Honey Glazed Salmon and Creamy Dill Sauce

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Honey Glazed Salmon and Creamy Dill Sauce

The sweet, slightly tart cranberries and the nutty almonds contrast beautifully with the cooling Creamy Dill Sauce and the rich, Honey Glazed flesh of the salmon.

Prep Time: 20 mins, Cook time: 30 mins, Cooling time: 30 mins

Serves 12

Ingredients

Salmon:

  • 1.2 – 1.5 kg salmon side (skin on, bones removed)
  • 2 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Honey Butter Glaze:

  • 150g butter, unsalted
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely minced (garlic press or knife)

Creamy Dill Sauce:

  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream, full fat (low fat is too watery)
  • 1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped (lightly packed cup)
  • 1/2 eschallot (French onion), finely grated
  • 1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Holiday “Tapenade”:

  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 cup slivered almonds, toasted
  • 1/3 cup parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Finishing:

  • 1 pomegranate, only the seeds
  • 1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 lemons, extra, cut in 6 pieces each (for serving, don’t skip this)

Method

  1. Mix creamy dill sauce ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Keep refrigerated until required.
  2. Preheat oven to 180°C
  3. Heat orange juice in a saucepan over high heat until hot. Turn stove off, add cranberries, cover.
  4. Stand 15 minutes, then drain in a colander (discard liquid). Cool.
  5. Mix cranberries, toasted almonds, parsley, salt and olive oil in bowl. Use at room temp.
  6. Place a large sheet of foil on a tray (double layer for safety is recommended), then top with baking paper. Place salmon on paper, then fold up the foil sides a bit to cup them, so glaze won’t run onto tray.
  7. Place ingredients in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once it started foaming, turn down to medium, let it foam for 2 minutes then remove and pour straight over the salmon.
  8. Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper, putting most of the salt on the thicker part of the salmon.
  9. Cover salmon with a smaller piece of paper, then foil. Fold and seal up sides to enclose salmon in a parcel – it doesn’t need to be 100% tightly sealed.
  10. Bake 15 minutes. Remove salmon from oven.
  11. Remove paper and foil and paper cover. Fold/scrunch paper and foil sides down to expose salmon surface. Tucking paper down also ensures it won’t catch fire when broiling.
  12. Switch oven to grill on high. Place salmon on middle shelf in the oven and grill for 7 to 10 minutes until you get caramelisation mostly on the edges, a bit on top. Don’t put it too close to the heat element otherwise paper might catch on fire! Check to ensure salmon is cooked – either pry open in middle to check or use a probe to check internal temperatures is at 44°C for medium rare.
  13. Use foil overhang to transfer salmon onto serving platter straight away (otherwise it keeps cooking). Rip the foil in the middle on both sides then pull from each side to pull from out under the salmon, repeat with paper, allowing juices to pool on platter.
  14. Loosely cover with foil, then leave to cool for at least 15 minutes, up to 1 hour or longer. Dish is best served warm or at room temp, not piping hot. If at room temp, make sure it is still warm enough so honey-butter-salmon juices are liquid not firmed up (if solidified, melt 10 sec in microwave or 2 min in very low 50°C oven is enough, can do this on serving platter.
  15. Dollop then thickly spread with Creamy Dill Sauce (~0.8cm thick layer).
  16. Pile over Holiday Tapenade, scatter generously with pomegranate seeds, and then remaining parsley. Squeeze over lemon juice.
  17. Serve with extra lemon wedges so people can add more to taste. Cut into pieces – We recommend using a cake cutter for serving. Don’t miss out on the honey-butter sauce that will be mixed with semi melted Creamy Dill Sauce – it’s so good!

 

Recipe by Recipe Tin Eats