Christmas Recipe: Christmas Baked Salmon

Looking for some inspiration of what to cook for Christmas Day this year? We've got you covered with four delicious recipes.

Ingredients:

Salmon:
1.2 – 1.5 kg / 2.4 – 3lb salmon side (skin on, bones removed)
2 1/4 tsp salt, cooking/kosher
1 tsp black pepper

Honey Butter Glaze:
150g / 5oz butter, unsalted
1/2 cup honey
3 garlic cloves, finely minced (garlic press or knife)

Creamy Dill Sauce:
1 1/2 cups sour cream, full fat (low fat is too watery)
1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped (lightly packed cup)
1/2 eschallot (French onion), finely grated
1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt, cooking/kosher

Holiday "Tapenade":
 1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup orange juice
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Finishing:
1 pomegranate, only the seeds
1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 lemons, extra, cut in 6 pieces each (for serving, don't skip this)

Method:

Creamy Dill Sauce

  1. Mix ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Keep refrigerated until required.

Holiday Tapenade

  1. Plump cranberries: Heat orange juice in a saucepan over high heat until hot. Turn stove off, add cranberries, cover. Stand 15 minutes, then drain in a colander (discard liquid). Cool.
  2. Mix: Mix cranberries, toasted almonds (see Note 3), parsley, salt and olive oil in bowl. Use at room temp.
Cooking Salmon
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
  2. Prepare salmon: Place a large sheet of foil on a tray (double layer for safety is recommended), then top with baking/parchment paper. Place salmon on paper, then fold up the foil sides a bit to cup them so glaze won't run onto tray.
  3. Glaze: Place ingredients in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once it started foaming, turn down to medium, let it foam for 2 minutes then remove and pour straight over the salmon.
  4. Season: Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper, putting most of the salt on the thicker part of the salmon.
  5. Wrap: Cover salmon with a smaller piece of paper, then foil. Fold and seal up sides to enclose salmon in a parcel – it doesn't need to be 100% tightly sealed.
  6. Bake 15 minutes. Remove salmon from oven.
  7. Uncover / fold excess paper – Remove paper and foil and paper cover. Fold/scrunch paper and foil sides down to expose salmon surface. Tucking paper down also ensures it won't catch fire when broiling.
  8. Grill/broil to brown: Switch oven to grill/broiler on high. Place salmon on middle shelf in the oven and broil 7 to 10 minutes until you get caramelisation mostly on the edges, a bit on top. Don't put it too close to the heat element otherwise paper might catch on fire! Check to ensure salmon is cooked – either pry open in middle to check or use a probe to check internal temperatures.
  9. Transfer to plate: Use foil overhang to transfer salmon onto serving platter straight away (otherwise it keeps cooking). Slide the foil then paper out from under the salmon (see video at 1 min 24s or step photos in post), allowing juices to pool on platter (it's gold stuff!).
  10. Cool: Loosely cover with foil, then leave to cool for at least 15 minutes, up to 1 hour or longer.

Assembly and Serving:

  1. Dollop then thickly spread with Creamy Dill Sauce (~0.8cm / 1/3" thick layer).
  2. Pile over Holiday Tapenade, scatter generously with pomegranate seeds, and then remaining parsley. Squeeze over lemon juice.
  3. Serving: Serve with extra lemon wedges so people can add more to taste. Cut into pieces – I use a cake cutter for serving. Encourage people to slop up some of the honey-butter sauce that will be mixed with semi melted Creamy Dill Sauce – it's so good! This dish is best served slightly warm, not piping hot, also excellent at room temp.
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