Salt Crusted Salmon With Collard Green Salsa Verde Recipes

ROASTED SALMON WITH SALSA VERDE

Steps:

• For salmon: Preheat oven to 350°F. Pat salmon dry inside and out with paper towels. Sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper. Center 36x18-inch heavy-duty foil sheet over heavy large baking sheet. Spray foil with oil spray. Place salmon diagonally on foil. Stuff with lemon and herb sprigs. Close salmon opening. Drizzle oil over salmon. Spray another sheet of foil with oil spray. Place foil sprayed side down over salmon. Crimp foil sheet edges together to seal salmon completely.
• Bake salmon until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of salmon registers 150°F, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove top sheet of foil. Spoon all juices from salmon into small saucepan. Peel off skin from top of salmon. Scrape off any dark salmon meat. Let salmon cool 1 hour at room temperature. Boil reserved salmon juice until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 4 minutes. Cool. Cover salmon and reduced salmon juice separately and refrigerate overnight.
• Place platter atop salmon. Invert salmon onto platter. Remove foil. Peel off skin. Scrape off any dark meat. Garnish with dill and lemon. Serve with salsa verde.

SALT-CRUSTED SALMON WITH COLLARD GREEN SALSA VERDE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Mix the salt and egg whites in a medium bowl with your hands and incorporate until the mixture feels like wet sand.
• Spread 1 1/2 cups of the salt mixture into a thin layer, in the shape of the salmon, on a baking sheet. (You may need to spread the mixture diagonally on the baking sheet.)
• Arrange the lemongrass, ginger, chile, and cilantro over the bed of salt. Place the fish, skin side up, on the bed of salt and aromatics and pack the remaining salt mixture over and around the fish, molding it to the shape of the fillet, sealing the fish and aromatics inside.
• Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The salt crust should have a warm golden color almost like sand and be rock hard. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Present the fish at the table within its salt crust, then, using a wooden spoon, strike the crust to crack it. Carefully lift pieces of the salt crust from the fish in large chunks. Peel back the skin, exposing the juicy, perfectly cooked fish. Divide the fish among plates. Discard the salt and aromatics.
• Serve with the salsa verde.
• In a food processor, pulse the collard greens, Brazil nuts, garlic, parsley and olive oil until thoroughly combined. You can use a flexible rubber spatula to scrape down the ingredients in the food processor to make sure everything mixes evenly.
• Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the lemon zest and salt to taste (I use about 1 1/2 teaspoons). Stir in the vinegar just before serving.
• Adapted and excerpted from "Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day" by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls with Veronica Chambers. Copyright © 2018 by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls with Veronica Chambers. Reprinted with permission from Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. Photography by Beatriz da Costa.