When you have a craving for salmon, you must first travel to some far-off land where you have very dear friends. Write to them. Tell them of your craving. They’ll understand.
They’ll go to the market for you, your offers to find ingredients notwithstanding.
When you insist you’ll need photos because this salmon recipe is special and you may never again have a chance to make it, they’ll keep cameras ready. They’ll even go out to find a platter that can bear the heft of your salmon.
All you’ll need to do is to show up, and cook. And hardly any cooking there is, for ingredients get tossed in a blender, poured on top of the waiting salmon, and baked for an hour.
{When you’re home from your adventure, you’ll try to reproduce this for your boys with lesser, local fish. Here, with steaks instead of fillets}
When the salmon emerges from the oven and gets plated without much fuss or fanfare, the dish will bestow upon you a grace and elegance you never imagined possible.
There’ll be little left to do but gawk — until it’s time to eat.
When you ask what this fabulous, no-oil, no fuss dish could be named, your friends from far-off lands will insist on rescuing you from what they call the naming habits of {ahem} American lab technicians: Baked Salmon with Pineapple Red Pepper Scallion Ginger Chutney isn’t a name, it’s an ingredient list.
They’ll remind you of the homology of Salmon to Salman — Khan — Bollywood star of infamous reputation who’s a never-married bachelor for all his despicable shenanigans. And run with it:
Salman Khan
Can do without पत्नी [wife]
But not without this चटनी [chutney] …
With many thanks to Rishi & Sweta Mohanty, for the day, the pampering, the images, the company, and the laughs.
- 6-8 salmon steaks, or two large fillets
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 small bunch of scallions, cleaned and chopped roughly
- 1 large lemon, for both its zest and its juice
- 1 larger can pineapple chunks (usually 20 oz or 500g), undrained
- a generous piece of fresh ginger (about 2 tablespoons worth, when grated)
- 3-4 green chillies (yes. just trust me).
- Salt to taste
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and whizz until they're well combined
- Set your salmon steaks on a lined, deep baking tray and pour the chutney over top
- Use a fork to poke into the fish several times, allowing the juices to permeate
- If you wish, you can refrigerate the tray at this stage for up to a few hours and then bake, or--
- Cover the tray with another tray (you really don't need to use plastic or tin foil which just get thrown into oceans where fish like salmon eat them) and bake in a 350F/180C oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove the covering tray and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the fish is done.
