Pan-Seared Salmon With Celery, Olives and Capers Recipe (2024)

Two hints here: Use butter rather than oil to fry your salmon. It produces a better surface on the skin side and is less likely to result in your fish sticking to the pan. And let your salmon get to room temperature before frying it.

Make sure not to cook the celery for too long. I think they are best when cooked but still retain a bit of bite. Also think about how much you love olives. It adds a lot to this dish but might overwhelm the other complex flavors. So try your olives before cooking to see how intense their flavor is. If they are not too strong go with the amount in the recipe; if they have a strong flavor perhaps reduce by an olive or two.

We tried this, and it has potential. However, the salty capers overpowered the saffron, currants, almonds (in place of pine nuts) and olives. Next time we'll use fewer capers and leave out the brine. We substituted almonds for pine nuts because the Times has reported https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/opinion/making-pesto-hold-the-pine-nu...that the collection of Korean pine nuts negatively affects the ecosystem supporting Asiatic black bears and tigers.

i like to start in reverse, skin side up for just long enough to sear the fish, then finish cooking with skin side down, otherwise the meat can flake off after you flip the fillet. But I will try it your way. Looks like a good recipe. Thanks

This is bad technique.Every cook knows that you saute a skin-on fillet of fish first on the top and then skin side down. This keeps the fish from separating from the skin and avoids the problem of the fillet flaking a while you flip it..

Add a drizzle of BALSAMIC VINEGAR to perk up currants and help balance the brine of the olives and capers. If skin detaches, fry it up nice and crisp, cut in strips and strew on top of fish and celery relish for a little texture.

I have been substituting fennel for celery for lots of dishes, e.g.tuna fish salad, soups, etc. Would fennel be good to swap for the celery?

I have a Greek recipe that calls for soaking raisins. I put them in a small bowl with white wine and stick them in the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds. They plump up nicely, and add flavor to the wine. Haven't tried it with currants, but it seems like it would work the same.

Excellent. I broiled the salmon, which gave a nice crunch on top with still tender flesh underneath. Served it with couscous and sautéed kale. I then liberally spooned the "salsa" over everything. Amazing weekday dinner that came together in under an hour.

This is worth deploying your precious stash of saffron and demonstrates why Ottolenghi is one of the word's great chefs. Letting the relish "mingle" for at least 10 minutes and then reheating it in the pan you sear the salmon in (med/rare) worked wonders and cooking down some fresh spinach in the pan you make the relish in with a pinch of red pepper flakes and then incorporating some n.306 fettuccine rigate will make you happy to be alive.

I agree. I entered the recipe into myfitnesspal and cam up with only 411 calories per serving! Then I entered it into the Edaman website - credited on the NYT info - and got 603 calories.

An alternative is to slow bake the salmon (after searing the base in a skillet if you wish) at 300 degrees fahrenheit in a baking dish with the salmon siting on a bed of sliced aromatics like lemons, oranges, thyme, rosemary, oregano or marjoram.

I used fennel, castelvetrano olives, smoked almonds, capers but no brine, and a couple of diced peppedew. Very good.For salmon, I let sit on counter for 20 minutes or so and pre-seasoned a carbon steel skillet by heating over high for 2 minutes, adding a teaspoon of vegetable oil and leaving for two minutes on high until it smoked; Turned it off to cool while making relish. Wiped it out; gloriously nonstick.Salmon went in skin side down with no sticking.Sautéed spinach in relish pan

In N-Am. I have never found tasty pine nuts. I use walnuts or hazelnuts instead. For the uber crisp skin I use cast iron. Responsibly farmed salmon has more taste than wild.The 1 cm diced celery is a bit too thick for my taste, I had this dish for dinner an hour ago, and it was delish!On the side we had pan fried fingerling and spinach. I also added some roasted garlic gloves to the relish.

Sounds good, but it is not this recipe!

Made exactly as written - very good! Next time I’d cook the celery a few minutes before adding the pine nuts. And then toss on some halved cherry tomatoes for color and to improve the caponata vibe.

This one brought me right back to my childhood. Classic Sicilian treatment of fish. Delicious!

I brushed salmon with olive oil and added some Cajun spice, then baked on sheet pan, 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Easier than frying. Made mashed potatoes with fresh dill as a side, a lovely contrast. This meal was excellent, and I now have it in my file for dinners with guests.

Delicious! But I’d make two suggestions. After frying celery and walnuts (I used them instead of pine nuts because that was what I had), pour out half the oil that was in the pan before adding other stuff to it. The second is to use a quarter teaspoon of oil for cooking salmon in a nonstick pan. You don’t need that much oil (1tbsp) since the filet was already coated in oil (first step) and the skin would release some fat in that pan. Delicious - will definitely make this again.

Followed almost to a t with tuna instead of salmon. It was just so nice looking at the market, I couldn’t resist. Also, I’ve developed a dislike for pine nuts so used almonds. It was really delicious and I think the relish would go nicely with a lot of things.

Utterly delicious as written…the sweet, salty, tart and crunchy salsa works perfectly with the crispy and unctuous salmon and needs no additions or alterations. A nice riff on a classic Italian dish and a definite future addition to the dinner menu.

Made exactly as written (which I don’t always do) and it was perfectly delicious. No need to make any of the adjustments others suggest.

Curious, this recipe doesn't specify - fresh or dried currants. Which is it?

H had this at a friends house (and helped cook it). It was delicious. Out of necessity we substituted raisins for currants and cilantro for parsley. It was great!

Would make again. Not a flavor bomb—though n.b. went without saffron—but tasty and had zero problems with the skin-down-first method in oil in a cast iron (per comments suggesting butter and skin-up first). Big + to letting salmon get to room temp. Salsa wasn't anything I wanted to eat on its own, but worked on the fish. Could do with more lemony flavor next time! Served with barley and Sifton's sautéed kale-but-with-spinach.

This was really tasty. I only made a couple of changes based on other reviews: used a little butter to cook the salmon and started it skin side up. Also did not use the caper brine. The salsa is both sweet and a little salty. Was perfect.

This was delicious! I used cranberries in place of currents and hazelnuts in place of pine nuts and it was heaven. I could see where some people would think it was too salty, but it was perfect for my salt licked heart.

Cooked skin side down in cast iron pan, and finished off in the oven. Perfect crispy skin and released well 4 filets even crowded. Definitely recommend adding some balsamic vinegar to the celery currant mixture. Best green olives are Castelvetrano. Received raved reviews! Served with tri-color pearl couscous and roasted asparagus.

I liked this a lot- not a thing I’d ever eaten before. Strangely, it’s also a pantry meal for me in that the salmon could be frozen and celery and lemon will last forever in the fridge, and if you’ve got celery leaves, the parsley is not crucial. I used raisins soaked in white wine in place of currants and saffron, sliced almonds in place of pine nuts, and added some Aleppo pepper. Served with frozen mashed potato from Trader Joe’s. Highly recommend.

The relish is delicious. I’m not the biggest celery fan but it worked so well. Crispy. I made a few substitution: didn’t use pine nuts (husband has nut allergy), added a bit of onion, used Kalamata olives instead of green, used a bit cilantro instead of parsley. ...yummy. We had gluten free gnocchis with it.