Grilled 5-Spice Salmon over Soba Noodles

South Beach diet recipes continue. I love grilled salmon and soba noodles are low on the glycemic index so this was a perfect pairing.

Oh five spice powder. The Chinese gave us a wonderful seasoning blend of cloves, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds and Szechuan peppercorns. With five spice power you get to taste sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty all at once. If you’ve never tried five-spice powder before, you might want to start with half the amount and then add more later. 

Soba noodles cook super fast (within 3 minutes). While you wait on the water to boil, saute' a large bag of spinach in a little olive oil. Add some minced garlic and salt and cook until just wilted. Remove from heat. After the soba noodles are cooked, drain and mix in with the spinach. Give it a couple of dashes of soy sauce and stir well. This will be the base to place the yummy salmon.

1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime peel

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar substitute
1 pound salmon steaks, cut into 4 equal pieces
8 cups fresh baby-spinach leaves
2 cloves garlic, pressed

In a 2-quart dish, combine the lime peel, lime juice, 1 teaspoon of the oil, ginger, five-spice powder, and sugar substitute. Add the salmon and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove the salmon from the marinade and place on the grill rack. Brush the salmon with additional marinade. Close the grill cover and cook for 4 minutes. Open the grill cover, turn the salmon, and brush with marinade. Close the cover and cook for 4 minutes longer, or until the salmon flakes easily. Discard any remaining marinade.

I cooked indoors on a grill pan but for the same time, 4 minutes per side. When salmon is done, place on top of soba noodles. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.