In the Pacific Northwest, salmon is ubiquitous. (Actually, I find the lack of variety of seafood in supermarkets up here disappointing.) So I cook a lot of salmon. This thread is for sharing your salmon recipes. I’ll start with tonight’s dinner.
I didn’t actually ‘cook’ tonight. I made Trader Joe’s Salmon Pinwheels; spirals of salmon with spinach and feta cheese. Per the suggestions on the linked site, I seared the salmon for three minutes (in olive oil), then baked it at 400ºF for 13 minutes. I served it with lemon wedges and asparagus.
They were very good. I have other ‘recipes’ and recipes I like more (I’ll post them later), but these were quite tasty. And very quick and easy.
I usually make a marinade with 2 TB honey, 1 TB mustard and 2 tsp sriracha. Mix all of that together and baste two 6-8 oz. salmon filets with it. I bake in the oven at 425F for anywhere from 13 to 17 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the fish. Easy weeknight meal.
Just had broiled salmon (from Aldi’s) atop a salad. The wife cooks it on high about 9 minutes, and then checks the interior color for doneness.
Spinach, lettuce variety mix, goat cheese, seeds & nuts, tiny tomatoes, some crumbled pita crackers. I dress my salads with odd mustards and/or green salsas — obviously a personal decision.
Thinly slice fennel bulb, make sealed parchment paper parcels of fish on fennel slices topped with slices of lemon, chopped fennel frond, and capers. Add some dry white wine and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake at 180° for 15-20 minutes.
Get the grill really hot, plop the salmon onto the grate skin-side down. Then turn off the grill and use a butane torch to singe the pecan wood in the smoker tray (to start it smoking). Close lid, set timer then fetch it into the kitchen after the “ding”. No spices at all, just the smoke.
Usually we have it with baked potatoes and a salad of some type.
I enjoy a wild salmon scramble for breakfast on weekends. Take some smoked or leftover salmon and fry it up with chopped peppers into the scrambled eggs. Great protein for the morning, better than all other fatty breakfast meats.
Remove skin from the salmon. (who wants to eat the skin, anyway?
Spread teriaki sauce on salmon. (preferably let it marinate overnight, but who has the time or foresight to do that, huh?)
Put each piece of salmon on a square of tin foil. (rub a bit of oil on the tin foil first so it doesn’t stick).
Open a can of pineapple pieces. (and if ya wanna look fancy, pineapple rings).
Spoon the pineapple chunks over the salmon. For fancy, place a full ring of pineapple on top of the fish. Add several spoonfuls of the pineapple juice from the can.
Sprinkle broken up bits of walnut or almonds on top.
Fold up the aluminum foil over the top of each piece of salmon so it is a sealed envelope. with the pineapple juice sealed inside.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Serve with rice. For fancy, make that a mixture of white rice and wild rice.
Here’s one of my favorite salmon recipes I’ve posted here before:
Get charcoal going on half of the grill.
Mold foil around the salmon filet into a form-fitting open top ‘tray’. Add a little soy sauce, the juice of a lime, and a splash of white wine or a good beer. Season with pepper and minced garlic.
Put salmon in foil on cool side of grill. Add wood chips to charcoal for smoke. I personally like Maple wood for this, though some might say it’s too strong of a flavor for salmon.
When salmon is done, serve it on plates with some of the now reduced smoky sauce drizzled over the salmon pieces.
Marinate face down in olive oil, Worcestershire, lemon zest and lemon juice for 30 minutes. Flip and put on baking sheet. Sprinkle top with mix of salt, pepper and paprika. Broil on bottom rack for 14 minutes. Top will be blackened.
Place salmon filet(s) in a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper and top liberally with a mixture of panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning (or any seasoning of your choice.) Pop in a 425 oven for about 20 minutes or to about 158 internal temp. I usually make a lemon-butter sauce to go with it, but that’s optional.
My occasional neighbour works for Costco, and he suggested I try their pesto salmon. I did, and loved it. The only problem is that it comes in a tray of three pieces, and there’s only two of us. So…
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Soften some unsalted butter and mix in pesto. (I have Trader Joe’s Pesto alla Genovese.) Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, and put two thick salmon filets skin side down into it. Put a pingpong ball-sized scoop of your pesto butter on top of each filet. (Or use less for smaller pieces of fish.) Bake in the oven for 25 minutes (or less, if you’re not using thick pieces of salmon).
We have a rub mix we found in some book somewhere called “Cajun rub”. It’s like 15 herbs and spices*. We coat the entire filet and bake it. It’s almost “blackened”. mmm mmm
If not that we coat it with pesto.
Both served over rice.
* we put that shit everywhere. It’s great on chicken, too.
I have a recipe for ‘Cajun salmon’. The recipe is in a cookbook written by the ex-husband of a former Doper. I was going to post the recipe later. I still will, after I get some work done. Alas, my wife said she doesn’t think she can eat it anymore. She thinks it’s good, but she can’t handle the spices anymore.
Note: You can use filets for a main dish, or cut the filets into 2-inch squares for appetisers.
The Rub
1 tsp ground cumin seed
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
2 TBSP chilli powder
Big pinch pepper
Big pinch salt
Should be enough for 1 lb salmon. I make a bunch of it at a time, and keep it in a jar so I always have some ready.
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. Trim the salmon and remove the bones if needed. Press the meat side of the salmon into the rub.
Put a bit of olive oil into a cast-iron frying pan, or other pan that can go into the oven. (I use cast-iron.) Heat the olive oil to just under the smoking point. Place the fish into the pan, meat side (spiced side) down. Let this cook for 2 to 4 minutes, depending on thickness.Flip the fish over onto the skin side and cook for about 2 more minutes. Once the skin starts to get crispy, place the whole pan into the oven for about 7 minutes. Do not over-cook.
Rice & beans would be a good side dish. Personally, I like steamed broccoli and mac’n’ cheese with it. The cookbook says white wine is the best match, e.g. Gewürztraminer or Riesling; but I only drink white wine if there isn’t any red.
The Missus likes when I make salmon with lemon-dill Béchamel.
Put a little bit of kosher salt on salmon filets, and then add dill to taste. Fresh, chopped dill is best, but use what ya got. Bake in the oven at 375°F until done. Meanwhile make a Béchamel sauce, with salt and dill. We like a lot of dill in the sauce. When it thickens, add lemon juice to taste. Serve the sauce over the fish. The sauce is also good on asparagus, which is our usual veg.
I cook salmon about once every 1-2 weeks. It doesn’t need a lot of spices, even just salt only is fine and maybe some herbs, lemon and/or pepper. Salmon goes very well with whole grain rye bread that’s been warmed hot and crunchy in the oven.
The most important thing I’ve found is to not overcook it. Salmon cooked medium is delicious, but turns into mush when overcooked. Also helps if it’s a thicker piece. Tail pieces overcook more easily, and are less tasty in my experience.
I usually cut it into medallions or fillet pieces, sear both sides in a hot pan first, then put in a 150C (302F) oven until the internal temperature in the thickest part is about 50C (122F). The temperature will continue to go up a bit after taking it out of the oven, so the final temperature will be somewhere between 52-55C (125 - 131F)
