I grew up in a seafood faring family. Tasted my first shrimp before I could walk. Spot and croaker fresh off the boat were monthly staples but I was probably in my late twenties, early thirties before I indulged in the rich, moist, delicate flesh of salmon.
I ordered it in a restaurant marinated, grilled, and presented over pasta in a lemon white wine sauce. I didn’t have as much of a culinary mindset then as I do now so this is a tribute to one of the primary salmon moments I remember with my own version of it served over pasta.
Ingredients for pesto
1 C fresh spinach leaves
1 C fresh basil leaves (I’ve used sweet, purple, or spicy globe, all taste different but great)
¼ C pine nuts
1 C Asiago or parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves
¼ to ½ C walnut oil
about 1/3 of a box of pasta ( I used the angel hair multi-grain because it has protein, fiber, omega 3, and I like the taste. You can use whatever kind you enjoy)
I tend to overestimate on the pasta and just end up with leftovers!
Directions
Cook pasta according to instructions on box. Place spinach and basil leaves into a food processor. Pulse until they are chopped. Add pine nuts, cheese, and garlic cloves. Pulse a few more times. Then hold the button down and chop while adding the oil in until you have a moist, smooth consistency, but not too liquified.
Combine with pasta. Garnish with pine nuts.
Ingredients for salmon
2 - 4 to 5 oz pieces of salmon (I prefer to have the skin removed at purchase because I don’t like the taste of it and that is where most of the harmful pollutants are stored. Either way will work)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped fine
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stalk
1 tbsp lemon juice (fresh is better)
1 oz Peach Wine (I used DR Loosen Bros 2008 Riesling)
salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tbsp olive or grapeseed oil
2 tbsp butter
¼ C half and half cream
Directions
Place salmon and first 5 ingredients into a large ziplock bag. Mix gently so you do not break up the salmon. Marinate for about 2 hours.
Heat a skillet on medium heat. When pan is hot add oil. Make sure you let oil heat up before adding fish so it doesn’t stick, especially if not using a non-stick pan. Cook for about 5 to 8 minutes per side depending on how well done you like your salmon. When it flakes easily with a fork remove it from the pan.
At close to completion add butter and cream to make a light sauce to serve over fish. (you can leave these off. I just think it adds a little extra flavor and moistness, but of course along with it comes a few extra calories)
Whether you eat pink or red canned, wild, farm raised, enjoy it in salad, as a salad, grilled, baked, or broiled, salmon is versatile, full of flavor, and packed with healthy Omega fats that you need to work into your daily diet.
I usually opt for the wild over farm raised because it has more of the health benefits. Farm raised tends to be fed a diet that contains more contaminants, called PCBs—polychlorinated biphenyls, which are absorbed by the fish and then passed onto us. Where as wild salmon feast on the oceans bounty so they absorb far less chemicals.
Okay, that’s as scientific as I’m going to get. In my kitchen laboratory I find that the trade off is wild tends to be drier than farm raised, it’s not as readily available, and costs more. You definitely need to marinate it and/or serve with some kind of sauce. I’ve baked the farm raised using incredibly basic methods, such as in the oven with fresh dill and a tiny drizzle of olive oil and it’s delicious. But it seems the goal should be less farm raised and more wild.
Have you had the same experience with the texture of wild salmon? How do you enjoy it?
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