Even though summer is winding down, I know everyone is still looking for ways to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible and as much time outside enjoying what remains of the season. And summer cooking does not get any easier than this.
For the simplicity of this hazelnut butter recipe, the flavor rewards are big. The flavor from roasting them is intense and fabulous. It’s a real match for the rich flavor os salmon.
Roasted Hazelnut Grilled Salmon
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- ½ cup hazelnuts
- ½ cube (1/4 cup) softened butter
- 1-1/2 pounds fresh salmon fillet (one fillet or four, 6 ounce pieces)
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground back pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degres F.
- Put hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast until skins are darkened and cracked, about 15 minutes.
- Immediately cover hazelnuts with a damp towel and allow them to sit allow sit (the steam will loosen the skins) about 15 minutes. Once cooled, rub roasted hazelnuts in your hands to remove skins (if a little bit of skin remains on a few hazelnuts, this is fine).
- Chop hazelnuts until some chunks still remain but the majority are finely chopped in a food processor or by hand. Fold hazelnuts into the softened butter and set aside (hazelnut butter can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated several hours or overnight; allow softening at room temperature before using).
- Preheat the grill to medium heat; grill salmon flesh side down until cooked halfway through. Turn salmon, season with salt and pepper and spread hazelnut butter over fillet. Cook until salmon is just cooked through (measured at its thickest part, salmon takes about 10 minutes per inch of thickness to cook).
This was absolutely divine! Never thought hazelnuts would pair so beautifully with salmon. Served it with a quick saute of snap peas and a tossed salad(from our garden) with hazelnuts, scallions and a hazelnut oil vinaigrette. Andrew made an herbed, potato (Spanish) tortilla as a side… living good!