Zucchini and Salmon

Four zucchini salted, drained and roasted under an oil built in the pan, and salmon cured 40 minutes in coriander, salt and sugar before the oven

· 1h 47m start to finish · experimental salmon seafood supper

The cure

Salmon cut into pieces, skin left on. Coriander seed into the mortar, cracked down with salt until the two were one powder

start Salmon pieces in a glass bowl beside a granite mortar holding whole coriander seed and a box of salt +1 min The mortar from above, coriander cracked into the salt

17.5 g of sugar into the same mortar, then the whole lot over the fish

The mortar on the scale reading 17.5 g of sugar, bag of refined sugar beside it +1 min The mortar tipped over the bowl, the mix falling onto the salmon +3 min The pieces tossed, cure clinging to the flesh and the skin

A plate over the top and into the fridge, out 40 minutes later

+3 min The covered bowl on a fridge shelf

Four zucchini

+10 min Four zucchini on the counter and board with the knife and an empty white bowl

Skin off in stripes rather than all round, then across into rounds of one thickness

Salted, then drained

Salt over the rounds, tipped out 22 minutes later. More water came out than expected, and another ten minutes would have got more still

+14 min Salt poured from the box over sliced zucchini in a white bowl +36 min The bowl tilted over the sink, liquid running from under the slices +36 min The drained rounds, striped dark and pale where the skin came off

A pan of oil

Blooming the dried aromatics. Oil into the cast iron on 9, oregano in, then the dial down to 4 for the dried garlic

+17 min Oil poured from a white bottle into a cast iron pan, dial reading 9 +17 min Dried oregano shaken from a bag into the hot oil +18 min Granulated garlic tipped in from a shaker, dial now reading 4

Chili flakes, pepper from the mill, and a second mortar of coriander

+19 min Chili flakes going in from a labelled shaker +19 min The pepper mill grinding over the pan +21 min Cracked coriander tipped from the mortar, the jar of whole seed behind
+21 min The finished oil, spices spread across the base of the pan

Over the zucchini

Poured hot over the drained rounds, which puts back the fat the salt took the water out for

+38 min The pan tipped over the bowl of rounds, dark oil running down +41 min Two parchment-lined trays of rounds in the oven, single layer with gaps

Chives, dill, zest for the zucchini

Chives and dill keep in the fridge standing in jars of water with a bag over the top. Those two, plus lemon zest cut off in strips with the knife and chopped in

+26 min Chives and dill in glass jars of water, a lemon, and the bowl of salted rounds +30 min Zest peeled off the lemon on the board, chopped chives in a bowl behind +44 min The bowl with chives, dill and zest together

Rinsed

+44 min Cured salmon on a plate in the sink under running water

Yogurt sauce for the salmon

183.4 g of Greek yogurt, then 17.6 g of chives and 9.7 g of dill

+51 min A Pyrex jug of Greek yogurt on the scale reading 183.4 g, tub beside it +53 min Chopped chives on the yogurt, scale reading 17.6 g +56 min Picked dill on a plate on the scale reading 9.7 g

9.1 g of mustard and salt, then lemon squeezed over the top rather than measured in

+60 min Mustard squeezed from a tube into the jug, scale reading 9.1 g +60 min Salt going in from the box +61 min The sauce stirred, green through the white, squeezed lemon wedge in the jug

Buckwheat on, oven down

+64 min Buckwheat under water in a steel pot +66 min The oven temperature dial +67 min Both trays of roasted rounds out on the counter, the buckwheat pot boiling on 9

Salmon in

Spread out with gaps so they take the heat evenly rather than steaming each other

+72 min Eight pieces of rinsed salmon on parchment in the oven

Herbs and lemon

On after the oven, so the delicate aromatics stay intact and fresh. Lemon pressed over the top

+74 min The herb mix spooned from its bowl over two plates of roasted rounds +75 min Lemon juice poured over the herbed rounds from a small glass bowl

Butter in

+98 min Three pieces of butter and salt on the cooked buckwheat in the pot

Salmon done, cooked internally

+98 min A probe thermometer in a fillet reading 67.5 °C, tray still in the oven

Plate

+102 min Salmon under the dill yogurt sauce beside buckwheat and the herbed zucchini rounds

Leftovers

Off the cooked fillets and into a box. They go in a dry cast iron pan another day

+107 min Leftover salmon in one glass container, the saved skins in a smaller one below

Recipe

Roasted zucchini

Good UnitsBad UnitsItemDirections
4ZucchiniPeel, slice into rounds, add to bowl1
SaltOver bowl1, rest 20 min, drain
Olive oilInto a cast iron pan on high
OreganoInto the oil, drop the heat to low
Garlic granulesInto the oil
Chili flakesInto the oil
Black pepperGrind into the oil
Coriander seedCrack in the mortar, into the oil
bowl1Pour the oil over, toss, spread on two trays, roast until edges catch
ChivesChop, add to bowl2
DillChop, add to bowl2
LemonZest into bowl2, keep the juice
bowl2Over the roasted rounds, juice last

Cured salmon

Good UnitsBad UnitsItemDirections
SalmonCut into pieces, add to bowl1
Coriander seedCrack in the mortar
SaltInto the mortar
17.5 gSugarInto the mortar, tip the lot over bowl1, toss
bowl1Cover, fridge 40 min, rinse, bake to 67.5 °C

Dill yogurt sauce

Good UnitsBad UnitsItemDirections
183.4 gGreek yogurtInto a jug
17.6 gChivesChop, add
9.7 gDillChop, add
9.1 gMustardAdd
SaltAdd
LemonSqueeze over the top, stir

Commentary, extra notes

  • The zucchini were too mature for this. Leaving the skin on in stripes looks like a decision and tastes like bitterness; on a marrow that size the skin all comes off, not half of it
  • The skins are worth more than the trim they look like. Kept back and crisped in a dry cast iron pan another day, they are the best part of the fish