Good morning! Welcome back to Monday’s Light and Tasty recipe! Today I have a fish main course for you: a pan-seared salmon fillet with cherry tomatoes and green olives, a main dish ready in a quarter of an hour that can also be an excellent one-dish meal if you add bread to mop up the sauce, and if needed it can be transformed into a pasta sauce (do you remember the cod sauce?), simply by breaking or flaking the salmon after cooking. 😉 So, we can say that pan-seared salmon with cherry tomatoes is a dish for every occasion, don’t you agree?
As you well know, cooking fish at my house is sometimes a bit… uh, thorny. 😅 When, at Light and Tasty, we chose the topic fish and shellfish, I really didn’t know which recipe to pick since fish isn’t eaten very often at my house and even less so now that the children live far away. Salmon is one of the few fish (only three!) that my husband – who notoriously doesn’t eat fish – manages to eat (albeit rarely; let’s say no more than once a year or so).
Yes, and now after this salmon with cherry tomatoes… the salmon quota for this year is fulfilled! 😄
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Ahhhh, how forgetful of me! I forgot to tell you that today is the birthday of my beloved blog! It turns 12 years old today! 🤩 Among the salmon recipes on this blog I suggest these three, 👇 try them!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 9 oz salmon fillet
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 6 green olives
- Half onion
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- oregano (to taste)
- pepper
Tools
- Pan
- Lid
- Cutting board
- Knife / Scraper / Scaler / Scraper / Scaler
Steps
The ingredients for the recipe:
Gently rinse the salmon fillet and pat it dry with paper towels.
👉 If the fillet has the skin, that’s better—it helps keep the fish intact during cooking. The skin can be easily removed after cooking.
Check carefully that the salmon is free of bones; if present, remove them with tweezers.
Scale the salmon skin using a fish scaler or a knife.
Cut the cherry tomatoes and olives in half.
Slice the onion.
Place the vegetables and the salmon in a nonstick pan.
Season with a drizzle of olive oil and oregano to taste.
Turn on the stovetop and cover the pan with the lid.
Cook for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat, then open the lid, stir the vegetables and, if you like, turn the salmon fillet using a spatula.
☝️ I usually flip it, but this time I didn’t to be sure not to break it so I could photograph it whole. 😉
Close the lid again and finish cooking for about another 5 minutes (consider that total cooking time may depend on the thickness of the fillet).
Serve hot, finishing with a drizzle of raw olive oil.
🔹 If you want a juicier little sauce, you can cook the cherry tomatoes for 5–10 minutes before adding the salmon to the pan.
🔸 You can replace the onion with one or two garlic cloves.
🔹 You can deglaze the salmon with half a glass of white wine.
🔸 To prevent the salmon from sticking to the pan, it’s best to place the fillet on the skin side first.
🔹 For the salmon to remain tender and juicy, a short cooking time over medium-low heat is preferable. A longer cook or very high heat can make the salmon drier, without compromising the flavor or its properties. It can also cause the release of albumin.
What is albumin: it is a protein that can coagulate (due to heat, if above 149°F) and be released from the muscle tissue. It appears as a white film (and yes, perhaps you noticed some in the photos of this recipe), but it is not harmful; in fact it should not be removed because, as mentioned, it’s a protein.
Salt-free tips
I remind you that I cook without added salt. 😊
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▪ Reduce salt gradually; the palate needs to get used to it slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▪ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▪ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▪ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▪ Use pungent vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▪ Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
▪ Prefer fresh foods.
▪ Avoid boiling in water; prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (griddle, foil, steam, microwave).
▪ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▪ Allow yourself an occasional indulgence. It’s good for your mood and helps you persevere.
If you do not want, or cannot, give up salt:
▪ You can still try my recipes and salt according to your habits.
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Light and Tasty
The recipes of my colleagues:
Carla Emilia: Perch fillet with parsley and Taggiasca olives
Claudia: Shrimps in Prosecco cooked in a pan
Elena: Chickpea cream with prawns
Milena: Pan-fry of prawns, swordfish, Roman broccoli and capers
