I am a member of the Amazon affiliate program. If you click a link on this page and purchase something on Amazon, I may earn a small commission, at no added expense to you. Any proceeds go to purchasing groceries to keep cooking!
Last Spring I took a three-part Fish & Shellfish class at the San Francisco Cooking School, with the goal of becoming more comfortable cooking fish and shellfish at home. Fast forward 10 months, and this salon from Ottolenghi Simple is only the third fish dinner I've made since. This is no reflection on the class, as it was fantastic and I felt like I became a lot more confident around fish. It says a lot more about our work schedules and weekend travel. Fish just doesn't keep as long in the fridge, and it doesn't freeze well cooked, so it doesn't really fit into our batch-cooking routine. That said, Ottolenghi's Bridget Jones' pan-fried salmon made a fabulous weeknight dinner, plus I ate the leftovers (cold) over the course of the next two days and they were almost as good as the fresh dish. Caleb even requested a repeat, and he's not the biggest fish fan.
The story of why this is called Bridget Jones' pan-fried salmon in Ottolenghi Simple is all over the internet. Suffice it to say, this dish makes an appearance in one of the movies, but it wasn't actually on the menu at Ottolenghi at the time. So Ottolenghi decided to recreate the movie dish.
Upon my first read-thru of the directions, I thought this would be a snap to make (duh, the book is "Simple" recipes). That turned out to be a little optimistic, as preparing the celery-pine nut salsa consumed approximately 20-30 minutes of your time. That's one of my objections to recipe authors who bury the prep work into the ingredients list.... Still, Ottolenghi's pan-fried salmon can easily make it from intention to dinner plate in about 45 minutes. If you aren't trying to take pictures of green stuff on a weird marble counter in bad fluorescent lighting, it might even take you a little less.
Ottolenghi's celery-pine nut salsa is the true star of this dish. The salmon is scrumptious, to be sure, and the bright, tangy salsa balances the rich fish perfectly. The salsa recipe as printed made twice the amount I needed for my 1.25 lb salmon filet, and because it did not keep beyond 2-3 days (3 is the absolute max), I've scaled down the amounts here to 50%. You can always rescale by changing the serving size in the recipe box. I also cut down the amount of oil used, both for the celery and pan-frying the salmon, because it was overkill.
Let's be real about pan-frying fish, especially one with as recognizable a smell as salmon: your house is going to smell like you just cooked a pound of fatty fish. Open some windows and turn on a fan before you start. If you have family members who can't stand the smell, let me reassure them: the fish itself is light and doesn't taste at all fishy or even "salmon-y". It's a great choice for people who love bold flavors, while also having the power to please pickier eaters.
This is a keeper recipe for us for sure (but I'm waiting until the rain stops and I can have the windows open to make it again).
Original source: Ottolenghi Simple
Bridget Jones' pan-fried salmon with pine nut salsa
Print Pin RateIngredients
- heaped ⅓ cup (50 g) currants
- 1 lb 2 oz (500 g) salmon fillets skin on and pinbones removed, separated into 4 even pieces
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) olive oil
- salt and black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon (a good pinch) saffron threads mixed with ½ tablespoon hot water
- ⅙ cup (20g / about 4 large) green olives pitted and cut into 1 cm dice
- ½ cup (10 g) parsley, roughly chopped
- ½ medium lemon finely zested to get ½ teaspoon zest, then juice to get ½ teaspoon juice
- 2 medium celery stalks cut into ½-inch/ 1 cm dice (⅚ cups/90g), leaves removed but kept for garnish
- ⅛ cup (15 g) pine nuts roughly chopped
- ⅛ cup (20 g) capers plus 1 tablespoons of their brine
Instructions
- Place the dried currants in a small bowl. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, then pour over the currants (they should be covered). Set aside to soak for 20 minutes while you prep the salmon and make the salsa.
- Gently rub the salmon with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, then sprinkle with a rounded ¼ teaspoon salt, followed by a good grind of pepper. Set aside the salmon while you make the salsa.
- Steep the saffron threads in the hot water. Pit and dice the olives, chop the parsley, then zest and juice the lemon. Dice the celery stalks and roughly chop the pine nuts.
- Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil into a large sauté pan, then place the pan over high heat. Add the celery and pine nuts and fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the nuts begin to brown (don't take your eyes off them, as they can easily burn). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the capers and their brine, the olives, saffron and its water, and a pinch of salt. Drain the currants and add the drained currants together with the parsley, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Set aside.
- Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil into a large frying pan and place over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the salmon fillets, skin side down, and fry for 3 minutes, until the skin is crisp. Decrease the heat to medium, then flip the fillets over and continue to fry for 2-4 minutes (depending on how much you like the salmon cooked). Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Arrange the salmon on four plates and spoon on the salsa. Scatter the celery leaves on top.
