3 Spectacular Salmon Suppers Sure to Make a Splash

But how should you cook it? We all get stumped for ideas sometimes. If you find yourself needing new inspiration for cooking salmon, here are a few ideas that are anything but ordinary. 

This is a recipe to impress guests—and you need guests because it calls for a 2½-pound fillet and serves six. The recipe produces an impressive mass of salmon that is impeccably moist and impossibly delicious. 

There are three tricks here. One, a rub of brown sugar, salt, and pepper that you apply just before roasting. Two, a nice slow, gentle cook (about an hour) in a 250-degree oven. And three, a splash of a lemony vinaigrette studded with oniony, emerald chives before serving. 

While the flavors are perfect, it is this dish’s texture that takes it into “wow” territory. The gentle cooking produces soft, flaky, juicy salmon that melts in your mouth. Truly remarkable. And if you want to mix things up, there are variations that replace the chives and lemon with dill and garlic and parsley and cayenne. Yum.  

Why should chicken have all the fun?

The big, bright flavors that comprise piccata sauce—garlic, white wine, capers, lemon, and butter—are all great pairings with salmon too. 

Our method couldn’t be much easier. Buy a big piece of salmon and cut it into four portions (this ensures consistency of quality and size), hit it with salt and pepper, and slap it in a nonstick skillet to cook (covered) until done. Remove the salmon from the pan and build the sauce by adding garlic, flour, wine, water, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a little more salt and pepper. Off heat, whisk in some butter for richness and stir in some chopped dill for its sweet, grassy flavor. Spoon the sauce over the cooked salmon and dinner is served!

Sometimes the comfort and convenience of a delicious one-pan supper is just what the doctor ordered. This dinner of rice, salmon, mushrooms, and broccoli is cooked in one pan (a broiler-safe 13 by 9-inch baking dish) to make the flavor big and the cleanup light. 

The secret to this dish’s success is the easy stir-together sauce for the salmon made from pantry staples. It’s got ketchup, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, chili-garlic sauce, and fresh ginger. The flavor payoff is extraordinary, and it’s a safe bet that, once you’ve tried it, you’ll whip up the sauce again when it’s time to grill or broil chicken or to add punch to steak tips or . . .

The headline promised three recipes, and they have been delivered. But I can’t give you a roundup of favorite Cook’s Country salmon recipes without sharing the one that’s nearest and dearest to my heart: Cedar-Planked Salmon. If you want to read more, here’s an article on one of the reasons I love this recipe so much.