In June of 2024, my dear friend Kathy Beck crossed the river following a devastating fall, subsequent brain surgeries, and a stroke. To say my heart ached is somewhat of an understatement; the lack of her presence was palpable and remains so. She was smart, witty company and fitted with a wry sense of humor she–and everyone else– thoroughly enjoyed. In short, a fine role model and a comforting, intelligent presence. In the days following her death, I posted a recipe, “Salmon on Lemon Polenta with Vegetables,” and dedicated it to her memory as Kathy, who wasn’t a happy cook, often asked me for recipes or cooking advice. I do think Kathy would have thoroughly enjoyed the meal and I’m only sad I hadn’t the opportunity to make it for her. While not always attached to my blog’s statistics, sometime later I happened to check on them and was gobsmacked to see that post hugely at the top of the heap — where it still sits! I’ve made the salmon meal a few times since — just recently for a dinner party where we remembered Kathy warmly — and I kept promising myself I would come up with another salmon and polenta recipe as it has been such a happy match for my readers and guests. This week, after hosting my neighbor Mary Pat for a similar salmon dinner, I ended up with a little extra salmon — just perfect for spending the next morning working out what turns out to be a recipe for today’s Salmon on Parmesan Polenta with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce.
Like most fish-loving and longtime bloggers, I’ve got a swell school of salmon recipes. But I’ve nothing compared with the rest of the food writing world. When I google it, AI indicates there are likely millions of salmon recipes on the internet! If you’re looking to come up with anything new and inventive for salmon, you’ll find it difficult although entertaining and healthy, to say the least. It’s a good thing my goal isn’t to be first rate creative–luckily others fill that bill– but rather to share what I cook and to encourage my students, readers, friends, family, acquaintances, and followers to cook at home for health, wealth, and happiness. I’m ever more convinced feeding ourselves in our own kitchens and gathering around our tables together is one of the keys to successful living. Does it contribute to creating peace in the world? You bet it does. We are not meant to be alone and food is meant to be shared. Think on it: memories are made at the table and it’s hard to fight when your mouth is full of mashed potatoes.
Back to the salmon…. If you haven’t lately searched for salmon recipes, google away and be amazed. Here are a few I saw with only a glancing search:
40 Great Salmon Recipes/FOOD AND WINE
The Best Baked Salmon Recipe/FOOD NETWORK
Our Top 20 Salmon Recipes/ALL RECIPES
And just because there really are soooo many salmon ideas, it took a while for me to come up with one I felt worth sharing, even though this is similar to a few previous tries. Like many recipes, the idea came when I least expected it. Whether on the New York Times food app or on social media, I’m sure I don’t remember but I saw and printed a recipe for Lemon and Garlic Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes by the fine food writer Martha Rose Shulman. Since reviews were stellar; I thought I’d give it a go come a cooler evening. But as I pondered friend Mary Pat’s upcoming dinner and had recently read through the chicken ingredients and instructions, I wanted to think I could use a couple of those attractive techniques for salmon. Why not? I loved the flavors in the rosemary-garlic marinade and the tomato topping sounded perfect as acidic tomatoes are a lovely match for fatty salmon. How to make it all work? With a few changes and the inclusion of the bed of polenta–something I really wanted– it felt perfectly, deliciously possible. I’d use the marinade but only briefly as fish can “cook” in citrus. The fresh cherry tomatoes, which create almost a sauce (really just juicy, cooked tomatoes, though I’d add liquid) could be cooked in butter, broth, and wine as I’d have no flavorful chicken fond in the bottom of the pan as had Ms Shulman.
I did need to think about how the polenta might go. Since my fish would be lemony, I’d skip the lemon in the polenta that I’d used in Kathy’s recipe but include the Parmigiano-Reggiano (add more?) since it’s a favored polenta addition in Italy and who doesn’t love cheese? If you’ve never made polenta, it’s no more difficult than oatmeal and the Bob’s Red Mill variety is done in not too awfully long, giving lie to the idea that polenta takes forever and wears your arm out stirring. If you can, watch an old Mark Bittman video, “Creamy Polenta with Parmesan and Sausage.” In it, Mark puts you at ease about cooking polenta. He’s charming and encouraging, as always. Or you can just read the side of the bag or box and follow the directions you’ve got. I’ll share my method below but mostly it’s like cooking grits or oatmeal. Here’s the thing: You want the polenta to be creamy so that it spreads easily across the bottom of the bowl like really soft, loose mashed potatoes to form a welcoming bed for the salmon — and you want it to taste like something tender, but flavorful, which means it needs to be done and must have salt, exactly as does oatmeal. Taste early, add more liquid and cook a little longer if necessary. Just because it’s thick, doesn’t mean it’s done, which is when there is no grittiness left. If the polenta is done before your fish and/or beans, it will also thicken as it cools. Cover it until you need it, and warm it, stirring in a little more milk or butter and whisking until it’s creamy again. Here’s the link for the Mark Bittman video but you’ll need an account, I think. (While I gifted the chicken recipe above, I can’t quite see how to accomplish that with a video. Should I soon figure it out, I’ll come back and fix this. My apologies.)
What about Something Fresh and Green? We needed that badly. Welp, we all need that badly! (Sounding like your mother here…) In the fridge were two pounds of beautiful haricots verts, the skinny winny green beans I favor. Barely cooked and seasoned only with salt, black pepper, and a little salted butter, I knew they’d make the perfect foil for the tender, rich lemony salmon on soft, cheesy polenta with cooked, sweet cherry tomatoes on top. I bought my beans at Trader Joe’s, but a regular grocery or COSTCO should have some, too. No skinny ones? Just use regular old green beans, then, but cook them only until done — not granny done for this recipe. Since everything else on the plate is tender, fatty, or creamy, a colorful vegetable with some bite left to it is called for, for contrast and texture. I won’t include instructions for cooking the beans here, but I’ve done so elsewhere on the blog. Let me look…ok, here’s one version. No two messes of beans will be done in the same amount of time, by the way.
Should green beans not be your thing, choose an easy vegetable (zucchini? asparagus? broccoli? spinach?) you do like, and make someone, including you, happy when you try this:
Salmon on Parmesan Polenta with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce (and Green Beans)
Ingredients
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- ¼ cup each dry white wine and chicken broth, can sub water for wine or use all broth
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- Pinch of sugar
- 4 center cut salmon fillets with skin, about 4-ounces each
- Parmesan polenta–separate recipe included on blog or use your own recipe
- 1- pound cooked haricots verts or green beans, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of salted butter
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley, for garnish
- ¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for garnish
Instructions
PREP: Preheat the oven to 150F. Place 4 large shallow serving bowls or plates in to warm while you cook the meal.
Make the salmon marinade:
- In a small bowl or cup, stir together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and ¼ teaspoon each kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Set aside.
Make the tomato sauce:
- Add the butter, wine, and broth to a 10-inch skillet and warm over medium-high heat until butter is melted. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook, stirring regularly until they begin to shrivel. Sprinkle with the pinch of sugar, ¼ teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper, and cook another 5 minutes or so, until tomatoes have collapsed but are still intact. You should have cooked tomatoes in just a small amount of sauce. Turn the heat off and carefully remove the skins from the tomatoes, using a table fork and a small sharp knife, if desired. Cover and set aside.
Cook the salmon on the stovetop (or grill outdoors/link below on blog)
- Pour the reserved marinade into the bottom of a 2 or 3-quart rectangular casserole. Add the salmon fillets and let rest for 5 minutes, turning a time or two.
- Meanwhile, heat a stovetop grill pan (or large heavy skillet) over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. To one side of the pan, drizzle the olive oil lightly in a zig zag pattern in the general shape of one salmon fillet (about a tablespoon for each fillet); repeat for the other three, leaving a little space between them. Heat another minute.
- Meanwhile, pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides of the salmon lightly with salt and pepper.
- Lay the fillets skin side down on the grill pan, brush the tops of each with a little marinade, and cook without moving for 4 minutes. Carefully turn each fillet over using tongs and cook another 3 minutes or 4 minutes depending on the weight of the fish. The salmon should be just firm but still moist at the center. (FDA indicates 145F on an instant read thermometer for fish. I like medium to medium-rare salmon, so I’d take them off at 125F and let the temperature rise a little as they rest.) Remove the salmon to a platter and cover loosely. Let rest 5-10 minutes.
Plate the meal:
- Ladle about ¾-cup warm polenta into the bottom of each warmed bowl or plate, spreading it out so that it is an inch or so larger than each salmon fillet. With tongs, place a salmon fillet in the middle of the polenta. Top with about ½ cup tomato sauce. Add a few green beans to the sides of each fillet. Garnish each serving with a little minced fresh parsley and sprinkle with about a tablespoon of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve hot or warm. Store leftovers tightly covered in the fridge separately for 2-3 days.
Want to grill your salmon fillets on the outdoor grill? Here’s how.
Wine? The usual suspect here would be a Pinot Noir but we gamely drank a really inexpensive French Red Rhone. Worked well. Need something cold? Try a well-chilled rosé.
How long does cooked salmon keep? Well, it’s the old Benjamin Franklin adage of “fish and company begin to stink after three days.” And it’s true. Cooked salmon, well-wrapped, will last 3-4 days in your fridge. Make sure you store it there quite soon after cooking; don’t let it sit out too long on the counter, especially in summer. You can also freeze it (again, well-wrapped) 2-3 months. To thaw cooked fish, leave it in the fridge overnight –still wrapped–and warm it briefly or eat cold the following day. Make salmon patties (or burgers) just like my Tuna Patties. 17 Ways to Use Leftover Salmon/TASTING TABLE
Parmesan Polenta
Ingredients
- 3 cups each milk and water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups coarse cornmeal/polenta (I like Bob's Red Mill/also says "Corn Grits".)
- 3 tablespoons salted soft butter
- 2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- Off heat, whisk together milk, water, salt, pepper, and cornmeal in a heavy 6-quart pot. (I like cast iron.) Place pot over medium flame and bring to a healthy simmer. Cook, stirring regularly, until thickened. Lower heat as low as you can, cover and cook, stirring and tasting for doneness regularly, until tender and smooth–20-30 minutes total. (If polenta becomes thick, but isn’t cooked yet — tastes grainy/gritty– add more water or milk and continue to cook.) NOTE: Some polenta cooks more quickly. Check your package instructions, please.)
- Remove from heat. Stir in butter and cheese. Taste and adjust seasonings. Cover to keep warm until needed. If cools and thickens, whisk in a little milk or water until thinned to desired texture and reheat, tasting once more at the end.
Notes
No polenta for you? Serve on a bed of fresh, seasoned or sautéed spinach or other greens. Other ideas: mashed potatoes, rice, wild rice blend, rice pilaf, quinoa, sliced tomatoes, or pasta. And do try polenta another time. BTW, it’s a whole grain.
IF YOU LIKED THIS, YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE MY:
LIFE GOES ON:
Greek Salad (cucumber, tomato, red onion, sweet peppers, feta, oregano) is one of my favorite summer no-cook dinners. I somehow still had a little salmon leftover after all the cooking and thought I’d add some extra protein into this easy dish. I had cooked green beans as well as some asparagus and avocado, so tossed them in, too. Drizzled with lots of lemon juice and only a little oil, I seasoned it liberally with salt and pepper and served the salad with a few pieces of grilled bread.
IN MEMORIAM….
I was so sad today to learn my old friend, former COS Library Director, John Spears had died after a battle with cancer. John left COS to go to Buffalo and became their local library director; they were so lucky to have him. Oddly, my friend Kathy Beck, John, and I had all worked for the Pikes Peak Library District, though I knew John best through local church fundraising activities. A cooking aside…. John happened to follow a vegan diet and I learned a lot cooking for him, which I continue to put to good use. John, sweet guy, made sure libraries had my soup cookbook on the shelf. Sigh.
My condolences to John’s husband, Brian, and to all of their family. A sad loss to our world.
Dalai Lama
I’m so grateful you’re reading today. Thanks!
I do hope you spend more time at the table this week,
Alyce
