Salmon with Coconut Quinoa

This has easily become one of my favorite weeknight recipes and all of the ingredients can be bought at Trader Joe’s! It only takes about 30 minutes and has a ton of different flavors and textures. The coconut quinoa is very subtle but goes great with some sesame broccolini (or broccoli) and baked salmon. Topping the dish with toasted coconut chips and TJ’s Chili Onion Crunch is a must! I prefer to use coconut chips versus coconut flakes because they are larger and add more crunch.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

3 pieces of Salmon (I buy the BBQ Cut from TJ’s)

2 Broccolini packages (or about 2 cups of broccoli - really however much you want will work here)

1 cup of Tricolor Quinoa (white quinoa works too!)

1 can of Reduced Fat Coconut Milk

½ cup of Water

1 tbsp Sesame Oil

½ - ¾ cup of Coconut Chips

TJ’s Chili Onion Crunch

Salmon Marinade (optional but will add more flavor!):

2 tbsp of Soy Sauce

Small squeeze of Honey

Juice of 1 Lime

1 tsp of Sesame Oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash broccolini, trim the ends and cut any large stalks in half. Make salmon marinade (if using) by combining soy sauce, honey, lime juice and sesame oil.

2. In a medium sized pot combine 1 cup of quinoa, 1 can of reduced fat coconut milk and ½ cup of water. The coconut milk will have cream at the top and liquid at the bottom, be sure to add all of this as it will melt down and combine. Heat mixture over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to low and cover the pot. Let the quinoa cook for 20 minutes, you can stir the quinoa once or twice to ensure it is not sticking to the pan.

3. While quinoa is cooking, line a baking sheet with foil. Add broccolini to one half of the sheet pan and toss with 1 tbsp of sesame oil and a little bit of salt. Add the salmon filets to the other half of the sheet and coat with the marinade. Bake salmon and broccolini for 14 minutes.

4. While the other components are baking you can toast the coconut chips. In a small pan add coconut chips and toast over medium to high heat. This does not require any oil! You will want to toss the coconut chips frequently so they do not burn. Once they start to turn golden around the edges remove them from heat.

5. Assemble the dish starting with the coconut quinoa as the base and then adding the broccolini and salmon. Top with a small spoonful of TJ’s Chili Onion Crunch and a sprinkle of coconut chips - enjoy!