222. Restaurant inspired Mediterranean salmon in a luscious dill sauce
A $37 restaurant item inspired this post. BONUS: The ultimate roasted potato recipe you will never forget.
The other evening, I ordered a $37 salmon dish from one of the popular local restaurants. It was delicious, but instead of just savouring it, I went home and decided to reverse engineer their sauce which is a fancy way of saying, ‘I copied it’. It was along a very similar vein to a Mediterranean dip/sauce I make regularly (#26 dill and yogurt) posted when I first began this Substack. Much to my delight, it worked! I am so pleased, and this sauce recipe definitely captures the spirit of the original dish, and I DO dare say, my version is even better.
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I sourced and purchased an entire filet of wild salmon for $30. I recommend wild caught Pacific salmon if you can find it. My entire family was fed a restaurant-worthy feast for around $40. Other than the salmon, the rest of the ingredients were from my fridge and pantry. The dill was from my herb garden, it is slim pickings this time of year but, I had dill. I chose to offer two sides for this meal for my discerning guests, aka my family. Either simple capellini pasta or roasted potatoes were prepared. In hindsight I think my recipe for these dreamy Greek lemon potatoes would have been ideal. I have one child that doesn’t like potatoes (for now anyhow), hence offering two side options - capellini only takes 2 minutes to prepare so it wasn’t a massive imposition.
This post is a great example of how to mix and match recipes. I do offer this as a service for my paid subscribers.
This recipe works beautifully for a dinner party but is just as perfect for a weeknight or weekend meal since it is not overly time consuming. If you decide to make the Greek potatoes (or any variety of roasted vegetable), the oven does most of the heavy lifting. See the end of this post for the perfect roast potatoes. Meanwhile, this gorgeous dill sauce for the salmon comes together in mere minutes, making the whole dish feel special without the extra effort.
The sauce - non dairy option included
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or sour cream for a richer version) - Non dairy option: substitute the dairy for 1 ripe avocado -
Add a tsp or more of water to thin out the sauce to your liking
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped (or substitute 1 tsp dried dill)
1 small garlic clove, grated
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Mix all the ingredients and set aside in the fridge while you cook the salmon.
The salmon
I chose to air fry the salmon in portions. A light sprinkling of salt and black pepper prior to cooking is all the seasoning you need. Feel free to bake the salmon or pan fry. Do be mindful when cooking salmon. You don’t want to over cook.
The ideal cook on salmon is such that the centre is still quite pink and glistening* - internal temperature is around 120-125 F (55 C) for medium rare. A medium cook is more 125-130 F (55-54 C).
*Note: If you adhere to the USDA recommended temperature for food safety, they recommend an internal temperature of 145 F (63 C).
In a pre-heated oven at 400 F (200 C) it would take roughly 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your filets for med-rare to medium doneness.
Plate the salmon and serve with a dollop of sauce, some roasted vegetables and or potatoes - or any vegetable of your choice. I have a post for a one dish Greek inspired roasted vegetables with orzo, that would be a delightful accompaniment to this salmon. For this post, I chose to use to use the humble asparagus as our side, my kids ate their asparagus with some (sometimes lots) of the extra sauce.
Bonus: The most flavourful roasted potatoes ever!
This recipe/application can also be used on your favourite roasted vegetables.
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Clean/peel the potatoes then chop into the size you like. The cook time will depend on the size of your potatoes. The larger the pieces, the longer the roasting time.
Here is the trick to the most flavourful roasted potatoes. Prior to roasting, coat the potatoes in extra virgin olive oil and chicken bouillon powder (brand does not matter). For 3-4 potatoes (chopped) use 1/4 cup olive oil and add 1-1.5 tsp of bouillon powder. This will coat the potatoes beautifully. Option to add 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and black pepper to taste.
Coat the potatoes well and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes then flip the potatoes and continue to roast for another 25 minutes. The potatoes should be fork tender.
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Serve and enjoy!
Excellent post Sheryl! And your potato hack is interesting!! The best roast potatoes I have ever made were with confit garlic oil and rosemary. And I roasted them on parchment paper, makes them extra crispy. I am giving your bouillon powder trick a go for sure!
Not a salmon lover, but this sauce will go on my next baked codfish.