Garlic Infused Baked Salmon Steak

Hello again, pretty reader.

This is the garlic infused baked salmon steak, or the deep marinated baked salmon. Or as my cousin calls it: Maryam’s signature dish. So awesome to have a dish called after me. It’s like the highest rank of validation –cooking validation- ever.

It started out as an experience, my entire family LOVES fish and I just wanted to know how to cook it, Mom always cooks the most incredible fish, but I never did. I mean sure I can do a good tuna sandwich or a shrimp salad, or a smoked salmon sandwich, but that was about it. I kept looking for the easiest recipes I could find for salmon, and I finally found this super simple recipe on allrecipes.com, then I went out and bought myself a nice big salmon fillet and did exactly as the recipe said. It turned out wonderful. But after a few times of cooking it -without changes, the taste got somewhat predictable and repetitive. So of course I started adding on more ingredients and it turned out, you can never go wrong with adding anything to salmon! Especially mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. Oh mushrooms.

The original recipe recalled a lot less olive oil, but I’ve decided to add more since I’m cooking the salmon with extra greens.  I also bury my salmon skin side up underneath the olive oil marinade so it could get the most intense flavor from all that coverage.

So here’s my take on the recipe, you can do it the basic way without the leafy veggies or the seriously unforgettable salmon anybody could taste –and that is just my humble personal opinion.

If you bought fresh salmon from the fish market, you’re gonna need to debone it, here’s how:

Deboning!

I combine all the ingredients together in a 1 Liter measuring cup.

Stabbing the salmon diagonally with the knife’s tip helps to spread the marinade’s flavor.

Marinade with skin side up.

After overnight marinating.

Done!

Prep time: 30 minutes, Marinate: 20 minutes-overnight, Bake time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 KG of deboned salmon fillet

1 garlic head, sliced

½ to ¾ cup olive oil (use less if you don’t like it juicy)

A handful of fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

A handful of fresh coriander, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoons rosemary (dried or fresh)

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt (1 teaspoon if you’re using soft salt)

½ tablespoon ground black pepper

The juice of 2 big lemons

½ cup frozen spinach

10 Fresh mushroom heads (if they’re medium-big mushrooms: halved, if small: leave them as is)

Recipe:

Combine the garlic, olive oil, dried basil, rosemary, salt and pepper, lemon juice, parsley and coriander in a big glass bowl, mix until the salt is completely dissolved.

Place the salmon in the center of a glass oven-safe dish, make small lengthwise holes using a sharp knife through the thick parts of the salmon.

Sprinkle the olive oil mixture on the salmon, turn upside down for a couple of times to insure it’s covered with marinade. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight: the longer it marinates the better the flavor).

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Place the oven rack in the middle.

Remove the plastic wrap, place the salmon skin side down on aluminium foil, place mushrooms and spinach on sides of the foil covered dish, pour the sauce over it while maintaining it inside the foil, then cover the salmon, make sure you cover it nice and tight as salmon tends to dry if not covered well.

Place the entire foil wrapped dish on a baking pan to prevent burning in the bottom.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the salmon is pinkish white in the center, you can check it by cutting small hole in the center to be sure.

Serve immediately.

ENJOY, I know you will 😉

Love always, c00kwithme.

TIPS & NOTES:

If you’re cooking less than 1 KG of salmon, divide the other ingredients accordingly. (Though you might wanna rethink reducing the portion, because if you cook this salmon with –wait for it- love, everyone will wanna get a piece, even people who don’t usually like fish.)

If you don’t like adding parsley and coriander to your dishes because they’re a hassle to clean, there’s a super easy way to clean them, just put them in a plastic bowl, soak them in water and white vinegar (it will be a total waist of expensive vinegar if you used it) leave it soaked for 15-30 minutes, and see how all the dirt settles in the bottom of the bowl. Wash them thoroughly to remove vinegar and they’re ready to use.

You can find frozen deboned salmon cut in smaller portions in the super market the frozen fish section. That is if you don’t like the fresh fish market smell! (I don’t mind it, I know, I too think I’m weird)

You don’t have to add as much coriander and parsley, I just love the strength they give to the salmon and the fact that they go so well together with garlic.

You can always add broccoli, carrots, potatoes, onions; shallots would be an amazing addition, be creative! Think outside the box. No wait, think outside the fish. Wait, what?

Cooked salmon stores very well in the fridge, just remove the aluminum foil and replace it with a plastic wrap. Not really sure why but I think using aluminum foil for a long while causes things to oxidize and that’s never good.

What goes well with salmon: steamed rice or mashed potatoes with guacamole.