For an easy weekday meal, use the broiler for this salmon dish
Grilling is a great method for quickly cooking fish while imparting lots of flavour, but the weather isn’t always on your side. So instead of battling the elements, take your salmon indoors and use the broiler to replicate the flavours you get from cooking over fire. This recipe was inspired by the Iraqi dish known as masgouf — fish grilled, then smothered with cooked onions and tomatoes. In our book “Cook What You Have,” which draws on pantry staples to assemble easy weekday meals, we broil this curried salmon recipe instead of grilling.
To build layers of flavour, we season the salmon with a mixture of curry powder, salt and pepper, then set it aside while the vegetables are prepared. Sliced onions and cherry tomatoes are roasted until the tomatoes begin to burst, then are tossed with a mixture of tomato paste, coriander and lemon juice. The fish gets nestled into the tomato mixture, with a bit spooned over each filet, and it all is broiled until the tomatoes are jammy and caramelized, and the fish flakes easily. Finish with a simple lemony parsley salad and some toasted, roughly chopped pine nuts to balance the sweet, concentrated flavours with a little texture and freshness.
IRAQI-STYLE BROILED SALMON with tomatoes and onions
Start to finish 35 minutes Servings 4
■ 1 teaspoon curry powder
■ Kosher salt and ground black pepper
■ Four 6-ounce centre-cut salmon fillets (each 1 to 11/4 inches thick), patted dry
■ 1 medium red OR yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
■ 1 pint cherry OR grape tomatoes 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
■ 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 tablespoons lemon OR orange juice, divided, plus 1 tablespoon grated lemon OR orange zest
■ 1 teaspoon ground coriander OR
■ 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger OR both
■ 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Heat the oven to 475 F with a rack in the upper-middle position. In a small bowl, stir together the curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Season the salmon all over with the mixture; set aside.
In a broiler-safe 9-by-13-inch baking dish, stir together the onion, tomatoes, 2 tablespoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Distribute in an even layer and roast until the tomatoes are beginning to burst, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, the coriander and 1/2 cup water.
In another small bowl, stir together the parsley, the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, lemon zest and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside for serving.
Remove the baking dish from the oven and turn the oven to broil. Stir the tomato paste mixture into the onion and tomatoes. Nestle the salmon skin (or skinned) side down into the mixture, then spoon some of the onion and tomatoes over the top.
Broil until both the salmon and tomato-onion mixture are spotty brown and the fish flakes easily, four to six minutes.
Cool for about five minutes, then spoon the parsley mixture over the top.
Optional garnish: Toasted and roughly chopped pine nuts