Slow roast salmon is much easier than you expected. It takes a little patience, but no fuss no mess, only tender and moist salmon.
The salmon fillets I buy in the UK supermarkets are often having scales. I can only assume its cost-cutting rather than someone like that, right?
In this case, I don’t want to descale it by myself either, remove the skin is the only option. That said, pan-sear salmon to achieve a crispy skin is not possible, so I roast it. To be concise, slow roast.
Actually, slow-roasting is much easier than pan-searing because the oven does all the job. And slow roasting leads to a tender and moist salmon. Easy-peasy!
The slow roast salmon recipe is learned from the cookbook – Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, written by Samin Nosrat.
A Warm Note of Slow Roast Salmon
Cooking fish looks easy, but it requires some attention. Instead of just following the recipe and neglecting the fish in an oven, it’s really recommended that you keep an eye on it, touch the fish and examine its texture, to determine if the fish is done or not.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 2 salmon fillets (240 g)
- handful of mixed herbs (I used dill and parsley), chopped
- salt
- olive oil
For the Lemon Vinaigrette
- ½ tsp lemon zest (½ lemon worth)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 ½ tsp white wine vinegar
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
To Serve
- 80 g quinoa
- ¼ tsp salted vegetable bouillon powder
- pinch of salt
- 280 g salad potatoes
- frozen broccoli
How to Make Slow Roast Salmon with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Preheat the oven to 110ºC (or 90ºC fan mode, which I did). Put the mixed herbs on a lined baking tray.
- Sprinkle salt on both sides of the salmon, and rub with olive oil. Place the salmon on the mixed herbs, slide the tray in the oven and roast for 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa. Put the quinoa in a shallow frying pan and stir in the bouillon and salt. Check the quinoa’s package instructions and add an adequate amount of hot water. Stir well. Cover and bring to a simmer. Let it cook until the quinoa absorbs all the water, about 15 to 20 minutes. Then fluff it with a fork.
- While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the side dish – boiled potato and broccoli salad. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. It should be salted like seawater. Tip in the potatoes and cook for 12-15 minutes, depending on their size, until you can pierce through the potato with a fork. For the frozen broccoli, tip it in the same pot for the last 2 minutes until just cooked. Drained and put them on the plates.
- While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the lemon vinaigrette. Crush the garlic with the blade of a knife, then mix with all other ingredients in a small bowl. We want the mild garlic flavour here, so no need to mince or grate it. Let the sauce sit for 10 minutes or so before using.
- Back to the salmon. Press the thickest part of the salmon fillet with a fork or your finger. If it’s flaky, then it’s done. Remove it from the oven.
- Place the quinoa on a plate, side with the boiled potatoes and vegetables. Then put the salmon on top of the quinoa. Dress in the lemon vinaigrette and enjoy!
More Easy Salmon Recipes
- Easy Pasta: Caramelised Onions with Salmon
- Meera Sodha’s Salmon and Spinach Curry (Easy, Quick and Mild)
- Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce with Salmon
- Smoked Salmon Spinach Spaghetti with Cashew Cream
- Easy Salmon Pasta in Tomato Cream Sauce
