Oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro

How time flies!! Remember the asparagus with coconut & lime starter and rhubarb & coconut pie dessert I served at a dinner party in May? Well, between these two courses I served a rather tasty and healthy oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro. I wanted something that would connect the coconut & lime starter with the coconut & rhubarb dessert. As Dianne, one of the guests that night, doesn't eat red meat, then I knew it had to be a fish course. At the end I came up with this recipe - combination of various coriander/cilantro salmon recipes in the web, and lime is the ingredient that appeared both in the starter and in the main course dish. Coriander is not a very widely used herb here in Estonia, though it is increasingly available at some supermarkets, and can be found under the name kinza at the markets, where Russian-speaking ladies sell it (it's widely popular in Caucasus, for example - Georgian chakhohbili wouldn't be the same without it). I hated coriander in the beginning, but have grown to like its piquancy over the last few years, and now grow some on my windowsill.

I used salmon steaks, but it would work just as well with fillets. Also, I served it with quinoa, which worked well, but steamed rice or boiled new potatoes would go well as well. Or simply a nice crusty bread, if you prefer.

Oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro
(Koriandrilõhe)
Serves 4


Click on the photo to enlarge

4 salmon steaks or fillets

Coriander/cilantro marinade:
100 grams fresh coriander, chopped
2 fat garlic cloves, chopped
the zest and juice of 1 lime
5 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt
coarsely ground black pepper

few tomatoes on the wine, optional

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Season salmon steaks lightly with salt and pepper on both sides, place in a greased oven dish. Spread the coriander marinade over, tuck the squeezed lime halves in the dish as well. [This can be done few hours earlier; cover the dish with a clingfilm and place in the fridge].
Add few smaller tomatoes for extra colour. Cover with foil and roast at 225 Celsius oven for about 15 minutes, depending on thickness, until fish is cooked. Avoid overcooking, as overcooked salmon is simply dry & nasty. (You may want to remove the foil about 5 minutes before end, just to get some golden colour).

Other salmon recipes @ Nami-nami:
Creamy salmon & potato gratin (February 2007)
Oriental salmon with honey, mustard & soy sauce (February 2006)
Salmon fishcakes with green peas (November 2006)
Salmon kulebyaka (February 2007)