Oven-Baked Pink Salmon in Foil

Pink salmon, although it belongs to the salmon family, is quite budget-friendly. One reason for this is its rather dry texture. Oven-baked pink salmon in foil, following the proposed step-by-step recipe, will turn out very juicy, with red flesh similar to that of salmon. Although in our stores only heavily frozen pink salmon is sold, the final dish will still be wonderful. First of all, you need to buy the right fish, namely - a male pink salmon, because it is much fattier than the female. Its main distinguishing features are a protruding jawlike nose, resembling a beak, as well as a characteristic hump on the back. These signs are completely absent in females, so it's hard to make a mistake here.

Caloric content: 151 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Cooking time: 40 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings.

Ingredients

• pink salmon - more than 1 kg;
• dill - 2-3 sprigs;
• soft butter - 80 g;
• mandarin peel - 1 pc;
• fine salt - 1.5 tsp;
• black and fragrant pepper - 3 peas each.

Sauce:

• dill - 4-5 sprigs;
• honey - 1 teaspoon;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• lemon - 0.5 pc.

Preparation

1. There’s no need to clean the pink salmon - its small embedded scales will be edible after baking. Cut the fish into sections, i.e. make a slit along the belly, remove the gills and the long black stripe along the spine - these are the kidneys. Wipe everything well with a napkin (there’s no need to soak the pink salmon in water anymore). Rinse the roe, liver, and heart, just make sure that no bile gets into the entrails.

2. Mash the chopped dill with butter, salt, and crushed pepper.

3. Coat the fish with the butter mixture on both sides, then place it on a double layer of foil. Put the entrails inside.

4. The mandarin peel will give the most exquisite subtle citrus aroma - place it here as well. Seal the foil tightly and send it to the oven, preheated to 180 degrees.

5. After 25 minutes, take the pink salmon out, unwrap the package and move the herbs into the melted butter (so they won’t burn later). Place the fish back in the oven.

6. Meanwhile, prepare the base of the sauce that the pink salmon will be served with. Chop the dill and garlic. After 10 minutes, take the fish out and, without removing it from the foil, carefully pour the hot butter into the sauce preparation. Add honey and squeeze the lemon juice.

7. To balance the taste, add a little salt, and fresh ground pepper. To make the texture more uniform, blend the sauce with an immersion blender.

8. Transfer the pink salmon to a serving dish. Make a thin cut along the head, down the back, and across the tail. Turn over the very tasty and fatty skin down. Drizzle the meat with the sauce. Some of it will still remain for the garnish.

Oven-baked pink salmon in foil pairs well with potatoes, as well as with rice. Cut the fish into portion-sized pieces, add the garnish, drizzled with the remaining sauce.

Be sure to try it - it's very delicious. Enjoy your meal!