SALMON FLORENTINE OVER SWEET POTATO, CARROT, AND CHICKPEA PUREE

Seafood|Gluten-free

Ingredients

The Puree:

1 large sweet potato (about 14-16 ounces)

2 large carrots (about 8 ounces)

4 whole large garlic cloves, peeled

¾ cup olive oil, divided

1, 19 ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup water

The Salmon:

2, 10 ounce boxes chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed mostly dry

1 ¼ teaspoons salt, divided

¾ teaspoon black pepper, divided

½ cup mascarpone cheese, softened to room temperature

1 ½ cups Jarlsberg or gruyere cheese, hand shredded on the large hole of a box grater, divided

2-2 ½ pounds salmon filets

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a small baking dish with foil.

Prick holes all over the skin of the sweet potato with a fork or the tip of a steak knife and place it in the baking dish. Cut the root end off the carrots and then cut them in half and place them in the dish with the sweet potato. Add the garlic cloves to the pan and drizzle everything with ¼ cup of the olive oil to coat. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the potato and carrots are very tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes.

Scoop the flesh out of the potato skin (discard skin) and place it in a blender or food processor along with the carrots, garlic, remaining ½ cup of olive oil, the drained beans, salt, and half of the water. Process until very smooth. Add the remaining water as needed to get a smooth creamy consistency. Remove to a sauce pan and place on the stove over a very low burner to just keep warm until you are ready to serve.

To make the spinach ‘stuffing’ for the salmon, combine the spinach, ¾ teaspoon of the salt, ½ teaspoon of the black pepper, the mascarpone, and 1 cup of the shredded cheese in a large bowl and mix thoroughly to combine.

Cut the salmon into portion size pieces and place it on a foil-lined baking sheet. Season the fish with the remaining salt and pepper and then spread the spinach stuffing evenly over the top of each piece of fish. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of shredded cheese over the tops of the stuffing.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork and is just translucent in the center. Place the pan under the broiler on high for 1-2 minutes to brown the lightly tops.

Spread some of the puree over the bottom of the plate and top with a piece of the stuffed salmon. Garnish with chopped parsley. Note – if the skin was on the salmon you can just take the fish off with a spatula, leaving the skin on the foil to discard.