Creamy Dill Salmon

Y’all, my mother-in-law and father-in-law are amazing.  Seriously.

Yesterday was Christopher’s 30^th birthday! So, in celebration, I wanted to make a yummy dinner that he would LOVE.  Personally, I get really homesick for Louisiana during Mardi Gras season and around my birthday.  I just really miss southern food.  Since one’s 30^th birthday is a big deal and since Chris really loves the fresh seafood out here in the Pacific Northwest, I wanted to cook something with a native Oregonian feel.  Imagine my joy when I saw that Danielle Walker has an amazing salmon dish in Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple! 

Pictures do not do this salmon justice.  It was amazing.

Enter my amazing in-laws: Last week, I visited with Kristin, my mother-in-law, to show her this amazing cookbook and talk over Chris’s family birthday dinner.  I mentioned how I would love to make the salmon for Chris on his actual birthday and she mentioned that her husband caught some fresh, wild salmon a few weeks back.  Now their freezer is loaded down and I am welcome to have some to make for Christopher.  [OH MY GOSH! SO EXCITED!]

This salmon is gorgeous.  It is the kind of fish you pay top dollar at a high-end restaurant to indulge on on a special occasion.  The color, the size, the smell…everything just screamed “FRESH.” 

Now, I don’t know about you, but for me, salmon is an easy fish to really mess up.  So many recipes over season or over cook the delicate fish.  Salmon does not require much; the more you try to complicate it, the less enjoyable the dish.  Fortunately, Walker’s creamy dill salmon recipe is perfect in it’s simplicity.  The salmon is lightly seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  She gives an incredible recipe for the creamy dill sauce to drizzle over the cooked salmon that is dairy free.  Wait, but how can you have a creamy sauce that doesn’t have cream in it? I know, I asked the same question.  The answer?  An incredible infusion of simple, delicious ingredients perfectly proportioned to create a savory sauce that enhances the salmon’s natural flavor.

The cookbook recommends cooking the fish with her green beans, but Chris wanted potatoes.  I can get him to give up bread and rice for a while, but I just cannot take away potatoes.  Plus, it was his birthday so the birthday boy gets what the birthday boy wants. 

The dinner was amazing and we had so much salmon left, we ate the rest for dinner tonight and it was every bit as good.   

So many recipes!!!!!

Also, today I received a very special package from my uncle.  He mailed hundreds of my grandmother’s recipes to me.  So I will figure out a way to turn these incredible dishes into something delicious and healthy. 

Coming up later this week: Roasted Chicken with Thyme Gravy.  Stay tuned!

-Kim