Salmon:
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup boiling water
cold water (enough to cover salmon)
1 side of salmon, mine weighed 1.1 kilos
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
finely grated zest of a lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped fennel fronds
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup plain Greek yoghurt
¼ cup good quality mayonnaise
2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley
1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh fennel fronds
1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh mint
1 small clove garlic crushed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper2 lemons, cut into wedges, to serve
This is so simple, but looks impressive and tastes delicious! First lay the salmon flat and run your fingers down the fattest part of the fish – if you feel the tips of bones poking out, grab yourself some tweezers and pull (in the direction that they are poking out, so as to keep things neat) to remove the bones. Put the salt in a big flattish dish, big enough to lay the salmon in flat, and be completely submerged in water. Put the salt into it and dissolve by whisking in the boiling water. Top up with cold water and leave to cool. (I threw some ice cubes in to speed up the process). Add the salmon and leave in the brine for 30 minutes – this will help to stop the milky white fat from rising to the top of the salmon while cooking. Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Line a tray with baking paper. Remove salmon from the brine and pat dry. Lay skin-side down on the baking paper. Mix oil with garlic and zest and brush over the salmon flesh. Drizzle with lemon juice then sprinkle with fennel fronds and black pepper. Bake for 10-15 minutes – I did 12 for mine, but if your salmon is bigger, add a few minutes, but be careful, you really don’t want to over-cook it! (For one massive, fat one I did that was 1.5kilos, 20 minutes was spot on). Leave to rest while preparing the sauce, then serve with lemon wedges, yoghurt herb sauce and fennel, rocket and potato salad. Put all sauce ingredients in a small food processor and whiz to combine. Serves 6.
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
finely grated zest of ½ orange
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons currants
500g jersey benne potatoes or similar
3 small/medium fennel bulbs
2 cups wild rocket leaves
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
Looks like a delicious way to start the New Year!
Thanks so much April – it really is good! 🙂
My boyfriend and I just made this for dinner tonight … amazing!! A filling and healthy meal with bright, fresh flavor. Only thing we changed was we sauteed fennel in a pan for a few minutes before adding to the potato salad. Thanks for sharing!
Yay – you are so welcome Sasha, I'm so thrilled you enjoyed it! 🙂
We made this at the weekend and it was amazing and oh so easy. In fact it was so lovely it convinced our 2 year old to give fennel a go after eating about a quarter of the side of salmon by himself. Good job 🙂
Hi Rebecca – thanks so much for your lovely message, and crikey good effort from your son – awesome! 🙂