by: Kate McMillan
Cook Time
15 minutes
Prep Time
15 minutes
Yield
4 Servings
Total Time
15 minutes
Prep Time
15 minutes
Yield
4 Servings
summary
Fresh salmon is a flavorful fish that doesn’t need much fussing. Citrus is a beautiful accompaniment that makes salmon shine and a fresh herb sauce takes this dish to a new level. Chermoula is a wonderful North African herb sauce that really packs a flavor punch. Simple enough for a weeknight meal but special enough for company, this citrus salmon recipe is a keeper. The citrus-glazed salmon would be delicious served with a grain such as Israeli couscous to soak up all that herby sauce.
ingredients
- Salmon Ingredients
- 4 salmon filets, about 6 ounces each, skin removed
- 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- â…› teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Chermoula Sauce Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the lemons into 12 thin slices, reserving one lemon half for juice). Place each piece of salmon on a bed of 3 lemon slices.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 teaspoons of lemon juice with the olive oil, salt and pepper and brush over each salmon filet. Bake until opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.
- While the salmon is baking, make the chermoula sauce. Lay the parsley and cilantro on a cutting board and finely chop the herbs with a large chef’s knife. Transfer to a non-reactive mixing bowl and stir in the garlic, lemon juice and zest, ginger, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes and salt. Slowly add the olive oil, stirring until fully combined.
- To serve, top the salmon filets with chermoula sauce and serve at once.
notes
Always ask for center-cut salmon filets. They are more uniform in thickness and therefore cook more evenly.
We recommend chopping the herbs for the chermoula by hand as you may get a watery result from using a food processor.
You can make the chermoula sauce a couple hours ahead but don’t make it too far in advance as it will lose its bright green color.
Once you make the chermoula, taste it. You can adjust seasonings to your liking, adding a bit more cumin, salt, red pepper flakes or lemon juice. There is always a bit of tinkering to be done as measuring herbs is never exact.
When measuring the herbs, you can use leaves and thin stems. Discard the thick stems at the ends.
When cutting the herbs, lay the cilantro and parsley on the cutting board together to save time. There is no need to chop them separately.
