Pot-Roasted Salmon with Olives & Preserved Le
Submitted by Donmy999
Pot-roasted salmon with black olives, preserved lemon, carrots, and green beans in fish stock. A North African-inspired one-pot fish dish that’s elegant, bright, and ready in 30 minutes.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minBrowned salmon fillets pot-roasted on a bed of carrots, green beans, black olives, and preserved lemon in fish stock. This is a one-pot dish with a North African accent that comes together fast and looks like it took far more effort than it did.
Preserved lemons are the ingredient that makes this special. Salted and cured for weeks, they lose their bitterness and become soft, mild, and intensely lemony. You eat the whole thing, rind and all. If you don’t have them, fresh lemon works but won’t deliver the same tender, mellow citrus flavor.
Brown the salmon first, then set it aside. Saute the vegetables and olives in the same pan to pick up the fond, add the stock, and lay the fish on top to steam through. Eight minutes covered with two bastings keeps the salmon moist and infused with the briny, lemony broth underneath.
Kitchen Tips
- Baste the salmon twice during the 8-minute cook. The stock keeps the top moist and glazes the surface.
- Remove the fish before the vegetables are fully done. Finish the veg uncovered while the salmon rests, so they stay crisp-tender.
- If you don’t have fish stock, mix equal parts white wine and water for a good substitute.
- Cut carrots into thin lengthwise strips so they cook at the same rate as the green beans.
Variations
- Use cod, halibut, or sea bass instead of salmon for a milder fish.
- Add cherry tomatoes to the vegetable mix for sweetness and color.
- Stir in a handful of capers with the olives for extra brine.
Ingredients
Directions
Preserved lemons are salted lemons - cut a vertical cross in each lemon and stuff with sea salt - preserve in lemon juice for a few weeks in an air-tight jar.
If you don’t have them use ordinary lemons.
The advantage of the preserved ones is their mildness and tenderness, so you can eat them.
The unpreserved ones tend to be too bitter.
If you don’t have fish stock use 3 oz each white wine and water.
Method: Brown the fish in olive oil using the casserole you will use for the roasting.
Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Peel and trim the carrots and cut lengthways into thin strips.
Top and tail the beans and roughly chop the black olives.
In the same pan lightly colour the vegetables in hot oil.
Add the black olives and preserved lemon, cut into eight segments, and toss in the oil.
Pour over the stock, bring to the boil, lower the heat, lay the fish on top and cover with the lid, and tinfoil if using.
Cook over a moderate heat for eight minutes, basting the fish twice during the process.
Remove the fish and keep warm.
Continue cooking and vegetables with the lid off until tender.
Serve with the fish on top and sprinkling of parsley.
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