Salmon with Fennel, Pine Nuts & Capers
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 60 min.
Salmone arrosto con Finocchio, Pinoli e Capperi from the land where slow food was invented. It's an ideal choice for a dinner party.
Slow roasting gives salmon a tender texture and a delicious taste that melts in your mouth: The perfectly cooked fish!
Ingredients:
- 1 kg (2 lbs) fennel bulbs, trimmed of their fronds and cut into 2 cm (about 1 inch) slices
- 2 medium onions cut into 2 cm (about 1 inch) slices
- 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 4 tbsp best quality olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 twig of fresh thyme or 1/2 teasp dried thyme
- 4 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup (125 gr) pine nuts
- 800 gr (1 3/4 pounds) salmon fillets, skin and bones removed, cut into equal 4 portions
Preparation:
Preheat the oven at 200°C (400°F).
Choose a baking dish large enough to hold 4 slices of salmon. Place sliced fennel, onions and garlic into the dish. Drizzle fennel and onions with 2 tbsp. olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss it well. Roast fennel and onions for about 30 minutes, tossing it twice during cooking.
In the meantime roast the pine nuts in a small pan for about 3 - 4 minutes, shaking once in a while and making sure that the nuts do not burn. Set aside.
When the 30 minutes are over, set the oven thermometer down to 130°C (about 275°F). Add thyme and capers to the fennel-onion mix and roast it for 15 minutes more.
Season salmon with salt and freshly ground pepper. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add salmon fillets and sauté them for 1 -2 minutes, searing one side only.
Remove fennel-onion mix from the oven. Place salmon fillets seared side up on top of the fennel mix. Slow roast the salmon for 15 minutes further.
Serve salmon on top of fennel mix, sprinkle it with roasted pine nuts. A nice addition to this dish are simple roasted potatoes.