hot. Wild-caught, eaten a few times a week, is 1 of the more direct food choices available for that work. The marinade (ginger, lime, garlic, coconut aminos, a small amount of honey) does the flavor work while the fish and the zucchini share the same pan and the same 20 minutes.

Season the fish, lay it over the zucchini, and give a small nod to where it came from while you plate it, a fish that lived its life in open water before it reached this kitchen.

20 minutes is not much time, and it is enough to put something on the table that is both simple and genuinely working in your favor.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs fresh or frozen salmon (thawed if frozen)
• 1 bunch green onions, whites and greens separated, both diced
• 1/4 cup olive oil (AIP swap: in place of sesame oil)
• 2 to 3 inches fresh ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (or lemon juice)
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (or lemon zest)
• 1 teaspoon raw honey
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 to 5 zucchini, sliced into rounds or half-moons

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Arrange the sliced zucchini in a single layer in a baking dish. Season lightly with sea salt and scatter the green onion whites over the top.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, grated ginger, crushed garlic, coconut aminos, lime juice, lime zest, honey, and sea salt. Stir until the honey is dissolved.

Lay the salmon skin-side down on top of the zucchini. Spoon the marinade generously over the fish, letting some of it run down onto the zucchini. Let it sit for 10 minutes while the oven finishes preheating if time allows - even a short marinade makes a difference.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Salmon is done when it flakes easily with a fork at the thickest part but still looks slightly translucent at the center. Do not rush it past that point - overcooked salmon loses both texture and flavor.

Scatter the green onion greens over the top before serving. Bring the baking dish to the table and let people serve themselves.

Air fryer variation

Preheat the air fryer to 375 F. Place the zucchini slices in the basket and cook for 5 minutes to give them a head start. Lay the marinated salmon over the zucchini and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet. Check at 10 minutes - the fish should flake at the thickest point but still hold together. Finish with green onion greens. The air fryer gives the edges of the salmon a slight caramelized quality that the oven version does not, which is worth trying.

*Adapted from eatbeautiful.net*