Salmon Baked in Foil ala Giada
Posted by Dr. Cason on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
I haven’t always loved salmon. When I was growing up I we mostly ate the fish we caught which was a lot of bass and trout. Occasionally my parents would have salmon particularly if we went out to eat, but I avoided tasting it thinking it would be too fishy. One day I was intrigued and leaned over and took a bite off my parent’s plate. “Hmmm…” I thought, “Interesting flavor and not at all like the other fishes!” I was a fan then but even more so now that we’ve moved to Guam.
Here we go down to the local fish market for our fish. Hands down it’s the best tasting salmon I’ve ever had – no matter how it is cooked. Which goes to show you that the most important part of cooking is good ingredients!
This is a recipe I adapted from Giada De Laurentis’ cookbook Everyday Italian. Enjoy.
3 tomatoes, chopped or 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice, drained.
2 shallots
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or 3/4 teaspoon dried
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 salmon fillets ( about 5 oz each)
First preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and start to prepare the fish. Mix the tomatoes, shallots, 2 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper in a bowl and set aside.
Then lay out your 4 pieces of foil. In the middle of each foil spoon a little of the oil and put the salmon on it turning it to evenly distribute the oil. Then season with salt and pepper. Spoon the tomato mixture over the four pieces of salmon.
Fold the foil over the salmon. Make sure not to cover it too tight. You really want the fish to steam/bake. Now Giada says to put it on a heavy baking sheet and cook for 25 minutes but my fish was smaller and did really well with just 15 minutes. But I did let it sit and steam a little when I took it out of the oven.
Feel free to make adjustments as you see fit. I didn’t have any lemon so I left it out. It was still delicious. What I happen to have was the shallots I know crazy huh? Lemons no. Shallots yes. Lately I’ve had a love affair with shallots and happened to have them on hand. I wouldn’t substitute this! Shallots have a delicate sweet flavor that really worked well with the salmon.
The kids ate it right out of the foil while still warm! Yummy! The photo is when I plated it for my husband! Like the way I used plated? I’ve been watching “The Next Food Network Star”!
Filed in Uncategorized | 13 responses so far
Audubon Ronon 29 Jul 2008 at 5:13 am 1OH MAN, that looks good. I’m fix’in it.
Shallots! Even better. I’ll splash a little experimental side plate with capers and report back. I bet I could probably add a touch of fresh basil as well vs oregano.
Did you actually take that pic?
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Dr. Casonon 29 Jul 2008 at 5:21 am 2Audubon- Boy you are fast! I just posted and wasn’t able to fix my errors yet! All fixed up now.
Ohhh! I thought about capers too and maybe some white wine! Let me know.
Yes it’s my photo. I took all kinds of pics on another plate and in the foil but I couldn’t get it right. Finally I leaned down to my husband’s plate and starting taking more. He waited patiently until I finished!
Guinevere Meadowon 29 Jul 2008 at 6:38 am 3I’m a seafood-phobe, but this sounds like something even I would like! (And I just ADORE Giada DiLaurentis!)
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Lisaon 29 Jul 2008 at 9:10 am 4I just had the best dinner for my anniversary which included eating off of my husbands plate. He got the salmon, carmelized. Mmmm.
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Nikkion 29 Jul 2008 at 9:21 am 5Mmmm looks good.. unfortunately my husband made a rule before we got married that I am not allowed to cook fish in our house. I have to settle for getting my omega 3 from restaurants
Kat Stephensonon 29 Jul 2008 at 10:07 am 6Sheila – I have to agree with Moonbeam’s Mom – Yummy, Yummy for the Tummy! My three girls (Onyx – a black lab/chow mix, Tinkerbell – a JRT/Chi mix, and Sophie – a blue/tan chihuahua) would all lick their chops over this dish for sure.
I bet you used Photoshop to change this image a bit. I noticed how the salmon is crisp and clear, and the background seems to have been distorted a bit to put more emphasis on the salmon dish. Am I seeing this right? What tools did you use in Photoshop if this is the case? Nice job! I just love your photography and skills with Photoshop.
I have included my blog in case you would like to see all my canine family and my grandchildren. Please be sure and check out the article I wrote about Moonbeam’s Mom and her hound dogs.
http://memphiskat-tinkerbell.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-support-of-hound-dogs.html
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Barbara Swaffordon 29 Jul 2008 at 2:10 pm 7Hi Dr. Cason,
That looks and sounds delicious.
Plated? Yup! It’s all in the presentation. You did GOOD!
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Davinaon 29 Jul 2008 at 5:27 pm 8This looks deeeelicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Mmm, mmm good.
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Jenion 29 Jul 2008 at 9:07 pm 9I LOVE Salmon – I never tried to get the salmon from the co-op, I’ll have to try it now! Whatever is in the Commissary is blech.
Glad you’re back! Can’t wait to visit with you!!!
Dr. Casonon 30 Jul 2008 at 5:15 am 10Guin- I love Giada too. But I have rarely made any of her recipes. I’m not sure why they always turn out great!
Moonbeams Mom- They eat salmon?? Should be really good for their coat!
Lisa- Carmelized! Another technique I need to try!
Nikki- Salmon doesn’t stink up the house! At least I don’t think it does. I never noticed a fishy smell.
Kat- No special tools. I don’t have that much time on my hands!
I actually just focused on the salmon on my husband’s plate and let the others fade in the background naturally. I’d love to check out your blog! Thanks for the link!
Barbara- I have a hard time with remembering about presentation. Most times the kids are leaning in while I’m taking the pic and I feel like I’m being pressured!
Davina- It was soooo good.
Jeni- Go Go Go! So much better than the commissary! Glad to be home too!
Nikkion 30 Jul 2008 at 7:56 am 11I don’t think it stinks up the house either. I’m pretty sure that it’s all in his head, I figure he must have had some sort of traumatic fish experience that he is hiding from when he was a child. Who knows?
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Dr. Casonon 30 Jul 2008 at 8:06 pm 12Nikki- Now the bass I had growing up. I remember that as being a little stinky. I choked it down with rice! To this day I haven’t had any.
White Hot Magikon 31 Jul 2008 at 1:40 am 13I love Salmon I am going to try this. I don’t really cook fish but have been craving it lately. Time to try cooking it again!