Pan Seared Salmon with Avocado Remoulade ala Simply Recipes

I am not a big fan of fish, unless it's in disguise. And by disguise I mean smothered in butter or some sort of sauce or breading. Lots of sauce. So you don't taste the fish. For someone who grew up with fish sticks being almost a daily meal, I know some of my relatives find my fish aversion amusing. These days I'll eat fish and chips as long as I can drown the fish in tarter sauce. But Mr. L is a big fish fan and fish is supposed to be good for you so I do eat it every now and then. And (though I would never admit this in public) some of it's not bad (the bland white fish type stuff). Salmon on the other hand, not terribly fond of. It doesn't taste fishy, it tastes salmony.

When I came across this recipe on Simply Recipes my first thought was "yahoo, I love avocados, it will totally disguise the salmon taste!". And since we had a huge fillet of salmon in the freezer, I thought I'd give this dish a try.

This was actually pretty damn good. Don't tell anyone, but I actually took some of the leftover dish and had it cold for lunch the next day. Simple to make. Mr. L had to guide me a bit with the pan searing of the salmon as I wasn't quite sure how to tell when it was done. The entire dish came together pretty quick so this makes a great easy meal for a weeknight. Do check out the recipe from Simply Recipes here as there are good hints in the comments and Elise's photo is way better than mine (plus it's an awesome blog for recipes).

In discussing if the recipe worked or not, Mr. L made the following comment: "I feel like I'm on Iron Chef...telling one of the chefs 'I wouldn't have thought that avocados and salmon would go together but this tastes pretty good'." High praise indeed.

PAN SEARED SALMON WITH AVOCADO REMOULADE

2 large avocados, cut and peeled
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (can substitute lemon)
3-4 tablespoons light olive oil (light refers to flavor and color, not calories)
1 tablespoon minced shallots or green onion
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of salmon fillets
Grapeseed or canola oil

Put avocado pieces and lime juice into a food processor or blender and pulse until blended. Slowly add olive oil, pulsing, until you reach desired consistency of sauce. Add minced shallots (or green onions) and parsley, pulse just until combined. Remove to a bowl, add mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

Coat the bottom of a saute pan with oil, heat on medium high until almost smoking. Season both sides of the salmon fillets with salt and pepper, carefully lay the salmon into the pan, skin side down. Cook the salmon until about medium doneness, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Serve salmon with avocado remoulade sauce. Serves 4.

Notes: I used fresh lime juice not lemon, extra virgin olive oil not light, green onions not shallots and canola oil not grapeseed.

Comments

[Ann]

I am so going to make this! I got 2 avocadoes for $2 and I'm tired of guacamole. (plus we're out of chips) ;) YUM!

[grace]

your first four sentences could've come straight from my own lips. i've even tried salmon doused in a chile and cilantro sauce (two of my favorite flavors), but no. i just couldn't make myself enjoy it. kudos to you for breaking through! :)

[Jan]

I used to hate fish when I was younger. Sometime in the last year or two I have developed a taste for it and salmon is one of my favourites. Yum!

[Mrs. L]

Ann - Let me know how it comes out.

Grace - Giggle, we are so alike.

Jan - I think even if you really didn't like salmon or were just so so on the fish, you'd like it with this sauce.

[andrea]

Salmon can be rich, as far as seafood goes, good to know the fat in the fish and the avocado don't conflict. The sauce would be good on other fish, since there's probably not going to be a local wild salmon season.