No matter how you cook it or for what occasion, salmon is one of the most reliable and versatile proteins that a chef—casual or professional—can work with in the kitchen. There’s good reason we love this pink and flaky delicacy so much that it’s become America’s favorite fish (according to the National Fisheries Institute). It sings with flavor in these five recipes, whether it’s being roasted to perfection with fennel and carmelized onions, seared in a pan with a mango miso sauce, baked and drizzled with an olive-basil vinaigrette, coated in a mustard seed crust and grilled on a charcoal fire, or smoked and topping radicchio cups with beets and capers. Each of these recipes comes with wine pairings to make an already delicious dish even better, so there’s no excuse not to dive right in.
This recipe from chef Jorge González of Puebla, Mexico, is a perfect way to amp up a weeknight salmon preparation. It’s simple, elegant and looks, feels and tastes restaurant-worthy. Its secret is a flavor-packed take on the classic French beurre blanc sauce, made from butter and white wine. Instead of simply emulsifying the two ingredients, González adds in onion and garlic that have been charred and caramelized under the broiler, then finishes the sauce with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon. This sauce is liquid gold when poured over the pan-roasted salmon and fennel. Speaking of liquid gold, this meal gets even better when paired with a medium- to full-bodied Chardonnay. The chef favors a minerally pick from Mexico’s premier wine region—Baja’s Guadalupe Valley—that shows tropical fruit character and notes that come from oak aging, such as smoke. But picks from California’s Carneros appellation and South Africa will work as well. Get González’s recipe and tips for making a successful buerre blanc!
Smoked salmon may be one of the fish’s greatest forms. This appetizer makes good use of it, elevating the delicate, thin slices from their common casting as a topping for bagels and cream cheese. Instead, the salmon quarterbacks this fresh, classy starter from author Joan Nathan’s cookbook King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World. Here she serves it as an opener for her main course for a Hanukkah dinner party, placing the salmon in radicchio cups, scattering roasted beets around the plate and dressing it all with a honey lemon vinaigrette, capers and dill. Often, Nathan will have homemade challah on the table as well, and add dabs of tapenade or hummus to the salmon plates for extra flavor. The wine pairing suggested here is a kosher white blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from Israeli producer Tzora; it balances richness with fresh acidity and minerally notes, much like the dish itself. Look for more recent vintages or other similar Chardonnay blends, whether kosher or not, as great pairings for this dish.
Luscious, meaty salmon is made for grilling, and while there are many great ways to prepare it, this version from chef Patrick O’Connell—with its fresh herbs, sliced onion and coating of mustard seeds—is definitely one to save for the ages. The proprietor of the Grand Award-winning Inn at Little Washington in Virginia suggests it for summer picnics and party buffets. Not only is it quick and easy, but it can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time and served chilled for enjoying outdoors on a hot day. As it uses a whole salmon, this recipe also results in incredible leftovers, always a cause for celebration. O’Connell enjoys this dish with a Bandol rosé, as these wines tend to be refreshing while having a bit more substance and depth than the average southern French rosé. As an alternative, he recommends a piquant Sauvignon Blanc to pair with the dill and mustard.
Mina Newman, executive chef of Sen Sakana, New York’s first restaurant devoted to Nikkei cuisine (a blend of Japanese and Peruvian), created this easy-yet-elegant salmon preparation that could double as a make-ahead weeknight staple or a dinner party centerpiece. She uses mango three ways, pureeing it for the marinade that flavors the salmon before cooking, transforming extra marinade into a sauce for the dish and quick-pickling the fruit to serve as a garnish. The accompanying roasted asparagus serves as an earthy, herbaceous counterpoint to the sweetness of the fruit and the rich fish. With this combination of vivid flavors, turn to a dry Chenin Blanc with its mix of orchard fruit, minerality and herbal notes; versions from the Loire Valley and South Africa’s Stellenbosch region would provide balance for both the vegetal elements and the tropically tangy fish.
Celebrated chef Thomas Keller, of Grand Award-winning restaurants the French Laundry and Per Se, brought this recipe to Wine Spectator as an example of a dish that can be healthy, yet supremely delicious in equal measure. Keller is adept at laying out his recipes in detail, with step-by-step notes, making it easier to cook like him at home than you may think! The salmon is brined before being pan-seared, then oven-baked and dressed with lemon salt. The fish is plated with a savory picholine olive and basil vinaigrette, demi-sec cherry tomatoes (skinned and delicately oven roasted at low temperature) and a garnish of fresh basil. Definitely meant to impress, this dish gets even better when paired with a classic red-wine match for salmon: Sonoma Pinot Noir. Not much can top a dinner such as this—except maybe one at TFL or Per Se.
