Extra recipe - Salmon with Snap Peas, Yellow Peppers and Dill-Pistachio Pistou

This is officially the longest title of a recipe I have cooked as of yet. But longer does not necessarily mean better. Nor can you guarantee that a recipe from a renowned cooking magazine will be the best thing you have ever eaten. I'm here to prove my case.

Salmon with Snap Peas, Yellow Peppers and Dill-Pistachio Pistou
Serves 4

1/3 C chopped fresh dill
1/3 C finely chopped green onions
1/2 C shelled natural pistachios or almonds, toasted and finely chopped
1/4 C plus 1 1/2 T pistachio oil or extra-virgin olive oil
2 yellow bell peppers or orange bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed, strings removed
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 C water
4 6-ounce salmon fillets

Mix dill, green onions, pistachios and 1/4 cup of oil in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 1/2 T oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add peppers and saute until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Add snap peas, garlic and 1/4 C water; sprinkle with salt. Saute until vegetables are just tender and water evaporates, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in 1 rounded tablespoon pistou. Transfer vegetables to platter; tent with foil to keep warm. Reserve skillet (do not clean).


Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in reserved skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper. Place salmon, skin side down, in skillet; cook until skin is crisp, about 3 minutes. Turn salmon and cook until almost opaque in center, about 3 minutes longer. Arrange salmon fillets over vegetables on platter. Spoon some pistou down center of each fillet and serve, passing remaining pistou alongside.

I love picking up magazines in the airport when I travel because it means I have my pick of titles I would ordinarily never purchase. This is one of them, Bon Appetit. Not only are the articles very entertaining and informative, but the food always looks so incredibly good. I have a very long way to go before my photography matches the styling in this magazine. A recipe will usually catch my eye if it has all kinds of yummy ingredients - in this case, salmon, colorful peppers and pistachios. All things I love. But it was very unfortunate that those three things did not work well in this recipe.



First, the pistou. I can only imagine it's pronounced like "pea-stew," but with a lot less Southern twang than would normally be associated. It's a lot like a basil pesto, except you're subbing dill for basil and subbing pistachios for pine nuts. It looks nice when it comes together, but for some reason the tastes just didn't work out for me.




Next, the salmon. In past blog posts I have raved about the frozen fish selection at Target. With the exception of the bagged Tilapa, they have good frozen fish at good prices. The Mahi-Mahi and Ahi Tuna are two really good options. However, the salmon left a lot to be desired. First of all, the thawed fillets were really flat as compared to what you would buy fresh from the store. Also the texture of the fish was different and it didn't appear to be as solid, I guess, as fresh fish. And the Target salmon had a few bones in it, which is totally not desirable. So all in all, that was a really unfortunate purchase. The fish played a large part in the demise of this dish.

What it looked like in the magazine

What it looked like on our plate

After it was all cooked and plated up, it really looked nice. However, it didn't taste nice. The Husband and I both realized it after the first bite. We kind of looked at each other like, "Who is going to be the first person to say they don't like it?" I don't recall which one of us spoke up first, but it didn't matter. The feelings about this dinner were the same across the board. We won't be cooking this again, and we learned a tough lesson about food that looks good in a picture that doesn't transfer well to the plate.

Mediterranean Salmon

It's always nice to throw some fish into the mix. It's a good, light meal that usually doesn't require much prep, and even though it seems expensive at the checkout line it much less expensive than what you'd pay for a comparable meal in a restaurant. Target even has some good frozen fish - ahi tuna, mahi mahi and salmon come to mind.

Mediterranean Salmon

Prep: 20 min.
Bake: 20 min. If your sun-dried tomatoes are packed in oil, be sure to drain and
pat dry with a paper towel before using.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
4 (6-oz.) salmon fillets
3/4 teaspoon lemon pepper

3/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 (2.25-oz.) can sliced ripe black olives, drained

2 ounces reduced-fat crumbled feta cheese with basil and tomatoes

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1. Place each salmon fillet on a 16- x 12-inch piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Sprinkle fillets evenly with lemon pepper, dill, and salt. Top fillets evenly with tomatoes and next 3 ingredients. Fold long sides of foil over fillets; roll up short sides of foil to seal. Place foil packets, seam sides up, on a baking sheet.

2. Bake at 400° for 18 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

This was incredibly easy to put together. Put the fish on some aluminum foil, throw ingredients on it, fold it up and stick it in the oven. Easy as that. Minimal cleanup. Pretty doggone good.

Raw fish ready to go in the oven. The Husband likes olives; I don't

Packed up in foil

Finished product. Yumm-o.