Oven-Roasted Salmon
Ingredients
- 2 salmon (fillets, about 1.5" thick at thickest part)
- 2 t olive oil
- salt & pepper
Method
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on that rack, and heat oven to 500F.
2. Use a sharp knife to remove any whitish fat from the belly of the fillet. Make 4 or 5 shallow slashes about an inch apart along the skin side of each piece, being careful not to cut into the meat.
3. Pat the salmon dry with paper towels. Rub fillets evenly with oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 275F and remove baking sheet. Carefully place salmon skin side down on the baking sheet.
5. Roast until the thickest part of the fillets is 125F (or until the centers of thickest part of fillets are still translucent when cut into with a paring knife), about 9-13 minutes.
6. Transfer fillets to individual plates or platter. Top with a relish or sauce, and serve.
Notes
Notes from source:
For an oven-roasted salmon recipe that would give us a nicely browned exterior and a silky, moist interior, we developed a hybrid roasting method, preheating the oven to 500 degrees but then turning down the heat to 275 just before placing the fish in the oven. The initial blast of high heat firmed the exterior and rendered some excess fat. The fish gently cooked in the oven and stayed moist as the temperature slowly dropped. Our oven-roasted salmon recipe was complete when we added an easy relish whose acidity and flavors balanced the richness of the fish.
To ensure uniform pieces of fish that cook at the same rate, buy a whole center-cut fillet and cut it into 2 pieces. If your knife is not sharp enough to easily cut through the skin, try a serrated knife. It is important to keep the skin on during cooking; remove it afterward if you choose not to serve it. To serve, top with any of the related relishes.
SJ Note 4 Dec 2013: This was okay. We didn't have a sauce with it, so it was pretty plain. The notes promise a crisp brown exterior, but we didn't get that with this attempt. Might try it again (with more preheating time?) to see if we can get it.