Quick and easy with few ingredients are welcome words for a weeknight meal. The fact that it is also tasty and visually appealing doesn’t hurt matters.
Harissa, the North African spice paste considered a pantry staple, adds flavor to salmon fillets along with garlic and lemon juice. After roasting, the fillets are served with a simple three-ingredient relish made by combining parsley, lemon zest and chopped green (or black) olives. The bold, zingy intensity of the herbal garnish is used to balance the fattiness of the salmon.
Our piece of salmon weighed in at 1 pound and we therefore left it intact instead of sizing down into 4 separate fillets. (Yes, this did extend the roasting time a bit.) While we served ours with steamed broccoli and a side salad, you could also pair with couscous and perhaps a cucumber or tomato salad.
Harissa-Roasted Salmon with Lemon, Olive and Parsely Relish
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. harissa paste
- 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 3 medium garlic cloves, finely grated
- 1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest, plus 2 tsp. lemon juice, plus lemon wedges to serve
- null Kosher salt
- 4 6-oz. center-cut skin-on salmon fillets (each 1 to 1¼ inches thick), patted dry
- 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley OR cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup pitted green OR black olives, roughly chopped
Directions
- Set a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet and mist it with cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the harissa, 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, the lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt. Place the salmon skin side down on the rack. Rub the harissa mixture onto the top and sides of the fillets. Let stand at room temperature while the oven heats.
- Heat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the middle position. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the parsley, olives, the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the lemon zest and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Roast the salmon until the flesh flakes easily and the harissa mixture has deepened in color, 12 to 14 minutes. Serve the fillets with the parsley-olive mixture and lemon wedges.
Adapted from a recipe by Dimitri Demopolous for Milk Street
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