- Wild Salmon with Minty Pea Purée
Wild Salmon with Minty Pea Purée
Welcome to my Colorado kitchen!
This series features me, Michelle — a writer and soccer mom from the Rocky Mountains — my husband and two kids, some beautiful Vital Choice seafood, and lots of regular home cooking.
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This remarkably easy recipe takes just 20 minutes and is basically “spring on a plate”.
And I didn’t digitally tweak the color of the pea purée — that technicolor green is genuine.
This very light, flavorful dish relies on garden-fresh (or frozen) peas to create a create a vibrant “bed” that accentuates the color and flavor of wild salmon.
The combination of peas, lemon and mint makes a delightfully bright and flavorful base for roasted or grilled salmon.
Make the most of spring produce (or the freezer aisle) and create a meal that’s luscious, big on taste, yet wonderfully light!
My rating: 3 out of 4 stars.
A few notes for the cook
I used a bit of half-and-half to help create a creamy purée.
But it’d be equally delicious made with chicken or vegetable broth.
You could use any kind of wild salmon, but I chose silver (coho), which is a bit leaner than sockeye, keta, or king.
I usually roast silver salmon at a slightly lower temperature for a moister result. However, in this case I set the oven to 350° F, for a firmer texture and greater contrast with the creamy pea purée. Feel free to lower the temperature to 300ºF for a somewhat softer salmon texture.
And, if your salmon portions are skin-on as mine were — all silver and keta salmon from Vital Choice is skin-on, while their sockeye and king portions are available skinless or skin-on. Never fear, you’ll find it easy to slip skin-on salmon portions off their skin after their cooked.
A food processor the ideal tool for creating a pea purée — or, you can use a blender or good, old-fashioned mortar and pestle (the hardest, slowest method).
Wild Salmon with Minty Pea Purée
Ingredients
- 2 Vital Choice wild salmon fillets (4 to 6 ounces each), thawed
- 1 tablespoon Vital Choice organic extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 medium shallots, sliced
- 3 cups fresh or frozen peas, thawed
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 2 tablespoons half-and-half (or chicken broth or vegetable broth)
- 12 to 16 fresh mint leaves
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF or preheat your grill and cover in place. If using the oven line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- If using frozen peas: place them in a colander, rinse with warm water and set aside to thaw.
- Pat the salmon portions dry and place them on the parchment. Drizzle the salmon with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Roast the salmon in the oven (or barbecue on a covered grill) for 15 minutes, until it reaches your desired level of doneness.
- While the salmon roasts, heat the butter over medium heat in a sauté pan. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the fresh or thawed frozen peas to the shallots and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Place the peas and shallots in the bowl of a food processor. Add lemon juice, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and half-and-half (or broth) and process until mostly smooth. Add mint leaves and pulse until mint is minced and combined. Season to taste with salt.
- Remove salmon skin, if desired. Create a generous bed of minty pea purée on the plates, then top with salmon portions.