slow-roasted dill butter salmon
Anytime I go anywhere new, I do a lot of studying at the grocery store. It’s the ultimate window into what people in a country really eat every day; what’s available, high quality and cheap is highly likely to also be local. This is easier to observe in some places than it is in others.
Last year, I went to Norway, which isn’t exactly known for the food scene—especially not the in the rural town I stayed in about an hour out of Lillehammer—and most of its supermarkets are closed on Sundays by law. But what Norway is known for is salmon. And so on a leafy, crunchy fall Monday, I trekked up to Espa to go to the Coop Mega in town, and walked out with a dense 3lb slab of the freshest, pinkest, most gorgeous Norwegian salmon I have ever seen.
The problem with salmon sold in a slab like this is that there is almost no way to cook it effectively, and in Norway many appliances are electric induction, which I’m less used to using. To lower the learning curve for myself, I stuck to a familiar technique: a version of the reverse sear I use on most other meats, baking it low and slow in a garlic and butter sauce to render the fat before broiling the top. Dill, the archetypal Scandinavian flavor, was the best looking herb in the store, so that’s what’s used here.
After a slow bake, you stick it under the broiler, transforming it into a kind of braised salmon confit with crispy edges. In Norway I had it with spinach; here, I like it with salad, extra sauce spooned on the fish.
I am about as far from global travel as I’ve ever been for all the obvious 2020 reasons, but as “winter” settles on Los Angeles and the yearning for all things cozy creeps in, I defrost a big salmon slab, close my eyes, and think of Espa.
RECIPE
Originally designed to take advantage of Norway’s incredible fresh salmon, this flavorful weeknight dish is simple to make no matter where you are in the world: sauteed butter and garlic are poured over thick salmon filets, which are then showered in fresh dill and covered in lemon slices before a slow roast in a low oven.
Effortful time: 5-10 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Serves: 2
YOU NEED
1 lb fresh salmon, skin off
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced or minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill (about 6 short sprigs)
1 lemon, 1/2 juiced and 1/2 sliced into thin slices
Black pepper, to taste
MAKE IT
Get prepped. Preheat oven to 300°F. Finely slice or mince your garlic.
Make the garlic butter. In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook until soft and fragrant but not brown, about 1 minute (the smaller your garlic pieces, the less time they need). Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Prepare the salmon. Lay out salmon in a small oven safe dish. Salt and pepper it, then pour over the garlic butter, which will drip down into the dish. Sprinkle dill over the fish. Layer lemon slices across the fish (save the other half of the lemon).
Cook the salmon. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the internal temp registers 115°F.
Finish the salmon. Switch your oven to broil-low. Finish under the broiler, watching very carefully to avoid a disaster, until salmon is crisp around the edges, about 3 minutes or until it hits 125°-135°F (depending on how done you like your salmon). Take it out of the oven and squeeze the remaining lemon half on top.
Serve the salmon. Using a spoon or fork (dealer’s choice), break up the salmon into flakes and stir into the lemon butter to re-absorb. Serve in scoops alongside greens, spooning the remaining butter sauce on top.