Food

Salmon Starters and Mains

April 18, 2012

With a rich flavor and firm but tender texture, salmon takes well to a variety of preparations; we love it cured, baked, seared, poached, and everything in-between. Here, our favorite recipes that feature the versatile fish in dishes from delicate hors d'oeuvres to hearty mains. Read more about different varieties of salmon »

Roasted Salmon with Honey-Dijon Glaze — Whole grain Dijon mustard and lemon brighten up roasted salmon in this simple dinner main from The Yellow Table's Anna Watson Carl. She especially likes it for entertaining: It's simple, comes together quickly, and requires little hands-on time.

Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Seaweed Salad — Drying and salting your salmon fillets helps ensure that the skin gets extra crispy.Farideh Sadeghin

Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese, Capers, and Red Onion — Cream cheese, capers, and red onions make for a lovely spread to pair with smoked salmon.Helen Rosner

Salmon in Bengali Mustard Sauce — This Bengali dish is adapted from At Home With Madhur Jaffrey (Knopf, 2010). Serve with cooked white rice.Farideh Sadeghin

Koji-Cured Grilled Salmon — The Japanese ingredient koji is the fungus that grows on rice, barley, soybeans, or corn after it is inoculated with a fermentation culture called Aspergillus oryzae. It resembles thin rice porridge and is full of enzymes that produce amino acids when they interact with protein. One of those amino acids, glutamate, is responsible for the taste we know as umami, which is present in miso and soy sauce and makes foods especially savory and flavorful. There are two types used for cooking: Ama-koji and Shio-koji. Ama-koji, called for here, has no salt, so you can control the seasoning yourself. In this simple recipe, it's added to salmon fillets before they hit the grill, which lightly cures them and adds an umami kick.Farideh Sadeghin

Fiddlehead Fern and Cured Salmon Salad — Fiddlehead ferns—the furled fronds of ferns, which grow wild in Hawaii's lush Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island—often appear in salads at luaus, tossed with everything from fish cakes to dried shrimp. Here, in a version from Tishia Spencer, an attendee of the Mock Chew family annual luau, simple cured salmon beefs up this refreshing side dish. Get the recipe »James Fisher

Salmon Teriyaki — In the Japanese kitchen, "teriyaki" means a dish that's glazed and grilled or broiled. Jarred versions of sweet-salty teriyaki sauce are available, but it's so easy to make from scratch, and so versatile, that we make our own and slather it onto salmon before cooking, which allows the sugars in the sauce to caramelize, for a deep, rich flavor.Landon Nordeman

Smoked Salmon with Fromage Blanc, Chives, and Pickled Celery — Pickled celery balances the subtleness of fromage blanc in a simple and elegant canapé.Helen Rosner

Toast with Roasted Beet Dip, Smoked Salmon, and Watercress — Roasting beets and puréeing them with a little balsamic vinegar makes a sweet, earthy spread that's a perfect base for slices of smoked salmon and peppery watercress.Helen Rosner

Salmon Tartare — A simple mix of soy sauce, mirin, and cilantro flavors meltingly tender salmon for an elegant appetizer that requires very little prep time.Helen Rosner

Salmon and Scallops à la Nage — The aroma of a California bay leaf lends subtle sharpness to this essential French dish.Todd Coleman

Exceptional Salmon — Easy and delicious, this quick-to-make recipe is typical of Nigella Lawson's no-nonsense, breezy approach to food.Farideh Sadeghin

Eggs Baked with Smoked Salmon (Oeufs en Cocotte au Saumon Fumé) — Eggs mixed with cream are poached over a bed of smoked salmon in this simple yet elegant breakfast dish from chef Wolfgang Puck.Ingalls Photography

Grilled Salmon with Blackberry Sauce — A rich, sweet-tart blackberry sauce adorns crispy skin-on salmon filets in this easy dish from Leah Koenig, who developed it for our One Ingredient, Many Ways series.Laura Sant

Stuffed Pepperoncini with Smoked Salmon — Spicy, briny, creamy, and salty, this simple, retro-inspired appetizer is an unabashed crowd-pleaser.Yossy Arefi

Gravadlax — Classic cured salmon is served with a bright mustard-honey sauce in this recipe adapted from Jake Tilson's In At The Deep End. Flavored with pepper, cloves, and dill, the fish requires at least 5 days to cure, so be sure to plan ahead. Use the best-quality salmon you can find.Todd Coleman

Salmon Glazed with Rosemary- and Lemon-Infused Honey — Rosemary-infused honey gives this dish a sweet and aromatic flavor.Maxime Iattoni

Salmon with Green Olive and Ramp Beurre Blanc — Classic beurre blanc enhanced with ramps and chopped Cerignola olives makes a creamy, velvety sauce for grilled salmon.Farideh Sadeghin

Gravadlax — A salt and sugar cure flavored with fresh dill transforms salmon into gravadlax, silky ribbons of fish ready to be piled atop slices of rustic brown bread or crunchy rye crispbread for a Swedish Midsummer feast.Ingalls Photography

Gravlax with Blinis — We persuaded the wife of a Norwegian fisherman to share her secret recipe for marinating a fresh side of salmon to silky-textured, subtly flavored perfection. Modern-day gravlax, preferably served with blinis (a Russian touch). —from "The Cure" (November/December 1994)Maxime Iattoni

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