I am...MACK SALMON!
January 26, 2010 5:17 AM Subscribe
SalmonFilter: Help me devise a guaranteed home-run broiled salmon recipe, ideally involving cheese and wine.
Sometime in the next 4-12 days I will be cooking a dinner for myself and two hungry guests involving a 1.8-pound salmon filet I got at the local co-op. I have broiled salmon once before, and it was a success, but I sort of improvised on the ingredients—some garlic here, some rosemary there, etc. This time I want to do something less haphazard.
Parameters:
- I want to use cheese, like maybe parmesan. We are big on cheese.
- The recipe should not be too elaborate or fancy. I am neither an experienced cook nor trying to impress anybody, so it should be nearly impossible to screw up.
- I would like to use dry riesling, but this is not compulsory.
- Heavier is better; I want this meal, as much as possible, to induce a blissful catatonia of holiday-season proportions.
- As there will be three people eating this, I suspect I'll need a hearty accompanying dish. Potato suggestions preferred.
Sometime in the next 4-12 days I will be cooking a dinner for myself and two hungry guests involving a 1.8-pound salmon filet I got at the local co-op. I have broiled salmon once before, and it was a success, but I sort of improvised on the ingredients—some garlic here, some rosemary there, etc. This time I want to do something less haphazard.
Parameters:
- I want to use cheese, like maybe parmesan. We are big on cheese.
- The recipe should not be too elaborate or fancy. I am neither an experienced cook nor trying to impress anybody, so it should be nearly impossible to screw up.
- I would like to use dry riesling, but this is not compulsory.
- Heavier is better; I want this meal, as much as possible, to induce a blissful catatonia of holiday-season proportions.
- As there will be three people eating this, I suspect I'll need a hearty accompanying dish. Potato suggestions preferred.
Season the fish with pepper. You can also experiment with a dry rub using things like pepper and star anise. Seal the salmon in foil, laying it on sliced lemons or fresh fennel bulbs. Bake until done at a medium heat. About 30-40 minutes at 350degF. The flesh should be easy to flake apart.
Make a dill-parmesan mayo thing to go with it. A side of mashed potatoes and celeriac, seasoned with butter and a little truffle oil. Serve a light salad to start, purpose echoing the fennel by using that. Mandarines make a nice salad with fennel.
Goes with any dry white wine, but Alsatian riesling is ideal.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:35 AM on January 26, 2010
Make a dill-parmesan mayo thing to go with it. A side of mashed potatoes and celeriac, seasoned with butter and a little truffle oil. Serve a light salad to start, purpose echoing the fennel by using that. Mandarines make a nice salad with fennel.
Goes with any dry white wine, but Alsatian riesling is ideal.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:35 AM on January 26, 2010
Best answer: I think cheese and fish generally do not go together, so I might use the parm in one of your side dishes.
However, I do have a great salmon recipe:
1. Chop up some garlic and parsely and toss with a bit of olive oil.
2. Slice the salmon horizontally in the middle to make a sort of pocket, being careful not to cut all the way through the fish.
3. Stuff the garlic, parsely, and olice oil into the pocket.
4. Brush the salmon with a glaze of 1 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp dijon mustard, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.
All kinds of delicious.
posted by Aizkolari at 6:35 AM on January 26, 2010 [7 favorites]
However, I do have a great salmon recipe:
1. Chop up some garlic and parsely and toss with a bit of olive oil.
2. Slice the salmon horizontally in the middle to make a sort of pocket, being careful not to cut all the way through the fish.
3. Stuff the garlic, parsely, and olice oil into the pocket.
4. Brush the salmon with a glaze of 1 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp dijon mustard, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.
All kinds of delicious.
posted by Aizkolari at 6:35 AM on January 26, 2010 [7 favorites]
Best answer: No clue for the salmon, but whenever I need a potato side, I go to Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes. Dead simple, and ridiculously delicious. You can season them however you like; PW suggests rosemary, and I couldn't agree more. Don't skimp on the olive oil.
posted by specialagentwebb at 6:55 AM on January 26, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by specialagentwebb at 6:55 AM on January 26, 2010 [3 favorites]
Fish and cheese don't really go together at all. In fact I cannot think of any recipe I have made that had both in it before. If you want to include a cheese with the meal I would add it to a side dish. Like cheesy rice and broccoli or add cheddar to mashed potatoes. You could always have cheese and wine as an appetizer or an after dinner thing?
posted by Mastercheddaar at 7:03 AM on January 26, 2010
posted by Mastercheddaar at 7:03 AM on January 26, 2010
plenty of dill would tie parmesan and salmon together decently...
posted by carlh at 7:25 AM on January 26, 2010
posted by carlh at 7:25 AM on January 26, 2010
the only cheese i have ever used with salmon has been chevre. when i was managing a restaurant, i made up a dish using salmon steaks. i blended chevre with pine nuts and . . . maybe some herbs--it's been a long time; you really wouldn't need much besides the pine nuts--formed it into balls, wrapped the balls in spinach leaves and installed these packets into the "hole" in the salmon steak. obviously, this won't work in the same way with a filet. perhaps, as aizkolari suggests, you could split the filet open and fill the pocket with a large, flat spinach packet? the spinach is mostly there--well, for color, for one thing, since it's quite striking against the salmon, but mostly it's there to keep the chevre from oozing all the hell over the place. you could try stuffing the cheese in, then sticking the opening closed with bamboo picks; that may or may not keep the cheese where you want it without a wrap of some sort.
for a side, i would go with saffron linguine with a bit of butter, red pepper flakes and a dusting of parm. that would get some more cheese going there. if you serve a well-thought-out salad at the beginning, that would be all most people would like. hm. maybe a salad of fresh fennel bulb and orange sections with swiss chard. toss some pomegranate seeds over the top for eye-popping loveliness. i'd go with a sweet-ish dressing, like a raspberry vinaigrette or poppy seed or apricot mustard.
posted by miss patrish at 7:35 AM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
for a side, i would go with saffron linguine with a bit of butter, red pepper flakes and a dusting of parm. that would get some more cheese going there. if you serve a well-thought-out salad at the beginning, that would be all most people would like. hm. maybe a salad of fresh fennel bulb and orange sections with swiss chard. toss some pomegranate seeds over the top for eye-popping loveliness. i'd go with a sweet-ish dressing, like a raspberry vinaigrette or poppy seed or apricot mustard.
posted by miss patrish at 7:35 AM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I think I will try Aizkolari's salmon recipe and add some shredded cheese to the Crash Hot Potatoes.
I wonder what effect adding riesling to Aizkolari's salmon injection would have?...
posted by AugieAugustus at 7:49 AM on January 26, 2010
I wonder what effect adding riesling to Aizkolari's salmon injection would have?...
posted by AugieAugustus at 7:49 AM on January 26, 2010
Unfortunately, most cheeses doesn't really go that well with salmon. I'd instead load up a side with extra cheese - something like a potato gratin. While I won't go so far as to insist that Parmesan and seafood together is prohibited the way it is in italian cooking, I will say that it's not a great flavor profile.
You'll probably not get a better salmon any other way than simply broiling it with a lot of butter. As mentioned, dill is a classic add.
I would recommend a mayonnaise-type sauce (like a remoulade, perhaps? Good old tartar sauce?), which will both add some hearty weight and creamy flavor.
The weird thing is, fish in general is what people turn to when they're looking to eat light. When people want a sinker that's going to put them in a food coma, they tend to go for beef or pork. Perhaps even your classic turkey dinner with the trimmings. It's hard to make fish do that and still have it taste good.
Thinking outside the box, you could flake up the fish, add lots of goat cheese, cream cheese, maybe gruyere, add an egg and some bread crumbs, and fry up some salmon croquettes? Maybe that's just a good idea for the leftovers. Just throwing ideas out there.
posted by Citrus at 7:58 AM on January 26, 2010
You'll probably not get a better salmon any other way than simply broiling it with a lot of butter. As mentioned, dill is a classic add.
I would recommend a mayonnaise-type sauce (like a remoulade, perhaps? Good old tartar sauce?), which will both add some hearty weight and creamy flavor.
The weird thing is, fish in general is what people turn to when they're looking to eat light. When people want a sinker that's going to put them in a food coma, they tend to go for beef or pork. Perhaps even your classic turkey dinner with the trimmings. It's hard to make fish do that and still have it taste good.
Thinking outside the box, you could flake up the fish, add lots of goat cheese, cream cheese, maybe gruyere, add an egg and some bread crumbs, and fry up some salmon croquettes? Maybe that's just a good idea for the leftovers. Just throwing ideas out there.
posted by Citrus at 7:58 AM on January 26, 2010
Response by poster: Citrus just reminded me of a parameter I omitted. Cream cheese and anything resembling it is out. One of the guests hates cream cheese.
I would have gone with pork but it happens that salmon is what I have. *shrug*
posted by AugieAugustus at 8:03 AM on January 26, 2010
I would have gone with pork but it happens that salmon is what I have. *shrug*
posted by AugieAugustus at 8:03 AM on January 26, 2010
I've made an easy and good salmon/cheese recipe. Sprinkle salmon fillets with salt and pepper, coat tops of salmon with a thin layer of mayonnaise, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake. It tastes a lot better than it sounds!
posted by jrichards at 8:26 AM on January 26, 2010
posted by jrichards at 8:26 AM on January 26, 2010
Best answer: I've made a few fish recipes recently in which I put a topping on the fish, like jrichards suggested, and then baked the fish in a very hot oven with about a cup or two of white wine.
To be more specific, the last recipe I made had me top the fish and refrigerate for an hour to harden the crust, then pour wine in the pan, bring to a boil, bake in the oven, and finish under the broiler (which I don't have, so I skipped that part). It was delicious!
I could see making a crust out of cheese, a few breadcrumbs, maybe a bit of mustard to adhere (or butter, if you do not want a mustard flavor).
posted by beyond_pink at 9:05 AM on January 26, 2010
To be more specific, the last recipe I made had me top the fish and refrigerate for an hour to harden the crust, then pour wine in the pan, bring to a boil, bake in the oven, and finish under the broiler (which I don't have, so I skipped that part). It was delicious!
I could see making a crust out of cheese, a few breadcrumbs, maybe a bit of mustard to adhere (or butter, if you do not want a mustard flavor).
posted by beyond_pink at 9:05 AM on January 26, 2010
Response by poster: Sounds awesome, beyond_pink. I believe I will try that along with stuffing the salmon with garlic etc.
posted by AugieAugustus at 10:14 AM on January 26, 2010
posted by AugieAugustus at 10:14 AM on January 26, 2010
I like to do broiled salmon with minced fresh ginger (about 1tsp per fillet) and brown sugar (about 1tbsp), for a sweet, gingery glaze. Sprinkle both the top on before broiling, then broil.
Sorry, no cheese or wine, but very tasty.
posted by jb at 6:30 PM on January 26, 2010
Sorry, no cheese or wine, but very tasty.
posted by jb at 6:30 PM on January 26, 2010
Response by poster: Verdict: delicious as charged. I used Aizkolari's recipe with a topping that included honey, dijon (next time I will reduce the dijon amount; 2 tbsps seemed just slightly overpowering), breadcrumbs, and fresh grated parmesan. I also substituted white wine for the parsley in the salmon "stuffing." The Crash Hot Potatoes were a huge hit too. I put shredded cheese on them as soon as they came out of the oven.
I also finally learned the trick to removing salmon skin. This method (YT) worked great. I will never do precut salmon steaks or try to skin after it's been cooked—it's much easier when you use this technique on a thawed but uncooked filet.
posted by AugieAugustus at 9:28 AM on January 31, 2010
I also finally learned the trick to removing salmon skin. This method (YT) worked great. I will never do precut salmon steaks or try to skin after it's been cooked—it's much easier when you use this technique on a thawed but uncooked filet.
posted by AugieAugustus at 9:28 AM on January 31, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by quodlibet at 6:13 AM on January 26, 2010