Wild Alaskan Salmon with Mango Salsa
18 Apr 2012
The other day I found a wild, whole Alaskan salmon at the grocery store, and it was so much cheaper than the pre-cut, de-boned filets, that I thought i’d have a go at preparing the salmon filets myself.
I watched a video on youtube from a French chef as to how to filet a whole salmon, and it didn’t look that hard. But once I started I realized my eyes had lied to me–because it was much harder than it looked, and I was in way over my head. So I did what I do best at a time of despair–turn to my husband for help! We managed to filet and debone the thing, but it wasn’t pretty….
I told you!!
Luckily there were two pieces, and the other one didn’t require quite as much de-boning, so it stayed intact and pretty enough to filet for dinner.
There were a few ways I wanted to cook it, but I defaulted to the way my mum always cooked hers…. baked in the oven, covered in lemon and butter. I also decided to make a classic mango salsa, which was thankfully, SO simple to do, and extremely healthy and delicious. Here is the recipe for both. I found the salsa from mangoes.org, and I don’t think I could have found a better recipe:
Ingredients:
1 medium jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and minced
2/3 cup diced red bell pepper
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro |
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 large ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir gently to combine. 
Take out of fridge 30 minutes before serving. 
Preheat the oven to 350degF. Line a baking tray with tin foil (enough to wrap around the salmon). Line the salmon filet on the baking tray and season generously with salt and pepper. Dot butter on top, squeeze a couple Tbsps lemon juice, and cover with lemon slices
Bake at 350deg for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. (I did mine for 17 minutes, and it was perfect).
This would have been the easiest meal ever if I had brought pre-trimmed, deboned salmon filets! WHAT WAS I THINKING?! We somehow managed to pull it off, but it wasn’t fun and it wasn’t pretty… so I won’t be trying that again any time soon! But, on the upside, I do have a lot of fish left for my favorite salmon sandwiches and salmon cakes with remoulade… (which both fortunately used flaked fish!!) so check back for those!