If you’ve been a reader of Bite by Bite for much time at all, then you already know that we are big salmon-lovers. I’m grateful that we are. It’s a very versatile protein and has tremendous nutritional value, particularly its high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. It tends to be expensive, so we don’t necessarily eat it as frequently as we might like. All food seems to be expensive these days, however, so I recently made the executive decision to purchase it, not worry about the price and just enjoy it.
One of my very favorite cookbooks is Jen Hatmaker’s “Feed These People - Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew,” a gift from my sister-in-law Andra several years ago. Hatmaker is funny, clever and a little irreverent and the book is actually a fun read. More importantly though, every recipe I’ve made from it has been a huge success – hence the reason I keep going back to it.
There’s a salmon dish in it – Honey Mustard Pecan-Crusted Salmon – that I recently made for the first time and it was super easy to make and absolutely delicious. I had some yellow squash leftover from our trips to Hensley Produce that I wanted to use up. Checking to see what other produce I had on hand revealed fresh asparagus, purple onions and grape tomatoes. I chopped up the squash, asparagus and purple onion into bite-size pieces and halved the grape tomatoes, drizzled it all with some olive oil and seasonings and roasted the veggies on the same pan as the salmon. It was a super healthy meal and every bit of it was delicious.
As I sat down to write this – worried that you may be growing weary of my salmon escapades because I realize that not everyone is as big a fan of salmon as we are – I decided to look in my files and see just how many salmon dishes I’ve written about. I was a bit shocked at my findings. Since the March 15, 2020 debut of this column over five years ago, I’ve shared 14 salmon recipes with you – 15, counting this one. Who knew there were so many? I told you it is versatile.
The other 14 are as follows: sheet pan honey mustard salmon with rainbow veggies, pesto salmon and Italian veggies in foil, panko-crusted salmon, charred salmon tacos, crisp skin salmon Provencal with charred red cabbage salad, Sunny Anderson’s salmon, smoked salmon quiche, almond-crusted salmon salad, creamy garlic butter Tuscan salmon, Cajun air fryer salmon, salmon al pastor, roasted salmon on Mediterranean vegetables, baked garlicky salmon cakes and honey garlic glazed salmon.
As always, if you’re interested in any of these and missed them the first go-round, shoot me an email (editor@polkenterprise.com) and I’ll be happy to send the recipe to you. Thanks for reading!
Honey Mustard Pecan-Crusted Salmon
By Jen Hatmaker
Honey Mustard:
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- Pinch of salt
Pecan Topping:
- ¼ cup bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 plank skin-on fresh salmon (around 2 pounds)
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh lemon juice
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
In a small bowl, mix the honey mustard ingredients until smooth. Stick this in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to slightly firm up. In another bowl, mix together the pecan topping ingredients.
Rinse and pat the salmon dry, then salt and pepper the flesh side. Brush on the honey mustard pretty thick. Coat with the pecan mixture and pat that down. Set the salmon on your prepared baking sheet and bake for around 20 minutes (you could also grill this), until flaky and opaque in the thickest part.
When you take the salmon out of the oven, squeeze a bit of lemon over the top if you have it.
