Mediterranean Salmon
2-4 portions depending on hunger factor
One of my June 2011 recipes for National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, now BeyondCeliac.
We love salmon, which is lucky since we are all encouraged to eat more fish. I used to find in a lot of my classes and demonstrations that some people would say they didn’t like salmon. My reply would normally be that perhaps they hadn’t eaten fresh salmon carefully cooked. I would suggest they tasted just a mouthful of the finished dish and they usually then came back for more. Depending on where you live obviously the availability of any fresh fish varies tremendously. Growing up in London, England we had access to lots of fresh fish, but we also understood buying fish IQF, individually quick frozen at source in the North Atlantic. Many chefs say you shouldn’t buy frozen fish, but I find that ‘fresh’ fish in the market is frequently not fresh. I tend to buy individually packed, frozen salmon fillets from Costco, that are about 7 oz. My husband and I find that with starch and a vegetable one 7 oz fillet is enough between us. I do frequently cook a second piece of salmon at the same time for another night’s meal. If you have a fisherman around, then you could prepare virtually any fish this way. If you can get some of the wild sockeye salmon the flavor is even better and it has a lovely deep red color.
In the summer you can either grill the salmon and cook the vegetables in a vegetable rack for the topping or use a clean foil brownie or pie pan as your cooking container on the grill. Vary the dish with the vegetables from the Farmers Market (for lists of towns with farmers markets http://www.nhfma.net/find-your-market.html and the fresh herbs you use. Please don't use dried herbs. There are a lot of wineries in New Hampshire so search some out and try out their wines in this dish and drink them to go with it. Some NH wines like LaBelle Winery are on sale in the Liquor store or large supermarkets. www.nhwineryassociation.com with links to wineries and wine and cheese trails. Fabulous fun way to spend a summer day (without the kids of course).
I did make this on NH's ABC WMUR Cooks Corner but the clip is no longer available.
As the news on WMUR started, I had actually prepared salmon fillet but the stove wasn't working so I had to pan fry the salmon and put a second skillet on top to act as a lid. The second one I prepared on air was a piece of boned rainbow trout with skin attached. If you put the flesh side down to sear and then flip fish so it is skin side down and cover with vegetables, then the flesh will easily lift off the skin once cooked, for those that don’t like skin.
2 x 7 oz salmon fillets.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large tomato cut into smallish dice or 4 cherry tomatoes 1/4'd, or 8-12 grape tomatoes halved.
4 medium mushrooms cleaned and sliced
½ small onion peeled and thinly sliced or 2 green onions, thinly scissored
2 canned artichokes quartered.
½ red, yellow or green bell pepper, deseeded and sliced. (I also like doing this with freshly roasted red peppers or even sweetly pickled red peppers and onions)
salt and pepper
¼ c wine of your choice – a wine you like to drink not the one you want to throw away.
Grated zest of 1/4-1/2 lemon - I like really lemony.
¼ c chopped fresh parsley
few leaves of fresh mint, thinly sliced – optional
few sprigs of fresh lemon thyme – optional
2 tsp fresh oregano – optional
Some feta cheese to finish if you want. I made this with goats cheese sprinkled on top and my husband requested feta cheese which he prefers.
1. Preheat oven to 400*. Take a skillet that will hold the 2 fillets in a single layer comfortably.
2. Heat oil in skillet, add onions and raw red pepper if using raw bell pepper and cook over medium heat until onion and pepper are softening.
3. Add mushrooms and cook 2-3 minutes until they start softening.
4. Add artichokes, tomatoes, herbs, lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well together and push to one side of skillet.
5. Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper on one side and place top side down in pan. If you are doing this with salmon with skin, then place skinless side down in skillet.
6. Cook for about 2 minutes to sear salmon. Flip salmon other way up, top with vegetable mixture and sprinkle with wine.
7. Place in preheated oven and cook for 10 minutes until salmon has just turned from dark to light pink in the center but still looks moist not dry.
8. Serve with tiny red or Yukon gold potatoes and wine that was used in cooking salmon.
