Bright, lively, springlike: Pan-seared salmon with parsley lemon sauce

A simple 'sauce' of parsley, lemon zest and juice, capers, scallions, garlic, and olive oil delivers the promise of spring when spooned over pan-seared salmon.

|
Blue Kitchen
Pan-seared salmon with a simple 'sauce' of parsley, lemon zest and juice, capers, scallions, garlic, and olive oil.

Salmon seems to be our default fish for winter. The robust, fatty fish stands up nicely to winter’s cold as a satisfying meal. And salmon cooks up quick and easy. Here, our default is pan searing them with some salt and pepper and maybe a little tarragon– baking gets a little too fragrant when the windows are all closed. But the other night, facing salmon fillets yet again, I wanted to give them a hint of faraway spring. Fortunately, our fridge had just the ingredients to do that.

Fresh Italian parsley brings a light, peppery freshness to most any dish, and lemon delivers an unmistakable tartness as bright as its yellow skin. Add in chopped scallions, briny capers, a bit of minced garlic and some olive oil, and suddenly, it’s spring – with the promise of summer just around the corner. At least as long as dinner lasts.

Pan-seared Salmon with Parsley Lemon Sauce
Serves 4

3 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
1 generous tablespoon capers, drained but not rinsed
1 tablespoon finely chopped scallion, both white and green parts
1 small clove of garlic, minced – a scant teaspoon
1 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
very good extra virgin olive oil
4 6-ounce salmon fillets, preferably skin-on
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a bowl, combine parsley, capers, scallion, garlic, lemon zest and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.

2. Season salmon fillets generously with salt and pepper. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high flame. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and let it get good and hot. Add salmon fillets to pan skin side up and sear until nicely browned on the flesh side, about 4 minutes (cook them in batches or use two pans, if needed, to avoid overcrowding ). Turn and cook until just cooked through, about 3 or 4 minutes – salmon may still be a little pink inside, which is a good thing.

3. Plate salmon fillets. Stir the lemon juice into the parsley lemon sauce and spoon over the fillets. Serve.

Related post on Blue Kitchen: Tilapia Fish Tacos

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Bright, lively, springlike: Pan-seared salmon with parsley lemon sauce
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2017/0215/Bright-lively-springlike-Pan-seared-salmon-with-parsley-lemon-sauce
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe