Tuscan Butter Salmon via Guest Post!

Guest Blog by Karen Petersen 

Living in Alaska – it is a challenge sometimes to come up with new seafood recipes that are easy and have simple ingredients.  No point in ever putting in capers or radicchio in a recipe since the store in Thorne Bay can’t even special order that stuff!  It mush be bootlegged into town….

In any case – the Keep-It-Simple philosophy tends to work best, and the gas grill gets a lot of use.

So, when my husband sent me an email link for Tuscan Butter Salmon (Here is the original web link  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a58412/tuscan-butter-salmon-recipe/ )   I thought there is no point in even looking at the recipe (I mean – it has the word “Tuscan” in it, so it must be complicated right?)  But it is rare that he ever looks at recipes, and he insisted that it looked good, so I gave it the once over and thought – okay – we can try this.  We have lots of Sockeye in the freezer and it needs to be eaten!

My metric for making a new dish is I try really hard to stick to the original the first time around and then all bets are off for further incarnations.  I decided if I could find all the ingredients at the store then it was meant to be.  Cherry tomatoes, Parmesan Cheese, spinach, heavy cream and garlic – how hard could it be?  For a bit of perspective, the previous week there was no dairy product to be had at the Thorne Bay Market (they didn’t send it) and the week before THAT it was no eggs, so I was prepared to pass, BUT lo and behold, all ingredients were to be found, and they looked pretty good (as opposed to 3 weeks old and slimy).

I daringly invited guests over for dinner and immediately had to double the recipe – but that was okay – have lots of salmon….

And I discovered my paella dish worked JUST FINE for the preparation.  So – it was off the races:

Get all your stuff ready to go before cooking since this goes licketly-split fast”

Prep the salmon (I pull out the bones) by cutting into pieces, drying them with a paper towel (this is a new thing for me) and lightly salting.

Chop the garlic, and parsley and put into separate little dishes.  Also wash and dry the spinach.  Grate the cheese, and slice the tomatoes in half.  Premeasure the cream and butter and you are ready.

Tuscan Butter Salmon

serves 4, increases easily

This goes together very fast – and  I found the fish cooked faster than the recipe says.  Better to under-cook than over cook because you can add cooking time at the end.  Here is the recipe as it was found:

Ingredients

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 (6-oz) salmon fillets, patted dry with paper towels

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp. butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 c.halved cherry tomatoes

2 c.baby spinach

1/2 c.heavy cream

1/4 c.freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 c. chopped herbs (such as basil and parsley), plus more for garnish

Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Directions

    In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Season salmon all over with salt and pepper. When oil is shimmering but not smoking, add salmon skin-side up and cook until deeply golden, about 6 minutes. Flip over and cook 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

    Reduce heat to medium and add butter. When butter has melted, stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook until tomatoes are beginning to burst then add spinach. Cook until spinach is beginning to wilt.

    Stir in heavy cream, Parmesan, and herbs and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes.

    Return salmon back to skillet and spoon over sauce. Simmer until salmon is cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

    Garnish with more herbs and squeeze lemon on top before serving.

I added red pepper flakes and only used parsley because that is all I had in the garden….

ENJOY!