This would be a wonderful dish to make for company as it checks all the boxes – Its easy, so delicious, can be well organized ahead and the slow roasting leaves no fishy smell in your kitchen. The vinaigrette filled with olives and walnuts adds so much crunchy flavor to the succulent salmon basted with smoked paprika and lemon in olive oil. But don’t wait for company ; you deserve to have this tonight! Thanks to Justin Chapple who developed this for the Food and Wine test kitchen. (And has a very entertaining video making this!)
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 Tbs. smoked paprika
1 Tbs. grated lemon zest plus 3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 (2 1/2 pound) side of salmon
2 3/4 tsp. kosher salt, divided
3/4 tsp. black pepper, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and finely choppped
1/4 cup Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with rack in the middle. Whisk together 1/2 cup oil and paprika in a small bowl. Place salmon in a large baking dish; sprinkle both sides with 2 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Tuck tapered end of salmon under if needed to fit in the dish. Pour lemon-paprika mixture over salmon. Bake in preheated oven until thickest part of salmon flakes easily with a fork, 30 to 35 minutes, spooning-paprika mixture over salmon every 10 minutes. ( I forgot to do this!) Remove from oven; let rest 5 minutes.
Whisk together parsley, walnuts, vinegar, olives and remaining 1/4 cup oil in a small bowl. Season with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and remaining 1/4 tsp. pepper. Using 2 spatulas, carefully lift salmon from the baking dish, and transfer to a large platter; discard remaining mixture in baking dish. Spoon walnut-olive vinaigrette on salmon. Drizzle fish with reserved oil mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 6.
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