Salmon is a heart-healthy fish and so we eat it a lot, but it’s easy to get in a rut of the same couple of recipes over and over again. So let’s start fresh: pan-fried instead of baked or broiled, pine nuts, capers and olives instead of mustard or dill sauce. Voila! A delectable main course that’s healthy and kinda elegant, considering that you just did it in about 15 minutes. Enjoy!
Pan-Fried Salmon with Pine Nuts
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets, skin on
- Salt and pepper
- 7 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- ¼ pine nuts, chopped
- ¼ cup capers and 2 teaspoons of the brine
- 1/3 cup green olives, pitted and diced
- 1 cup parsley
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Directions
- Mix salmon with 1 tablespoons oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a grind of pepper and set aside.
- In a large frying pan place 5 tablespoons of olive oil and heat on high. Add celery and pine nuts and fry for 5 minutes (don’t let pine nuts burn, just brown.) Remove from heat and stir in capers and brine, olives, and a pinch of salt. Add parsley, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix well. Set aside.
- Put remaining oil in frying pan on medium heat and fry the salmon, skin side down first, for 3 minutes. Flip fillets and turn heat down. Cook 2-4 minutes, or until the salmon is the way you like it cooked. Arrange salmon on plates and top with salsa. Scatter celery leaves on top.
Note: I had to make this recipe again, even though the salsa was perfect, because the fish was old and way too strong. Avoid buying fish on a Monday from large markets – chances are it’s been sitting around all weekend waiting to be sold.
