The genesis of this baked salmon recipe came from my fathers desire to have a salmon dish that was cooked to hell… I mean really really over cooked. He has some kind (in my mind) of irrational fear of undercooked fish (especially salmon). To make him happy while also saving my own mouth I thought of a way to lock in the moisture, Mayonnaise! I knew from some other recipes that Mayo does a great job of sealing in moisture in some grilled, baked, and even fried dishes.
I truly thought the recipe I came up with was unique and novel. turns out after a quick google search I certainly am not the first one to think of this baked salmon technique, that being said of some of the other versions I’ve tried, I think I can confidently say I have mastered it! Below is a few different versions that I have made, the technique is the same in all of them and cooking times are the same as well, the difference is the flavor you can achieve with the different sauces. Hopefully this goes without saying, but if you look at the different sauces, you should definitely be able to see a pattern, and with the diversity of recipes I’ve presented should be able to customize this recipe to be just about anything you want! Some other examples of things you can do with the sauce, is add BBQ, add tomato paste, cinnamon and allspice for a Moroccan flare
So without further ado, here’s the recipe!
Baked Salmon
Course: Uncategorized6-8
servings15
minutes15
minutes273
kcalIngredients
- Salmon
1 Salmon Filet (half a salmon about 2lbs)
½ tsp Neutral Oil
Garlic Salt (low sodium or even better is Alpine Touch if you can get it!)
- Middle Eastern Sauce
½ cup low fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons garlic salt
¾ tsp cumin
½ tsp cardamom
½ tsp coriander
2 tsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
- Garlic Lemon Parmesan Sauce
½ cup low fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons garlic salt
4 Crushed Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
¼ cup Parmesan grated or finely crumbled
- Cilantro Lime
½ cup low fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons garlic salt
3 Crushed Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp. Lime Juice
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. Minced Cilantro (Save the 2 Tbsp. for a garnish)
- Dynamite Style Sauce (Here’s the original Recipe)
½ cup low fat mayonnaise
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Mirin
2 tsp Sesame oil
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Rice wine vinegar
2 green onions sliced thin and divided in half (Save half to top as a garnish)
- Honey Mustard Sauce
½ cup low fat mayonnaise
2 tsp Garlic Salt
2 Tbsp. Honey
¼ Cup or 4 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
Directions
- Salmon
- Preheat an oven or Grill (using indirect heat) to 400 Degrees.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper to go just underneath the salmon as close to the size and shape of the salmon as possible. Double a sheet of tinfoil that is at least 2 inches larger on all sides than the piece of salmon.
- Place the Parchment in the center of the tinfoil and oil with the ½ tsp of Neutral Oil. Then put the salmon onto the parchment paper on top of the tinfoil. (If using an oven putting the tinfoil /parchment/ salmon onto a cookie sheet helps a lot)
- The next step is hard to describe, but easy to do… You want to fold or crumple the tinfoil up so that it is touching all the edges of the salmon and protruding above the top edge (think that your making a little boat or bowl that seals off the sides of the salmon and contains the sauce so it can’t run off.) At this point if you’d like you can season the salmon with Salt and Pepper or Garlic Salt, but all of my sauces account for this so no seasoning is necessary.
- Saucing the Salmon!
- Choose one of the sauces listed above, or make your own following the above pattern, then combine the listed ingredients in a bowl (This can be done 1-2 days ahead and stored in an airtight container in a refrigerator).
- Pour or spoon the sauce all over the salmon trying to coat the entire surface, ideally a little thicker over the thicker parts of the salmon. I use the back of a spoon to move the sauce around and cover the salmon.
- Place the sauced up Salmon into the oven for 15 minutes, if you want it cooked to hell cook it for 20 minutes total or really as long as you want, I mean it just gets worse and worse the more overcooked, but you do you~!
