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Click HereWelcome 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.
(Click here to learn more about me, below.)
I want to feature the products and preparations you’re curious about.
Have a suggestion? Question? Recipe you want me to test?
Email me and help to shape this series.
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).