Salmon for Summer Entertaining

At this time of year – called the silly season for good reason – we have loads to do and relatively little time to do it

With end of year activities for work and school along with the pressure of gift shopping and holidays to plan, the thought of hosting a dinner can just about tip the scales.

With that in mind we have for you some very delicious and incredibly simple recipes, perfect for entertaining. Be it a relaxed barbecue or Christmas dinner, a side of salmon is a natural choice.  And of course as with all things, it is important to choose a brand  that is high in quality and popular with both chefs and home cooks, being Regal Salmon.

A side of salmon looks good, tastes great, goes with a whole pile of different flavour combinations, and best of all, once it is in the oven (or on the barbecue) dinner is cooked in 15 minutes or less, needing little attention from you!

Having just completed some recipes filming with Regal salmon, I am delighted with our new summer salmon recipes, the star of which I think is this Pistachio and lemon crusted salmon with pomegranate seeds.  Destined for our Christmas Day (and probably New Years Eve) table, it looks amazing and tastes even better.  The salmon is cooked in 15 minutes and prepared in about the same.

Another colourful combination perfect for the Christmas table is this Baked Regal Salmon with a Cranberry and Almond crust.  A hugely popular recipe that looks very festive as well.And yet another festive variation that I discovered on Regalsalmon.co.nz, that also looks spectacular, is this Christmas Regal Salmon with Celebration Cous Cous.

In discussing salmon with my good friend Bridget, she reminded me of one of her favourite recipes, Aromatic side of salmon, it is in my cookbook.Bridget claims it is one of her favourites and for good reason as it uses all of those wonderful aromatic flavours of South East Asia with ginger, chilli, lemongrass, coriander etc… These flavours combine to make such a delicious dish which is finished off with a crisp topping of fried shallots.

Creating texture in food is important and an easy way to do this with salmon is to utilise the skin as well as the flesh.  If you cook your side of salmon flesh side down and then gently peel the skin off after cooking then crisp it under the grill, you will then have the meltingly soft salmon flesh combined with the crunchy skin – mmm.

Salmon traverses the cuisines of the globe in terms of the flavours that combine well with it.
Some of our favourites include;
dill, shallots, red onion,
beetroot (the colour and flavours are pretty much a perfect salmon marriage, see our canape recipe),
capers, ginger, coriander, rosemary,
wasabi, horseradish, lemon, lime,  chilli, fish sauce, chives, fennel, sour cream, lemongrass, thyme, oregano, parsley, cranberries, pomegranate seeds, soy sauce, new potatoes…
What are you favourite flavour combinations?

Pin boning a side of salmon is quite simple.  Just run your fingers down the length of the salmon along the centre seam.  You won’t find bones towards the tail but will find them as you move towards the head.  Simply remove with tweezers or a paring knife against your finger.

Portion size: When choosing a side of salmon work on approximately 175g per person.

Cooking methods and time:  A side of salmon cooks in 10-15 minutes in an oven set at 200°C.  Ideally it should be cooked on the outside but still pink in the centre but this is a personal preference so adjust cooking times to suit.

To barbecue, cook for 5-7 minutes, skin side down and then turn a cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Celebrate Summer with Regal Salmon.  Entertaining this Summer?  We’re giving away a $100 Regal Salmon hamper that will be sure to help impress your guests.

To enter into the draw simply fill in your details below.