I love salmon. Any variety of Pacific salmon – King, Coho, Sockeye, Humpback – prepared in any way: poached, steamed, baked, smoked or simply cooked over the fire or in the barbecue over a plank of aromatic wood or a slab of salt.
Its taste is rich and delicate at the same time; its meat is low in calories, high in protein and full of Omega 3 Fatty Acids. What can you want more in a fish?
I also like the idea that by eating it I’m supporting the Alaskan economy. We are used to think of the 49th state as a place of wilderness and uncontaminated natural beauty, rarely considering how hard it must be to make a living in the remote areas of its vast territory. Many Alaskans still live in conditions made very hard not only by the weather and the latitude (six months of darkness a years mustn’t be easy to endure) but also by the lack of the conveniences that we are used to take for granted, like roads, running water, stores, or medical care.
For their survival they can rely only on the natural resources, trading what they fish and hunt for the money they need to buy everything else at a very high price, since it has to be flown from somewhere else.
This is why, when salmon is in season – and its season is short – I stock up for the rest of the year, like the Alaskans do: I buy, vacuum seal and freeze as much salmon as my freezer allows. I still can’t bring myself to buy farmed salmon, even if it’s ocean farmed. I want the real deal, and plenty of it. I’d rather renounce to a new pair of shoes – and being a woman it’s a huge sacrifice – than give up buying wild salmon because it’s too pricey.
Here follow two of my favorite salmon recipes. I named the first one “Mediterranean” because of its ingredients, even though there is no salmon in the Mediterranean Sea. I suggest cooking it in the summer, when its ingredients are in season and its flavors are in tune with the warm weather.
The second recipe is more suitable for the winter, when oranges are available. For a less sweet taste, make it with Cara Cara or Blood oranges.