Sear-Roasted Salmon With Lemon Ginger Butter

PanNan's Note:

This recipe is adapted from Fine Cooking magazine. It has a golden crust from the sear, a juicy center, and is topped with a dab of rich flavorful butter. This is very nice served on top of a bed of rice accompanied by sugar snap peas or asparagus. Salmon dishes are common in the US Northwest.

• Total Time: 22 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 7 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 6 tablespoons butter , softened
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 (5 ounce) salmon fillets , skinned
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 500°F.
2. Combine the butter, lemon juice, ginger and chives in a small bowl. Set aside and keep at room temperature while the salmon cooks.
3. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil to skillet.
4. Sprinkle salmon fillets with salt and pepper. When the oil is very hot, add the fillets to the skillet and cook until browned, about 1 - 2 minutes.
5. Flip the fish over and place the skillet in the hot oven. Roast for about 4 - 5 minutes. Check with the tip of a knife to make sure the salmon is done.
6. Remove the pan from the oven, and immediately transfer the fillets to a serving plate and top each fillet with a dab of the lemon ginger butter.

Reviews

[Jacob Galley]

I used scallions instead of chives, and preshredded ginger root. These substitutions led to a somewhat less vibrant butter sauce. My wife suggested beefing it up with 3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce. This was an excellent rescue! I think the original recipe with chives and fresh ginger is probably very good without the additional ingredient.

[realbirdlady]

A simple easy dish, with an interesting combination of seasonings. Unfortuntely, they didn't quite come together for me - there were too many mouthfuls with just one distinct flavor or another. I think maybe mixing the butter the day before so that the ginger, chives, and lemon juice could infuse it would work better. I didn't need quite this much butter for the fish, so used it in a simple rice accompaniment.

[Chef #603442]

My boyfriend wouldn't stop talking about this dish through the entire meal, moaning and telling me that it's the 2nd best dish I've ever made, next to my Ahi. And believe me I cook ALOT! He had 1 suggestion,to add a little chopped Jalepeno to the butter to add some heat. I will try that next time.