Trout Roe on Buttered Toast with Lemony Herbs & Smoked Trout with Mustard and Apples by Alison Roman

For the not-so seafood savvy like me, you might be wondering, what is trout roe exactly? Also referred to as caviar, roe is an unfertilized egg collected from a fish. Not exactly a description I call “appetizing.” I recognize that many people view caviar as a delicacy, but I’m not really a delicacy kind of person. Needless to say, I put this recipe off until I couldn’t any longer. 

Last week, I decided that it was high time to start crossing off the final seafood recipes. So I picked two: trout roe on toast and smoked trout with mustard and apples. Then I marched over to Whole Foods with determination and a tinge of dread. I found smoked trout in a refrigerator next to the seafood counter, but didn’t see the roe. I asked the seafood counter for help, and turns out, the roe was next to the smoked trout, but it was labeled caviar. Clearly I hadn’t done my research yet. They didn’t have trout roe, but Alison says salmon roe will do the trick, so that’s what I purchased. 

I paid for the products reluctantly (caviar is pricey!) and marched back over the bridge toward home. That afternoon, I popped a slice of sourdough in the toaster, smeared a heck of a lot of butter on it, and topped it with dill, lemon zest, flaky salt, and roe. And it wasn’t bad. It’s hard to mess with buttered toast and dill. Roe is very fishy, perhaps too much for my taste. But I could sort of convince myself that it was good. I still have much of the jar left, so maybe I’ll try it with potato chips like Alison does in the video she released today (I swear I’m getting more and more on her wavelength somehow). 

The next day, I pulled out the package of smoked trout and tried a small bite. Again, not terrible, but not something I’d normally choose to eat. This salad is a nice way to eat it though, with plenty of vinegar to balance out the fishiness. Sour cream smeared on the bottom of the bowl, mustard greens (I used arugula) and mustard seeds soaked in apple cider vinegar. Smoked trout, too. All in all a fine combination. Jordan and I ate this for lunch. Now that I’m thinking about, it would have gone nicely with some salty potato chips, too! 

If you like this kind of fishy food, I think you’ll love these recipes. If you don’t, feel free to skip them.

190 and 191 recipes cooked, 34 to go.

Dad's Scotch Gravlax by Alison Roman

There was this bagel shop near my high school that served a freshly baked, toasted sesame seed bagel with cream cheese for $5.50. Besides going to Panera for a cup of their tomato soup, this was my ideal lunch, which I ate often. 

One day in line at the bagel shop, I heard the person in front of me order a toasted bagel with lox and cream cheese. I hadn’t the faintest idea what lox was. Since these were the olden days, and I didn’t have a smartphone to look up quick definitions or Google Image search for clues, I had to use my good old fashioned virtues of paying really close attention. As we all stood by the counter, waiting for our order number to be called, I kept my eye on the lox-orderer. Of course, the last thing I expected to see was cured salmon. When I saw that plate of bagel and cheese topped in fish, I couldn’t help but say “gross!” out loud. To this day, I don’t know if the lox-orderer heard me. 

Also, to this day, I’ve never ordered a bagel with lox and cream cheese. I have absolutely no desire for it, mostly due to texture (can you say slimy?). So when I saw this gravlax recipe, I had two reactions: 1) “what is gravlax?” and 2) “oh no.” 

Answer key: 

1. Gravlax is Nordic salmon dish that consists of salmon cured (never smoked) in salt, sugar, and dill. Alison’s definition adds scotch, lemon zest, and aleppo pepper. 

   1. There are two main steps to making Alison’s Dad’s gravlax. First, you must make the ingredients become intimately acquainted with one another. Start by pouring a tablespoon of scotch over the fish. Then, after massaging the other ingredients listed above into what feels like “wet sand,” rub them on top of the salmon. Second, you must prepare it for curing. This involves tightly wrapping the fish and cure in many layers of saran wrap. Then poking a few holes in the wrapping on the bottom. And finally, placing the salmon on a rack inside of a baking sheet with a plate and heavy skillet on top to press the cure into the salmon. Over the next 3-5 days (I decided on 4), water creeps out of the salmon and it becomes cured. 

2. My worst fears didn’t come true. Yes, the salmon is somewhat slimy, and yes, it was a mental battle for me to get over that fact. But the flavor is so complex and interesting and in your face, that it overrode any focus on texture. Seriously -- the flavors of scotch, pepper, and lemon are so strong, that I couldn’t think of anything else. If I were to make this again, which, who knows, I might some day, I would stop the curing at 3 days for a slightly fresher taste. But I can’t stress enough how much the flavor distracted me from what I was most wary of. 

   1. It helped that I served the fish with other delicious things: gluten-free bagel, almond milk cream cheese, cucumber slices, and lemon. 

To answer your ever-burning question, will I now become a lox-orderer after making Mr. Roman’s gravlax? The answer is, likely not. 

148 recipes cooked, 77 to go.

Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Spicy Radishes and Green Romesco by Alison Roman

There are two noteworthy X-factors in this recipe that make it stand out from other salmon. And since cooking this recipe a few weeks ago, I can’t seem to get these X-factors out of my head. Jordan is having the same issue. I know this because he’s asked me no less than three times if I can make it again. And when recently asked about his favorite meal from the project, he mentioned this salmon, and his reasons were these two X-factors: 

• Green Romesco

  • What is romesco? A quick trip down Wikipedia Lane tells me: “Romesco is a tomato-based sauce that originated from Valls, Tarragona, Catalonia. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to be eaten with fish. It is typically made from any mixture of roasted tomatoes and garlic, toasted almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, olive or sunflower oil, and nyora peppers.”

  • What is Alison’s Green Romesco? Rather than roasted tomatoes, this sauce, made in a food processor, consists of parsley, olive oil, toasted almonds, garlic, jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and smoked paprika. It still maintains the nuttiness and pepperiness of a regular romesco, but boasts more herbal and spicy notes. Leftovers of this romesco make wonderful sandwich additions and salad dressing. 

• Crispy Skin

  • Just a tablespoon of vegetable oil, some salt, and pepper is all it takes to make an irresistibly crispy filet of salmon. I seared each piece of fish, skin side down, for roughly 6 minutes before flipping it over to briefly warm through on the other side. 

  • Warning: Someone please call the Splatter Patrol! Who knew only a tablespoon of oil could make such a mess! I had oily splatters across my entire kitchen floor, I kid you not. If you have one of those splatter guards, now would be the time to use it. If you, like me, don’t own a splatter guard because you don’t like the idea of cleaning one, then prepare thyself. 

  • If you thought you didn’t like to eat the skin on salmon, think again. Crispy skin rules!

The final element to this dish consists of spicy, marinated radishes with vinegar, shallot, and red pepper flakes. They added a nice, bright crunch to everything, and while I enjoyed them, I still would have loved the dish equally as much without them. 

Given that this crispy-skinned salmon is the fourth and final salmon recipe from Alison Roman on this blog, I find it necessary to provide you with a power ranking. You may be wondering what sort of criteria were considered to determine the power rankings. Well, reader, mostly my taste buds. Which salmon did I enjoy eating the most. They are all on the more low maintenance side of cooking – fish doesn’t take long as a general matter. So it comes down to which did I enjoy most. And for me, the answer is pretty clear… 

ALISON ROMAN SALMON POWER RANKINGS

1. Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Spicy Radishes and Green Romesco

2. Slow Salmon with Citrus and Herbs

3. Buttered Salmon with Red Onion and Dill

4. Salmon with Soy and Citrusy Charred Scallions

126 recipes cooked, 99 to go.

Buttered Salmon with Red Onion and Dill by Alison Roman

True story: this salmon deserves all the hype it’s been getting. 

Instead of the oil poach method, this fish is cooked in the oven, topped with browned butter and some olive oil, slightly frizzled red onions and lemons, and drained capers. It’s plenty briney and tangy, but still rich from the butter. Alison encourages topping the finished salmon with a mountain of dill. The earthy herb presence is not only pretty, but balances the acidic and fatty elements in the dish nicely. Oh, and don’t forget that flaky sea salt! 

thicker cut of salmon

I’ve made this twice now with different cuts of salmon. A thicker cut of salmon takes longer to cook (obviously) and required some basting to keep the whole piece of fish equally tender. A BBQ cut of salmon, much thinner, only took 12 minutes, and the skin became slightly crispy. When I make this again (which I will do, because it’s really good), I’ll choose a thinner cut, and try searing the skin at the end in a cast iron to get an even crispier result. I’m not sure if that will work, but it’d be worth a try. 

This is my third Alison salmon recipe - I have just one more to go. Once I make that fourth and final salmon recipe, I’d like to write up a power ranking of the four recipes based on this criteria: fussiness, fishy texture, and overall deliciousness. Am I missing any criteria? Please let me know! 

thinner, BBQ cut salmon

52 recipes cooked, 173 to go.

Salmon with Soy and Citrusy Charred Scallions by Alison Roman

What can I tell you about this salmon? First, I can say that it took me 3 weeks to write this -- I made it that long ago. Second, I can tell you that I spent most of this morning avoiding writing by dancing in my living room and reading emails and attempting to pickle some turnips that were about to go bad in my fridge. Third, I can say that salmon is a nostalgic food for me because I associate it with my Oma. 

Oma means grandmother in Dutch (& Korean, too, coincidentally). My Oma and Opa (grandfather) immigrated to the United States in 1964, with four young children, and a fifth on the way. Their fifth child was my mother. They moved to Southern California, where a large Dutch immigrant community lives, to start their “American Dream.”

Being a lover of plants, my Opa started a business selling flower seeds after arriving in the States. (Fun fact: Vis Seed Company still exists today and is run by my Uncles.) My Oma raised 5 children, and taught them how to laugh in the face of struggle (she loves to laugh) and be resilient. My Aunts, Uncles and mother have a particular inner toughness that I really admire. 

My Opa passed away before I was born, and my Oma has lived on her own ever since. She cooks her own meals and tends to her beautiful backyard garden in the afternoons. She is one of the strongest, most inspiring women I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, much less being related to. She has 15 grandchildren and already 16 great grandchildren. Her heart is big. 

My Oma likes to make salmon every week. She’ll make a large portion and then eat it over several days. Whenever I make salmon, I think of her. 

This salmon, while it doesn’t beat Alison’s “best salmon ever” aka Slow Salmon with Citrus and Herbs, the final result was still flavorful, tender fish. Admittedly it is more fussy than the “best salmon ever” too, but not without cause. 

The fish is cooked in the oven with 2 Tbsp. of olive oil, which is not enough to cover it. Once again, the fish took longer than directed (10-12 minutes), but this time I was prepared for that to happen. While the salmon bakes, several scallions are charred in a cast iron skillet and then chopped. Mix them with a bowl of chopped raw scallions, orange and lemon juice, soy sauce, spices, and more olive oil. This sauce becomes the flavoring of the salmon that is then drizzled over the fish just before serving. 

The scallions, while a nice touch, didn’t feel necessary to me, and added an additional pan for washing. I would have been just as satisfied with only the juices and soy sauce to add flavor. The marinade/sauce can be used for roasting veggies (broccoli!), or drizzled on rice, which I served with the salmon. I’ll definitely make this one again, but will likely skip the scallions. 

39 recipes cooked, 186 to go.