Recipe Fridays: More Ways to Eat Salmon (Lemon Dill Salmon & Salmon Tacos)

YUM!!!  Don’t know if you noticed, but I’ve been eating a LOT of salmon.  Partially because I can still eat fish, and partially because I had a blood test done recently and they told me I was low on the good kind of cholesterol (low overall, actually, but they seemed to be confused about how to handle that), and that I should consume more OMEGA-3s.  The woman who conducted the test (done through Cigna, my health insurance provider) was lovely but seriously didn’t know how to handle this situation.  She then listed what I could do to get more Omega-3s in my diet – taking fish oil capsules – and I looked at her and said “Or eat more fish, right?” and she recoiled in horror.  “No, no, you don’t need to go crazy with the fish,” she practically sneered.  I responded with, “Oh, I like fish, it’s not a big deal,” and she did not seem satisfied.  She said, “Just take the pills.”

First of all, ummm, I don’t like taking supplements or pills in general, and dude, if I can fix my health by eating more of something yummy?  WHY WOULDN’T I???  Hahaha.  So that’s also part of why I’m eating lots of salmon.  It’s good for me.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to have high cholesterol next time though, since I’m eating it so much…  or diabetes because I’ve been doing teriyaki style which has a lot of sugar.  I got a little bored of that so I came up with two new, quick ways to make salmon. 

I’ve been going to the Asian supermarket in Queens and picking up salmon for $5.49 a lb.  At Whole Foods, it’s $13/lb. on sale.  WTF.  (In that post, I also talk briefly about being afraid to buy fish at the Chinese markets because my Chinese is not that great.  It turns out that the one I go to is frequented by a ton of Hispanic people; the guy manning the fish section has been Latino the past few times I’ve gone; and I can just point to which piece I want.  WIN!)  Anyway, I have this problem where I can’t cook for one person very well, so I often wind up pointing to a big piece, so bear with me (it tends to be around 1.5 lbs.). 

The one somewhat major downside to buying the fish at this supermarket instead of Whole Foods – they tend to not remove all of the pin bones, or any at all.  But this is easily done – just run your finger along the center, against the grain, and the pin bones will make themselves evident.  You can use tweezers but I’ve been able to do it myself by grasping firmly with my thumb and forefinger and pulling firmly in line with where it sprouts – ie, like tweezing a hair, pull “with” the grain.  I also just read recently that if you drape the piece of salmon over an inverted bowl, it makes the pin bones more easily evident; I will have to try that!!! 

Okay, anyway, you want recipes.  You get TWO today because I’m generous like that. 

First, lemon dill salmon.  It’s similar but different from my lemon dill chicken (while I find that recipe write-up amusing – I clearly never measured anything and overestimated amounts by quite a bit – it is near & dear to my heart because that was the first recipe I ever invented completely on my own). 

butter (2-3 tbsp.)
lemons (1-2)
dried dill
garlic cloves (2-3)
salmon fillets (I bought 1.5 lbs and cut it into 5 pieces, bout .3 lbs a piece)
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Put butter, garlic cloves sliced up, salt, pepper and dried dill in a small, microwave safe dish.  Heat in 30 second intervals until melted.  (Should only take 1 time, but depends on your microwave power I suppose.)

Line baking pan with tin foil.  Rub salmon fillets with butter mixture, place in baking pan, drizzling remaining butter over the top.  Zest a lemon or two over the top, then squeeze the juice of 1/2-1 over the top, making sure you get each piece. 

Optional: slice remaining lemon and top each slice with pretty pieces of lemon.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes.  (I did 15 minutes in my convection toaster oven and let it rest, it was perfectly cooked.) 

Serving suggestions: over rice pilaf with veggies.  Yummm. 

Another way to eat salmon, also healthy and delicious… in tacos!  Last week, I bought salmon steak because it was a whole dollar cheaper per pound – $4.49/lb. – and I thought, well, why not?  I won’t be buying them again because there are a ton of bones and I couldn’t figure out how to debone it safely and cleanly… Or perhaps I will make a recipe FeistyMom made often when I was a kid, baking it and then serving it with a “sauce” of mayonnaise, shredded lettuce and fruit cocktail mixed together.  Yes, I ate it and I loved, bless my mom’s weird little heart. 

Anyway, for this particular non-recipe, I cut off about half the 1 lb. salmon steak and chunked it into one inch cubes. 

salmon steak, about .5 lbs cut into 1 inch cubes
cayenne pepper powder
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
half a small onion, sliced
sour cream (optional)
cilantro (optional)
black bean hash (optional)
lime, cut into wedges
corn tortillas

Toss salmon cubes with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper (also can use instead or additionally: chili powder, turmeric, paprika, cumin, any seasonings you like).  Let rest for a few minutes. 

Heat skillet with a few drops of olive oil.  Add onions until softened slightly, then add salmon to pan, quickly stirring around.  Try not to break the salmon into bits as it cooks!  It should only take 2-3 minutes total to be cooked. 

Heat tortillas according to instructions.  Top with salmon, onions, and whatever taco accoutrements you like – as you can see, I used black bean hash, sour cream, cilantro, and a squirt of lime juice.  If I’d had them, tomatoes would have also accompanied, and had I remembered, I’d have used a bit of cheese, too.  It’s all up to your tastes, have fun with it!!!

As always, happy eating~ what’s YOUR favorite way to eat salmon?  Share in comments!