Recipe: Roasted Salmon

by John Ryan

Roasted Salmon

Serves 2

I remember when gorgeous red salmon filets would start appearing in late winter. After months of basically beige foodstuffs, the salmon was practically magnetic. In those days, fall salmon would often disappoint. At best it was just okay, at worst it would could taste muddy and have a mushy texture. Of course today, with the success of salmon farming, the fish is good nearly all the time. Still, it isn't really fresh all the time. Even at my favorite market the salmon varies from day to day.

Anyway, a few years ago I was talking with a friend who had a restaurant in Oregon. He was telling me about a salmon dish he was serving, that it was incredibly easy, but everybody was flipping over it. It didn't hurt that the freshest wild salmon in the world was at his doorstep, but his recipe has joined my first class file.

The only variable here is if you buy a bigger piece of fish (or a smaller one). You'll need to adjust the baking time slightly.

1 pound salmon filet, skin on
2 tablespoons butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Approximately 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1) Heat your oven to 500 degrees F. Melt the butter in the baking dish as the oven heats up, but don't let the butter brown.

2) When your oven is up to speed, lay the fish, skin up, in the baking dish and bake for 5 minutes. Then turn the fish and bake for 3 to 7 minutes, depending on how thick the filet is.

3) Meanwhile, chop a little parsley.

4) When the fish is done, salt and pepper the filet and sprinkle with parsley. Pour the butter over the fish (it has browned a bit by now) and serve.