Citrus Salmon
While researching for this article, I was not surprised to learn there are centuries-old Irish folklore stories about salmon and fairies colluding together to cast bad luck on fishermen. My Irish grandmother was very superstitious and to this day, I’m uncomfortable with an open umbrella inside our home.
I was also not surprised to learn that the native people of the Pacific Northwest, understood the importance of the land and the creatures that lived among them. They honored and protected the salmon in their rivers and streams and didn’t fish the returning salmon until they felt that there were enough of them to sustain the following season.
What did surprise me though, was to learn that eating farmed salmon is as healthy as eating wild salmon. Currently health experts suggest eating fatty fish twice a week to reduce heart disease and lower blood pressure, and recent studies suggest that it may even help protect against Alzheimer’s. You can of course take supplements, but you will get more bang for your buck by eating it fresh because fish meat has compounds in it that help our bodies absorb omega-3 directly.
Certainly, there is are environmental impacts to eating farmed salmon but less than eating lamb, beef or pork. If you are interested or concerned about where your fish comes from, the Marine Stewardship Council has a list of retailers and brands on their website that use sustainable farming techniques.
The following recipe is from Alison Roman’s cookbook “Dining In”. and it is an easy, full proof way to cook salmon perfectly. Because the fish is cooked low and slow in the oven it poaches in the olive oil giving it a lovely mouthwatering texture and buttery taste. You can substitute another fish, but I think citrus goes especially well with salmon. (It is citrus season now and there is a lot of good local fruit. The mandarins I have purchased have been especially good this year.)
You can also cook shrimp or scallops in a similar method on the stove top, but a heads up —they cook much more quickly so have everything else ready to go and prepare the shrimp or scallops last.
Using a heavy-bottomed saucepan, just slightly cover the shrimp or scallops with olive oil, a smashed clove of garlic, and a sprig of thyme or parsley, or both. Cook over low heat so that you see just a bubble or two for about 5-8 minutes. When you see the fish become opaque, they are ready to eat.
Ingredients:
1 lb. salmon
1 lemon
1 mandarin, or tangerine
1 orange, Cara Cara, Navel, or blood
¼ -½ cup olive oil (depending on the size of your pan and the amount of fish you cook)
Pinch of salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300°
Lightly oil a half-sheet pan and place the salmon in the pan skin side down. Salt and pepper the fish.
Slice the fruit into ¼” slices and place on top of the fish, the remaining citrus around the fish.
Pour the olive oil over the fish letting it pool around the fish. You should have about 1/4” of oil in the pan.
Bake for 30 minutes. Once the salmon is cooked you can ease the skin away from the fish with a thin spatula more easily, if you would like.
Serve the citrus slices on top of the fish.
