Hello All!
The beginning of the year has been much busier than I anticipated. Lots of stuff going on at work and many personal matters that Chet and I have been taking care of. With that being said, I have been dedicating time to creating more food imagery though I haven’t had much time to post and share.
I am typically not adventurous when it comes to sea food. Admittedly there are some things when it comes to seafood that I just refuse to try because it looks strange and I haven’t opened my mind up to them. I’ve been trying to be better about this as I know that there are many other foods that I never enjoyed as a child that I savor now as an adult.
Over the Christmas holiday my sister made a meal (even after hours of travel) that she modified from The Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. The recipe originally calls for Bluefish fillets, but my sister substituted Wild Salmon fillets. The fillets are baked on a bed of thinly sliced potatoes dressed in herbs and olive oil. I was amazed at its simplicity and even more so at the flavor and rate that I gobbled it up. I thought this was a perfect opportunity for personal growth and a chance to learn something new in the kitchen.
The best part about this meal is the herb bed of potatoes that the fillet rests on. They crisp up as the fish cooks and marinades in the entire flavor. When my sister made it she cut very thin medallions with a kitchen knife. I had helped out with this process and determined it was way too time consuming for my taste, so I busted out my handy veggie slicer Kitchenaid attachment. This attachment works great for creating medallions. I’ve even made my own potato chips with it before. If you don’t have a Kitchenaid mixer you can also use a mandolin which you can pick up pretty cheap at most home good stores. The recipe calls for quite a bit of oil, so I decided to cut it back a bit and I didn’t think it made the dish dry. I also added more garlic because we are huge garlic lovers and used rosemary infused sea salt for the potatoes and fish. The recipe will be the non-adapted version. Enjoy the recipe and photos!
A quick iPhone snap shot of the dish in the pan
Baked salmon fillets with herb potato bed
- Ceramic or cast iron bake and serve dish sized appropriately for your fillet
- 2 lb Wild Salmon boneless fillet with skin
- Salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- ¼ c. chopped parsley
- 1 TB chopped garlic
- ½ c. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ lbs boiling potatoes
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Slice potatoes very thin, barely thicker than potato chips using a knife, mandolin, or Kitchenaid mixer slicing attachment. Wash them in cold water, and then pat dry thoroughly with paper towel.
- Put all the potatoes in a bowl with half the olive oil, half the garlic, half the parsley, several liberal pinches of salt and black pepper. Toss the potatoes until evenly coated. Cover the pan on the bottom and sides with the potatoes. Be sure to only create one layer with the potatoes.
- When oven is preheated put your pan in the oven and let potatoes roast for 12-15 minutes until they are about halfway done. (mine began to brown in some areas depending on thickness)
- After potatoes have roasted halfway, take out dish but do not turn off the oven. Gently salt and pepper your fillet to taste. Put your fillet skin down on top of the potatoes. Mix together the remaining olive oil, garlic, and parsley in a small bowl and then pour over the fish, distributing it evenly. Return dish to oven.
- After 10 minutes take the dish out and use a spoon to scoop up some of the oil from the bottom of the dish and baste the fish with it. Loosen any potatoes that have crisped up and replace them with ones that have not. Return the dish to the oven and bake an additional 5-8 more minutes depending on the thickness of your fillet. A good way to judge if it is done is to stick a fork in the fillet and see if the meat flakes gently away from the fork.
- Remove dish from oven and allow it to set for a few minutes. Cut and serve, being sure to scoop up all the delicious potatoes and juices. I also cut a few lemon wedges to have on the side to spritz on the fish.
Charlene Champion Photography 
Oh yum, this looks mouth-wateringly good! This reminds me of the preferred Austrian way of serving potatoes with protein dishes – small kipfler potatoes, sliced, blanched and fried, sometimes with finely chopped onions and chives (the only reasons I happen to know this is that I’ve been feasting on them for the past couple of weeks during my winter vacation)…