I’m here with my usual foodie enthusiasm, more than enough to spread around to y’all. 🙂
So this weekend’s salmon adventure had an excellent outcome. Rain made the charcoal grill option impossible, much to my relief and OH’s chagrin. He was so keen on the crispy skin that I decided to find a way to do it indoors. The solution, as it so often is, was lovely fat.
I cut the giant salmon into 4 oz portions, salted and peppered them, then put 3 of them on a baking sheet skin side up. I coated the skin with a tablespoon of butter and popped them in the fridge for half an hour to harden the butter a little. I put them under the broiler (I believe that’s what you call a grill in the UK) about 5 inches from the heat for about 8 minutes.
While the salmon was cooking, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and whisked in a grating of lemon zest, the juice of half a lemon (about a tablespoon), a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and about a teaspoon of crumbled dried tarragon. When it was all combined, I added a pinch of salt to taste.
I divided the sauce into three parts, put one part on my plate and two on the OH’s. When the salmon was done — cooked through and the skin crispy and curled up at the edges — I put it skin side up on top of the bed of sauce. The boy got two filets, I took one. For sides I did a sautee of spinach with half a clove fresh garlic and a salad of arugula, homegrown tomatoes a friend gave me and a simple mustard vinaigrette (6 ml olive oil, 3 ml red wine vinegar, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, tiny splash of chicken broth, s&p).
It was successful beyond my wildest dreams. The salmon skin was like a chip, I swear to you. It was like the fish version of a pork rind. I could gladly have eaten it alone and in fact might very well experiment with doing just that. The total for my portion — one 4 oz filet, a third of the sauce, 3 oz spinach, 2 oz arugula, 20 grams tomato — was 366 calories, 2 grams carbs (1 sugar), 25 grams fat and 22 protein.