Salmon

This salmon is wrapped in rice paper, which gets very crisp when sautéed.

At Lantana's, the salmon is served with spiced banana fritters.

Not an ounce of flavor escapes this dish! The salmon is seared, trapping its rich flavor, briefly baked, and then drizzled with a thick, lightly fragranced orange ginger glaze — a balanced companion for a fish as flavorful as salmon. Salmon provides ample amounts of protein, B vitamins, vitamin A, and omega-3 oils.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This is a delicate, light-tasting soup.

In the book American Gourmet, Jane and Michael Stern describe beef Wellington as a "lardaceous dish" that is "rich beyond reason." The pastry-wrapped beef was the ultimate in dinner-party fare in the sixties. In our re-creation, salmon fillets cook in frozen puff pastry sheets, which arrived in the seventies.

Try serving this on toast points for an appetizer or a first course.

To make the nori rolls in this recipe we used a bamboo sushi mat, available at Asian markets and some specialty shops. It's possible to make the rolls using a double thickness of aluminum foil instead of a sushi mat, but using a mat makes the process much easier.

Salmon and cod also work well.

At The Painted Table in Seattle, Washinton, the fish comes with just the beet broth, but the beets themselves are delicious, too.

This simple appetizer is a clever blend of sweet, salty and tangy flavors.

Look for wild salmon fillets. You can ask the fishmonger to remove the pinbones, or remove them at home with tweezers. Serve with: Alsatian Riesling • sautéed sugar snap peas • rice pilaf with watercress and green onions • white chocolate crème brûlée

Here's a quick and elegant entrée for spring.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are reprinted from Andreas Viestad's book Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking. _Viestad also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. Traditional gravlaks is made from two whole salmon fillets and flavored only with salt, sugar, dill, and pepper. If the fish is good, there is nothing better. The gravlaks found in American markets is normally very mild, sometimes slightly scented, often with dried dill. Fresh dill has a taste that is discreet and subtle; it flavors the salmon nicely without competing with the fish's own flavors. Some cookbooks suggest freezing the salmon before you prepare it, to get rid of harmful microorganisms; with modern hygienic treatment of fish, this should not be a big issue. If you do freeze it, do it after it has been cured. Some of the proteins that may be damaged when freezing fresh fish will have broken down in the cured fish, so gravlaks can stand up to freezing better than fresh salmon can. The gravlaks will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Gravlaks is normally served as one of many cold dishes in a buffet or smorgasbord. Serve with Sweet Mustard Sauce and scrambled eggs and dark rye bread for open-faced sandwiches, or with pickles and capers.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are reprinted from Andreas Viestad's book Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking._Viestad also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. There are different, equally authentic ways of making this soup. The big schism is between those who like to thicken the soup with a combination of flour and cream, so it becomes like a chowder, and those who prefer it thin. I think it is easier to appreciate the unique sweet-and-sour freshness of the soup when it is made with only the minimum of thickener.

You’ll want to put this creamy (but dairy-free) green sauce on everything and it’s particularly sublime under crispy-skinned salmon.

A savory-hot salsa made with mixed nuts (like the kind dubbed cocktail nuts meant for snacking) gives roast salmon a kaleidoscope of textures and flavors.

Saucy, soy-honey salmon—cut into cubes to speed up the cooking process—makes a savory topping for a quick weeknight bowl.