Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Revisiting an old favourite: Salmon with a Creamy Orange Sauce and Rosemary



I already posted a recipe for this dish during my early foodblogging days (in July 2005, to be precise). However, it never had a decent photo to illustrate it, plus I've changed the cooking temperatures a little, so I hope you don't mind me writing about it again. Also, I do believe that this fish dish deserves attention. It is an elegant salmon dish, you see, with a lovely creamy, sweet and herby sauce dressing the fish. We had it for dinner last weekend, eating it with some steamed quinoa, and it was a thoroughly satisfying simple meal.

Do try it as well. Oily fish is good for you, you know...

Salmon with a creamy orange sauce & rosemary
(Rosmariini-apelsinilõhe; original recipe: Apelsin- och rosmarinlax, Arla Sverige)
Serves 4 (can be easily halved)



4 pieces of salmon fillets (ca 500 g in total)
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
250 ml (1 cup) single cream
3-4 Tbsp orange juice

First, remove any pin-bones from the salmon fillets with pliers (see photo below).
Put fish fillets into an ovenproof dish, season with a mixture of salt, pepper and rosemary. Cover and let marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Mix the single cream with orange juice and pour over the fish.
Grill in a pre-heated 200˚C oven for 15 or so minutes, until fish is cooked through and the creamy orange sauce has thickened a little.
Transfer the fish onto warm plates and serve with plain rice or quinoa, spooning the extra sauce over the fish.

22 comments:

Coffee and Vanilla said...

Very nice recipe, I'm adding to my favourites to try later :)

I make Baked Dill & Lemon Salmon quite often:

http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=1293

Greetings, Margot

K and S said...

that looks really healthy and delicious! I think I may have to go out to buy some salmon :)

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Oh boy! i do love the flavor of orange in the sauce. Pille I hope you had a great start to 2008! I love salmon and I think I will try this out soon!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

You can never have too many salmon recipes in your repertoire! It's always elegant, and it pairs so well with citrus to help cut the fattiness of the fish. Lovely recipe, Pille.

Mariajaan said...

Wow! I am very pleased not only about the delicious recipe but also about the availability of quinoa in Tallinn! I am also surprised for it grows in the Andean mountains only from 2500mts above the level of the sea, and being such an ancient-traditional-indigenous "pseudo"cereal of countries so very far away from Estonia (Peru, Bolivia, Colombia) I would have never imagined that anybody there would have even tried it. Of course I am not a big foodie so I do not know what is really up...My 11yo son was the one who introduced me to this world of blogs on food. ANYWAY I must say that I was fascinated by your choice! Not a day passes without me looking for your new posts!

Karolina Beaudet said...

I love salmon, my favorite way of serving salmon is with raspberry sauce, but I'm sure the orange sauce must be delicious too. I'll try that out some day:)

Rachael Narins said...

You sure are good with salmon!

Wendy said...

Steamed quinoa? I didn't know it could be steamed!

Katie Zeller said...

I also didn't know quinoa could be steamed. I am really intrigued by the orange sauce. I pair lemon with salmon a lot but orange...must try this!
Oh, I loved the last post with all that gorgeous salmon roe!

Dagmar said...

The salmon looks really good. I've never paired salmon with orange, only with lemon and lime, but it sounds lovely so I'll try this out!

Nora B. said...

That looks so elegant and the steamed quinoa also adds to the lovely look for the final presentation.

lobstersquad said...

I like the professional touch of the glove and the pincers! maybe you´ve been working in a restaurant lately?

Annemarie said...

I saw a link to this recipe on Blogher and thought: mmm, lovely, and just the sort of thing Pille would do. Follow the link and where does it take me...? :)

Bradley said...

I enjoy salmon but I must admit to the sin of over cooking my fish. I grew up with fish that was always way over done and adjusting to fish cooked properly is something I have never been able to manage. Yours looks great!

Kevin Kossowan said...

You had me at 'salmon'.
Nice to see the pin-boning shot too..

Mike of Mike's Table said...

Sounds like a tasty combination

Kerstin Klein said...

So simple and it sounds delicious. I´ll try this recipe today.

Dori said...

Salmon...my favorite, anyway that it is made! Creamy orange sauce and rosemary...I'm craving some right now!

Kerstin Klein said...

just as expected the salmon was delicious. thanks!

Pille said...

Margot – dill and lemon are wonderful with salmon indeed!

K&S – that’s kind of you :)

Meeta – orange gives a nice sweet touch to the dish – a nice and refreshing change from lemon!

Lydia – I know :) I made another salmon dish this weekend, using lime. Not sure which citrus I love best with salmon – lemon, orange or lime..

Mariajaan – I bought my quinoa from Scotland last September, but it’s easily available in Tallinn too, at least in the health food/organic shops that seem to be mushrooming these days!

Karolcia – I must admit I would have never thought of pairing salmon with raspberry sauce. Most intriguing…

Rachael – thank you :)

Wendy – well, when I first searched for quinoa recipes, then these always spoke about steaming as opposed to boiling. Basically I take 1 part rinsed quinoa and 2 parts water, add some salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the water has absorbed. Then fluff it up with a fork..

Katie – lemon would be my ‘classic’ choice for salmon, but orange works well, too, as does lime. Haven’t tried with other citrus fruit yet :)

Dagmar – oh, please do give this a go!

Nora B – I’ve actually paired quinoa with salmon before – they make a lovely pairing, I think. Rice can be too heavy, I find.

Lobstersquar – aye :) Salmon is a rather oily fish, so gloves help. The pincers I bought for the fish handling class at the cookery school last autumn. And yes, I learnt to love these gloves while interning at the restaurant :)

Annemarie – that’s hilarious :)

Bradley – I cook mine at 200 celsius and hardly for longer than 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness. It tends to cook perfectly when sticking to these times/temperatures..

Kevin – K. is taking lots of action shots in the kitchen these days :)

Mike – it is tasty indeed!

Meeso – salmon (and trout) are some of my favourite fish, too, though I did love a good seabass and haddock in Scotland, where I knew a brilliant fishmonger.

Ksklein – I’m so happy you enjoyed the dish! I was worried you’d never try another one of my recipes after the cabbage cake incident :)

Kerstin Klein said...

:D well, the cabbage cake was delicious even if i i did a mistake. and i´m a fan of your blog and recipes. even if something wouldn´t be my favorite food, i would still try out new stuff here.

Abitofafoodie said...

Hello,
What a lovely salmon recipe. I was served a salmon en croute recently at a dinner party which incorporated orange and was surprised how well the flavours went together.
Antonia