Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce

This is a variation on a favourite theme – salmon fillets with a herby, lemony, cream sauce. Sometimes I fry the fish but mostly I bake it. Often I use parsley and chives but this time I chucked in plenty of dill because I like its fragrant aniseedy taste with salmon.

The sauce packs plenty of flavour without overwhelming the delicacy of the fish and also works well with fishcakes. It’s an ideal recipe for those weekday nights when you’d rather put your feet up than stand for ages over a stove or if you need a breather after all the heavy eating and heavy lifting of Christmas.

Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce

Image ofbaked salmon with dill sauce, served

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets

60 ml white wine

1/2 lemon, zest and juice

120 ml double cream

50g butter

1 tspn creamed horseradish or a scant 1/2 tspn hot horseradish

30g fresh dill

Salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200c/400F/Gas Mark 6. Remove the fronds of dill from the stalks and set aside. Cut two pieces of foil big enough to wrap the salmon fillets and divide the dill stalks between them.Place the salmon fillets on top, skin-side down.

Image of salmon ready for foil parcel

Season and wrap into a loose but well-sealed parcel. Place on an oven tray and bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fillets, until cooked but still slightly translucent in the middle.

To make the sauce, put the wine and lemon juice in a pan and reduce by about a half. Chop the dill fronds, reserving a few to garnish. Add the butter and cream to the pan, whisk in the horseradish and bubble on a medium heat to thicken and reduce to a coating consistency. Stir in the lemon zest and chopped dill, cook gently for a minute or two then remove from the heat and keep warm.

Unwrap and plate up the salmon fillets.  Serve drizzled with the sauce and garnished with the reserved dill fronds.

Image of baked salmon with dill sauce

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