Salmon Baked in Foil

By Paul Briand

Chef Jackie Oliver has been a constant guest as part of the NBC Today Show’s coverage of the Olympic Games in London.

Conveniently enough, I stumbled across this Oliver recipe in the August/September issue of AARP The Magazine.

His recipe for salmon that’s baked in a foil parcel with green beans and pesto is an easy, flavorful, and all-in-one method of cooking your main dish and vegetable side dish.

Ingredients
2 handfuls of green beans
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons
2 chunky salmon fillets (about a half pound each), skin on
2 heaped tablespoons green pesto
Olive oil

Directions
(See before and after shots above.)
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees;
2. Trim the beans by cutting off the stalk ends but leaving the wispy ends;
3. Halve the lemon;
4. Take a yard of aluminum foil and fold in half;
5. Take a handful of green beans and put at center of foil;
6. Layer a salmon fillet skin side down on top of the green beans;
7. Spoon a heaping tablespoon on top of fillet, then drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and douse with juice from lemon half;
8. Repeat process with second filet;
9. Fold the foil over the mixture and seal all the edges to create a parcel and place each on a baking sheet;
10. Cook until the salmon is done, about 25 to 30 minutes, depending on thickness;
11. Remove from oven and let sit one minute;
12. Carefully unwrap before serving, the steam is very hot.

Click here for recipe card.

Whiskey-Marinated Salmon

By Paul Briand

The Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal is a relatively new source for cooking ideas. Sometimes, the recipe ideas are a little out there -- at least for someone like me -- but sometimes the ideas are right in my wheelhouse.

This recipe for Whiskey-Marinated Salmon  from last Saturday is a case in point. It’s easy, it’s tasty, and I just happened to have a new bottle of Wild Turkey on hand for the occasion.

The Wild Turkey came from my future son-in-law’s stag party the weekend before, but that’s a whole other story.

Note: This is the recipe as originally presented. I only had about half as much salmon, so I halved the recipe. I used the dish to top a large salad.

Ingredients
½ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons dark (toasted) sesame oil
7 tablespoons soy (preferably light) or tamari sauce
¾ cup whiskey
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
A few drops Tabasco or similar hot chili sauce
3 pounds salmon filet cut into 8 equal pieces, skin left on

Directions
1. Whisk oils, soy sauce, whiskey, sugar, garlic and Tabasco together;
2. Using a large zip-lock bag, place the salmon in the marinade and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight;
3. Place salmon pieces on grill, skin side down. Cook 5 minutes. Slide a spatula between skin and fish and turn each piece of salmon over, resting it on its detached skin. This protects tender salmon from direct contact with hot grill;
4. Cook until desired doneness is reached, 2-5 minutes. If broiling, broil on one side only until done, 5-8 minutes.

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Grilled Citrus Glazed Salmon

By Paul Briand

I think my wife Jane was a grizzly bear in a past life. She loves salmon, so anything that I can do with salmon makes me a hero.

This recipe was included in a coupon book that I received from the Shaw’s supermarket where I normally shop for groceries.

Note: This recipe calls for flipping the salmon. I don’t do that. I grill it skin side down with the grill cover closed. It’s done when it flakes. The skin chars and peels away easily.

Ingredients

Four 6-ounce portions, skin-on salmon (about 1 ½ pounds)

? cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons lemon zest

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the brown sugar, lemon zest, salt and pepper into a bowl and mix with a wire whisk until well combined;

2. Evenly spread the mixture onto the salmon and allow to sit for 25 to 30 minutes at room temperature;

3. Pre-heat the grill;

4. Once grill is hot, oil the grate to prevent sticking, then place salmon on grill, skin side down and cook until salmon releases from grill grate;

5. Flip the salmon and cook until the thickest part of the fish reaches an internal temperature of 131 degrees;

6. Remove salmon from grill and allow to rest uncovered for 5 minutes before serving.

I served this topped with the Tomato Salsa recipe featured last week, along with a dollop of guacamole.

Click here for recipe card.

Bourbon-Glazed Salmon

By Paul Briand

I like bourbon. My wife Jane likes salmon. Marry the two and you've got a great-tasting, easy-to-make meal.

The recipe is basically for a marinade that ultimately becomes the glaze for the salmon.

I came upon the recipe in a round-about way. It originated from Cooking Light magazine and was posted on MyRecipes.com. I saw a reference to it on one of the Twitter postings for someone I follow as part of my Baby Boomer writing for Examiner.com. Yes, it's a tangled web we weave, so to speak.

For the record, I used Jack Daniels, which is technically a whiskey, not a bourbon. But the effect is the same. Once the bourbon cooks down in the marinade/glaze you're left with a sweetness that's enhanced by the brown sugar.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets
Cooking spray
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Directions
1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag;
2. Add fish to bag, seal, and marinate in refrigerator 1 1/2 hours, turning occasionally;
3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and coat pan with cooking spray;
4. Add fish and marinade to pan; cook fish 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness;
5. Place 1 fillet on each of 4 plates and drizzle each serving with about 2 teaspoons sauce;
6. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon green onions and 3/4 teaspoon sesame seeds.

Salmon Burgers with Caesar Slaw

By Paul Briand

If you watch Rachael Ray on the Food Channel or on her own syndicated show, you know that she can whip up a meal in 30 minutes or less. She's built a cooking career on her 30-minute meals, in fact.

So I decided this week to put Ray to the test with her recipe for Salmon Burgers with Caesar Slaw.

From start to finish, I had this meal on the table in 45 minutes. To be fair, however, I probably could have done it in the prescribed 30 minutes, but while I was doing the salmon burgers and slaw, my son David who was visiting for a couple of days was doing a side dish of homemade mac and cheese. So there was conversation. And there was beer.

But the end result was a tasty meal created with only a moderate amount of effort.

A couple of notes on the recipe. Ray calls for a 14-ounce can of salmon. I don't like canned salmon, so instead I used two 12-ounce pouches of salmon.

Ingredients
2 (12-ounce) pouches of salmon
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
Handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 lemons, zested and juiced, divided
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs, 3 generous handfuls
Salt and pepper
4 anchovies, finely chopped, optional
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Couple handfuls grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano
2 hearts romaine lettuce, shredded
1 head radicchio, shredded

Directions
1. In a bowl with the salmon, add egg whites, parsley, the zest and juice of 1 lemon, 2/3 of the total amount of chopped garlic, the bread crumbs and lots of black pepper and a little salt. Mix together and form 4 large patties or 8 mini patties;
2. To a salad bowl add the remaining zest and lemon juice, remaining garlic, chopped anchovies, Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire;
3. Whisk in about 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil and cheese. Add lots of black pepper, no salt;
4. Add shredded lettuces to the bowl and toss to coat evenly. Now, season the slaw with salt to taste, if necessary;
5. Preheat 2 tablespoons, of extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, in a nonstick skillet over medium to medium high heat. Cook salmon patties 2 to 3 minutes on each side for mini patties, 4 minutes on each side for large patties;
6. Serve salmon patties atop Caesar Slaw.

Zesty Salmon and Potato Salad

By Paul Briand

This week I managed to come up with a recipe that combined two of my wife Jane's favorite foods -- potatoes (she's Irish) and salmon (she must also be part Grizzly Bear).

The original recipe I found did something cruel to prepare the salmon: It recommended microwaving it. Ewww.

I gave it the full grill treatment, because I liked having that teeny bit of crunch to the fish.

The other thing I changed is the onion. The recipe called for red onion, which I think can be too overpowering at times, especially raw in a salad. I substituted Vidalia onion.

Ingredients
1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed and halved
Salt
1 1/2 pounds of salmon fillet
1/4 cup of chopped Vidalia onion
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 head Bibb or romaine lettuce, cleaned and torn into bite-size pieces

Directions
1. Cover the potatoes with cold water, add some salt and bring to boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender. Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside;
2. In the meantime, grill the salmon until flakey. (I removed the skin just before it was done and then grilled the skin side to give myself some nice browning on both sides.);
3. Use a fork to flake the fish meat apart into bite size chunks;
4. Transfer potatoes and flaked salmon into large mixing bowl;
5. Mix together the onion, sour cream, mayonnaise, chives, lemon juice and horseradish in a small bowl;
6. Use 2 tablespoons of the dressing to toss with the lettuce;
7. Use remaining dressing to toss the potatoes and salmon;
8. Arrange lettuce on four plates, top with potatoes and salmon, and serve.