Tag: salmon recipe

Pesto Baked Salmon

Of all the recipe requests I receive, it seems like salmon is that one dish that people get bored of rather quickly – me included. I’ve had my fill of honey mustard salmon, I’d rather not look at another piece of teriyaki salmon, and I’m all magic-salmoned-out. The good news is, I’ve got an endless variety of salmon ideas, so I can always pick something from under my chef’s hat (figuratively speaking, of course).

Truth be told, I’m really not the biggest fish person altogether. I won’t touch tilapia (bottom feeders freak me out), I don’t like sole, and I usually stay away from gefilte (is that even considered fish?). I tend to lean towards salmon, flounder, red snapper or seabass, when available. I’ve always wanted to try different types of fish, but they’re not readily available where I live. I’ve had whole bronzino in restaurants and halibut at my mom’s (she loves it!), but I’ve never tried grouper or mahimahi. Arctic Char is one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever tried – I would love to find a place that carries it!

I’ve always wanted to bake my own whole fish stuffed with lemon and herbs – better yet, catch and fillet it myself. It’s just another one of those things on my bucket list – and I hope to do it one day. I’ve heard that the taste of freshly caught fish doesn’t compare to what we buy at the fishmonger. I can just imagine it smelling of the ocean istead of, well, fish. Don’t you just hate it when you open up a package and a fishy stench just hits you like a fishing rod!?

Back to the salmon – since it’s one of the few types of fish that I eat, I’m always coming up with new ways to eat it. This pesto-smothered-recipe came to me when I was on the South Beach diet and I needed to stay away from sweet sauces and sugar. For added crunch (without the panko carbs), I grind up some nuts (whichever nuts are in the pesto) and sprinkle it over the top. It adds great texture to the salmon!

Pesto Baked Salmon

salmon fillets
your favorite homemade or store-bought pesto
roughly chopped nuts (I like to use the same nuts that are in the pesto, to complement it)
grated parmesan cheese, optional
olive oil
lemon slices, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Spread pesto over the salmon slices and sprinkle with chopped nuts and parmesan (if using). Drizzle olive oil over the fish and bake for 15-20 minutes, until salmon is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

PAREVE VARIATION: to make this dish nondairy – use a pareve pesto and omit parmesan cheese.

Related recipes:

spinach, walnut and cheddar pesto
marcona almond & basil pesto
salmon pasta salad
salmon cakes with yogurt sauce

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Teriyaki Salmon

I’m not one of those people who has an encyclopedia of recipes in their head. In fact, no matter how many times I seem to make a recipe, I still won’t remember it by heart. I guess that’s why I usually resort to making things up from scratch. I’m just too lazy to pull out my cookbooks and look them up! And between me and you, I always have to look up my own recipes on my blog to remember how to make them.

Every now and then though, a recipe will stick with me. Like those few phone numbers that you never forget. Or your kids birthdays that you almost always remember (don’t you just love when the doctor asks you their birthdate and you mumble and stammer, trying to remember it?!) My Caesar salad dressing is one of those recipes. And then there’s this one. Yup, that’s about it.

This awesome, super easy teriyaki salmon recipe was given to me about 10 years ago by my boss at an antique silver company I worked at. That was way before I had any interest in food, and all I wanted were quick and easy recipes to make for my new husband that wouldn’t set my kitchen on fire. It was easy to remember because it called for equal parts ketchup, OJ, brown sugar and teriyaki sauce. You just make more for more fish, and less for less fish. Pretty easy to remember, even for someone like me!

So if you’re looking for a quick weeknight dinner, or a side of salmon for your Shabbat guests, give this recipe a try. I promise you won’t forget it! ;)

Teriyaki Salmon

6 slices salmon fillet
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce*
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, orange juice and teriyaki sauce. Brush over salmon and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

NOTE: Do not use a prepared teriyaki sauce/marinade, only plain bottled teriyaki sauce such as La Choy brand.

1 year ago: pumpkin banana bread
2 years ago: salmon cakes with lemon caper yogurt sauce

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Honey Mustard Salmon

{A Resolution & A Recipe}

As any mother can attest, getting into the Yom Kippur spirit while we are stuck at home playing boardgames with our kids (not to mention fasting) can be extremely difficult. We are lucky if we get a chance to pick up our machzor, let alone daven, or attend shul. When I need to switch off the Mommy button and get into davening mode, there is one tefillah that will do it for me – “U’Netaneh Tokef” (translation here). The powerful words of this special prayer really help me zero in on the awesomeness of the day, as well as the most important things in life, that we hope to merit in the coming year. The words have always tugged at my soul, but when I learned the story behind the prayer, they became even more meaningful (read it here).

When I ask Hashem to grant me life vs death, to live in harmony vs being harried, to enjoy transquility vs suffering, to be enriched vs impoverished etc…to merit all the positive things vs the negative, I realize that inasmuch as I am asking Hashem for these things, I need to look inside and ask myself, am I doing the same? Am I choosing the positive over the negative?

By nature, I am more of a pessimist, and tend to see the glass half empty. Growing up, I’d wax philosophical and say, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist. This is the way the world really is.” But I’ve grown up and matured enough to realize that there is both good and bad in this world. It is up to us how we choose to see it. As it says in Koheles, “Everything has an appointed season and there is a time for every matter under the heaven…A time to kill and a time to heal… A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing….”

For me, it takes an effort to see the good in things, but this year, I am renewing my commitment to look at things in a positive way. Just as I am asking Hashem to look at the good in me, and to bless me with all things good, I must look inside myself and do the same. Seeing the world in a positive light, facing challenges with a positive outlook, and choosing to see the good in people, only serves to enhance my life and the lives of those around me.

This “recipe” (if you can call it a recipe!), is one which my family enjoys each year at the seudah on Erev Yom Kippur. I realize that it, too, is comprised of sweet honey and bitter mustard. While delicious, I will also eat it with a prayer that this year, the good should overpower the bad and that we should all merit to see the “honey” in our lives, and not know of any bitter “mustard”.

Wishing all BIB followers a Gmar Chasimah Tova and an easy fast!


Honey Mustard Salmon

6 salmon fillets
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup yellow or spicy mustard
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix honey and mustard in a bowl until incorporated. Rinse fillets and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the honey mustard sauce over the salmon and bake for 15 minutes, until flesh is opaque and flakes with a fork.

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