Roasting a salmon filet is perfect for a family meal, NFL game day or a party entre. For a pot-luck dinner last weekend with friends, I offered to make a salad and an entre. I made the salmon topped with sauce and I brought a Little Gem salad with carrots. Healthy, nutritious and delicious and oh so easy.
Dry Rub Salmon with Brown Sugar Mushroom Glaze
The topping needs tomato sauce to mellow the flavors. You can use canned tomato sauce but making your own is easy and will taste much better. Roasted tomato sauce is so easy to make, I would encourage you to make a lot and to freeze the sauce in 6 ounce air tight containers. That way, when you want to make a tomato sauce for pasta or to add tomato sauce to a stew you have it in the freezer.
Yield 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Marinating Time: Overnight
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour + marinating overnight
Ingredients
2 pounds fresh skin on salmon fillet, preferably wild not farm raised, washed
Dry Rub
3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
Sauce
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon raw onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley or kale
2 large shiitake or brown mushrooms, washed, pat dried, stem end trimmed, finely chopped
1 large tomato to make 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 F. Remove the stem from the tomato. Place the whole tomato on a Silpat or parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Roast 20 minutes. Transfer the tomato and any juices from the baking sheet into a food mill or a fine mesh strainer. Press the tomato to collect the juices and pulp. Reserve skin and seeds to make vegetable stock or discard. Set tomato sauce aside or refrigerate in an air-tight container. The sauce can be frozen if made ahead.
Inspect the filet and remove any bones. Trim off small fins if any and discard. Pat dry.
In a bowl, mix together the dry rub seasoning.
Measure a piece of plastic wrap that it is longer than the filet by 5" on all sides. Lay the plastic wrap on a flat surface.
Spread half the dry rub on the plastic wrap. Lay the salmon filet on top, skin side down. Spread the remainder of the dry rub on the salmon.
Fold over the ends of the plastic wrap so the salmon and dry mix are pressed against each other. Put the package into a plastic bag and seal.
Place the plastic bag on a baking sheet in case of leaks. Place in the refrigerator.
The next day, remove the salmon filet. The dry rub will have become a wet slurry.
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
To make the sauce, place the bag over a bowl. Remove the salmon from the plastic bag and plastic wrap being careful to reserve all the liquid in the bowl. Use your hand to scrape off any dry rub that clings to the filet. Collect the liquid and excess dry rub in a bowl. Mix together.
Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and place a small wire rack on top of the aluminum foil. Place the salmon filet on the wire rack, skin side down. Place in the oven.
In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil and sauté onion, Italian parsley or kale and mushrooms until lightly browned. Add dry rub slurry and roasted tomato sauce. Mix well. Simmer 5 minutes. Set aside.
After the salmon has been in the oven 20 minutes, remove. Place a generous amount of the sauce on top and return to the oven another 10 minutes. Reserve any extra sauce.
Remove from the oven. When the salmon is cool enough to touch, use a pairing knife to help remove the filet from the wire rack. Keep the skin on the filet. When transferring the salmon to a decorative plate, be careful not to disturb the toping.
Serve at room temperature with the extra sauce in a small bowl.
To get the salmon from refrigerator-to-table, all I needed to do was season the filet with dry rub and place it in the refrigerator. Overnight the dry rub drew moisture out of the fish. The dry rub turned into a wet slurry that became the base for an sweet-heat savory glaze.
The filet takes 30 minutes to cook in the oven. The glaze takes 5 minutes to cook in a saucepan.
Because the filet is best served at room temperature, the salmon can be cooked ahead of time and served when everyone is ready to eat. An ideal dish to serve for brunch, lunch, dinner or watching a football game.
The filet can be served with toasted bagels and cream cheese, a green salad or as an entre with pasta on the side.
Dry Rub Salmon with Brown Sugar Mushroom Glaze
The topping needs tomato sauce to mellow the flavors. You can use canned tomato sauce but making your own is easy and will taste much better. Roasted tomato sauce is so easy to make, I would encourage you to make a lot and to freeze the sauce in 6 ounce air tight containers. That way, when you want to make a tomato sauce for pasta or to add tomato sauce to a stew you have it in the freezer.
Yield 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Marinating Time: Overnight
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour + marinating overnight
Ingredients
2 pounds fresh skin on salmon fillet, preferably wild not farm raised, washed
Dry Rub
3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
Sauce
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon raw onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley or kale
2 large shiitake or brown mushrooms, washed, pat dried, stem end trimmed, finely chopped
1 large tomato to make 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 F. Remove the stem from the tomato. Place the whole tomato on a Silpat or parchment paper on a baking sheet.
In a bowl, mix together the dry rub seasoning.
Measure a piece of plastic wrap that it is longer than the filet by 5" on all sides. Lay the plastic wrap on a flat surface.
Spread half the dry rub on the plastic wrap. Lay the salmon filet on top, skin side down. Spread the remainder of the dry rub on the salmon.
Fold over the ends of the plastic wrap so the salmon and dry mix are pressed against each other. Put the package into a plastic bag and seal.
Place the plastic bag on a baking sheet in case of leaks. Place in the refrigerator.
The next day, remove the salmon filet. The dry rub will have become a wet slurry.
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
To make the sauce, place the bag over a bowl. Remove the salmon from the plastic bag and plastic wrap being careful to reserve all the liquid in the bowl. Use your hand to scrape off any dry rub that clings to the filet. Collect the liquid and excess dry rub in a bowl. Mix together.
Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and place a small wire rack on top of the aluminum foil. Place the salmon filet on the wire rack, skin side down. Place in the oven.
In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil and sauté onion, Italian parsley or kale and mushrooms until lightly browned. Add dry rub slurry and roasted tomato sauce. Mix well. Simmer 5 minutes. Set aside.
Serve at room temperature with the extra sauce in a small bowl.
