Salmon with Tzatziki Sauce

 

Despite it being the time of year that I tend to eat 19th-century British and American types of foods, I'm still trying to incorporate Mediterranean recipes into the meal plan.

This is a very simple two-part recipe.  While I happened to make the sauce first, you can multi-task and do it while the fish is in the oven.  Tzatziki goes with really any fish.  I happened to have salmon on hand.  Not the awesome kind I got at the kosher market for Passover, just the frozen, vacuum packed filets sold generically at the supermarket.  While not life altering, they were pretty good.

I did get out the grater to do the cucumber properly.  It wasn't the worst thing in the world.  As far as kitchen messes go, cucumber juice is pretty low on the cleaning up scale.  I didn't seed it, though.  Gotta draw the line somewhere.

*4 6oz salmon filets, checked for pin bones
olive oil
salt and white pepper
*dill as needed
*1 C Greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber or 2 Persian cucumbers
2 cloves garlic, grated or through a garlic press
1 Tb lemon juice
*dried mint to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line a roasting pan with parchment for easier cleanup.

2.  Lay filets skin side down in pan.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil, about 1 or 2 tablespoons.  Sprinkle as desired with salt, pepper, and dill.  Keep in mind there's more dill in the sauce.  Cover pan with foil and bake until fish is opaque and flaky, about 25 minutes.

3.  For the sauce, peel (and seed) cucumber, then grate on a box grater's large holes.  Place in a strainer over a bowl or the sink and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.  Allow to sit 10 minutes, for the salt to draw moisture out of the shreds.  Rinse lightly, then squeeze to remove as much water as possible.

4.  Stir together yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, and half a teaspoon each salt and dill to start.  Taste, then add more of those, white pepper, and dried mint until you like the result.  I probably ended up with two teaspoons of dill in mine, but just enough mint to brighten it up.  Chill until ready to use.

5.  Serve salmon with a generous 1/4 C of tzatziki on the side or in a little cup.  It's really more of a condiment than a sauce.

Difficulty rating  :)