Pan-fried salmon with pine nut salsa recipe
A quick and easy midweek salmon recipe, jazzed up with a pine nut, caper and saffron salsa.
Recipe from from Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi, Tara Wigley and Esme Howarth (Ebury Press, £25).
Ingredients
- 100 g currants
- 4 salmon fillets, skin on and pin-boned (500g/17.6oz)
- 100 ml olive oil
- 4 celery sticks, cut into 1cm/0.5 inch dice (180g/6oz), leaves removed but kept for garnish
- 30 g pine nuts, roughly chopped
- 40 g capers, plus 2 tbsp of their brine
- 40 g large green olives (about 8), pitted and cut into 1cm/0.5 inch dice
- 1 pinch saffron threads (¼ tsp), mixed with 1 tbsp hot water
- 20 g parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 lemon: finely grate the zest to get 1 tsp, then juice to get 1 tsp
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Salmon
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Cover the currants with boiling water and set aside to soak for 20 minutes while you prep the salmon and make the salsa.
- Mix the salmon with 2 teaspoons of oil, 3 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Set aside while you make the salsa.
- Put 75ml (2.5floz) of olive oil into a large sauté pan and place on a high heat. Add the celery and pine nuts and fry for 4–5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the nuts begin to brown (don’t take your eyes off them, as they can easily burn).
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the capers and their brine, the olives, saffron and its water, and a pinch of salt.
- Drain the currants and add these, along with the parsley, lemon zest and lemon juice. Set aside.
- Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil into a large frying pan and place on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the salmon fillets, skin side down, and fry for 3 minutes, until the skin is crisp. Reduce the heat to medium, then flip the fillets over and continue to fry for 2–4 minutes (depending on how much you like the salmon cooked). Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Arrange the salmon on four plates and spoon over the salsa. If you have any celery leaves reserved, scatter these on top.
This recipe is from from Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi, Tara Wigley and Esme Howarth (Ebury Press, £25). Photography by Jonathan Lovekin.
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