GREEK GODDESS SALMON

Amarante ↓

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 8:50 am

This was a good salmon preparation. Since the sauce can be prepped well ahead of time, it's also an easy festive dish. I think the sauce would work well with cold salmon.

GREEK GODDESS SALMON

Source: Koenig, Leah. “Modern Jewish Cooking.

Before ranch dressing, there was green goddess, an indulgent mix of sour cream and mayonnaise tarted up with finely chopped olives, capers, and lots of herbs. The emerald- colored salad dressing was wildly popular in mid-twentieth-century America, but has since faded. Interestingly, it was a piece of roasted salmon, not a green salad, that got me thinking about possible ways to revitalize the dressing (which I happen to love). Salmon, which is a favorite fish within Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, is often served with a creamy dill sauce. Green goddess seemed like the next logical progression. Since thick Greek yogurt is so prevalent, why not use it in place of the sour cream?

SERVES 4 TO 6

FOR THE DRESSING

1 CUP/240 ML FULL-FAT OR 2 PERCENT GREEK YOGURT (DO NOT USE 0 PERCENT)
1/4 CUP/60 G MAYONNAISE
1 TSP DRIED TARRAGON
1 TBSP FRESH LEMON JUICE
1/2 CUP/20 G ROUGHLY CHOPPED FRESH MINT OR FLAT-LEAF PARSLEY
3 TBSP FINELY CHOPPED SWEET ONION, SUCH AS VIDALIA
1 TBSP BRINE-PACKED CAPERS, DRAINED AND PATTED DRY
2 TBSP FINELY CHOPPED PIMIENTO-STUFFED GREEN OLIVES”
SMALL GARLIC CLOVE, ROUGHLY CHOPPED
1/8 TSP KOSHER SALT
1/8 TSP FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER

FOR THE SALMON

3 TBSP EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
3 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED OR PUSHED THROUGH A PRESS
1 TSP LEMON ZEST
1 TSP FRESH LEMON JUICE
KOSHER SALT AND FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER
6 SKIN-ON SALMON FILLETS (ABOUT 6 OZ/170 G EACH), RINSED AND PATTED DRY
CHOPPED FRESH FLAT-LEAF PARSLEY FOR SERVING

1. Make the dressing: Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and purée until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary, 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. (Dressing can also be covered and refrigerated overnight.)

Meanwhile, make the salmon: Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C and grease two ovenproof baking dishes. In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Rub or brush the salmon fillets on all sides with the oil mixture, then place them, skin-side down, in the prepared baking dishes. Roast until the fish is pale pink and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes (longer for thicker pieces). Remove from the oven and divide among plates. Drizzle each fillet with dressing and”
.
2. Meanwhile, make the salmon: Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C and grease two ovenproof baking dishes. In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Rub or brush the salmon fillets on all sides with the oil mixture, then place them, skin-side down, in the prepared baking dishes. Roast until the fish is pale pink and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes (longer for thicker pieces). Remove from the oven and divide among plates. Drizzle each fillet with dressing and sprinkle with parsley. Pass the remaining dressing at the table.”

FranticFrummie ↓

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 8:54 am

Avoda Zara Dagim! LOL

Does anyone else out there have a minhag against cooking / eating / serving, fish with any kind of dairy?

I grew up on lox and schmear, but DH says that it's totally ossur to have any kind of dairy with fish. Scratching Head

finallyamommy ↓

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 9:03 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

Avoda Zara Dagim! LOL

That's a Sephardi minhag.

Iymnok

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 9:04 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

Avoda Zara Dagim! LOL

Many sefardim don't. My mother had a border from Italy who was shocked when she mixed tuna with white sauce.

↑ FranticFrummie

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 9:11 am

Iymnok wrote:

Many sefardim don't. My mother had a border from Italy who was shocked when she mixed tuna with white sauce.

I remember him, he was a CUTIE PIE! There wasn't a girl in the neighborhood who didn't have a huge crush on him. Such a mentch, too.

DH is Lubavitch, and he says that most chassidim don't do fish and dairy, but we have friends who follow the Klausenberger Rebbi and they do mix them.

Interestingly, at Ezra Bessaroth there was always lox and cream cheese at a dairy kiddush, so I guess it depends on the sephardim (or the fact that there are many ashkenazim that go there?)

So confusing!

penguin

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 10:12 am

This is pretty similar to tartar sauce recipes, which you can do with mayo & skip the yogurt/sour cream. Or you could use toffuti sour cream if you really want.

↑ finallyamommy ↓

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:27 pm

Most chassidim don't mix fish and dairy? Huh, I'm going to have to ask about this.

cnc

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:31 pm

We keep chasidish minhagim and don't COOK dairy and fish together, but do eat them together. I know people that don't eat dairy and fish together as well.

↑ finallyamommy

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:45 pm

cnc - so you would eat bagels and cream cheese and lox, but you wouldn't make a tuna/cheese casserole?

myself ↓

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:49 pm

Most of the chassidim I know don't mix fish and dairy. I'm sure you can sub the dairy ingredients.

↑ Amarante ↓

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:55 pm

Since the fish isn't cooked with dairy but the dairy is a sauce, how is this different than lox and cream cheese. Not familiar with this restriction.

↑ myself

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:58 pm

Amarante wrote:

Since the fish isn't cooked with dairy but the dairy is a sauce, how is this different than lox and cream cheese. Not familiar with this restriction.

AFAIK the people whose minhag it is not to mix fish with dairy would never eat lox with cream cheese.

↑ Amarante

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 1:59 pm

myself wrote:

AFAIK the people whose minhag it is not to mix fish with dairy would never eat lox with cream cheese.

Ok. Thanks for clarifying.

debsey

Sun, Feb 07 2016, 2:30 pm

myself wrote:

AFAIK the people whose minhag it is not to mix fish with dairy would never eat lox with cream cheese.

Some chassidish communities don't cook fish in milk sauces, but would eat them cold together. (So tuna with a slice of muenster on top, fine, tuna melt -not OK) but AFAIK it's very few Chassidishe communities that "hold" this. I think it's universal in Sephardi minhagim, but I'm not well-versed.

(ROFL, we had this whole shayla in seminary because of our communal cheese sandwich maker, which someone embarrassed

who shall remain nameless used it for a tuna melt, and one of the Chassidish girls needed to ask a shayla if she can still use it. I had never heard of that minhag amongst ashkenazim before!)

Ruchel

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 5:57 am

Most the chassidish and Sefardim I know mix. Except Tunisians.