Alaska Salmon with Corn & Tomatoes
Nothing screams summer like peak-season sweet corn and tomatoes. Although both items are staples all year round, they really become their best in the late summer months, especially when sourced from local farms. This recipe incorporates both alongside one of America’s most revered native foods: Alaska wild salmon.
Wild salmon season spans the summer months, meaning there’s no better time than now to enjoy this truly special fish. Thanks to FreshDirect’s direct relationships with family-owned fisheries, we’re able to bring it to you in the shortest time possible, so you can enjoy its dazzlingly rich and robust flavor at its freshest. There are three major types of Alaska salmon for delivery available on our site:
King salmon: Also known as chinook salmon, these are the largest of the Alaskan fish (up to 120 lb). They are prized for their bright, succulent flesh, high oil content, and firm texture.
Sockeye salmon: Wild Alaskan Sockeye or “red salmon” is loved for its robust flavor, dense meatiness, and the bright red hue it maintains, even after cooking.
Coho salmon: Mild and delicate with a vivid color and almost no fishy flavor, wild coho has less fat than other salmon varieties.
For this recipe, we’ve selected sockeye salmon because its meaty, almost steak-like flavor has the personality needed to balance out the tangy and juicy veggies. Any of our salmon fillets will work nicely here, however.
When it comes to the corn, we’re big fans of the ultra-sweet bicolor ears from Altobelli Farm. If you ask us, it’s the best corn you’ll ever eat—each ear is so naturally flavorful and delicious that you could eat it raw off the cob (although here we give it a quick sauté to bring out its tenderness). John Altobelli himself even drives it to us directly from his farm in Kinderhook, NY, meaning that it goes from the field to your door in mere hours.
Lastly, summertime is tomato time, each one sweet, juicy, and full of flavor from ripening up under the sunshine. We eagerly await the return each year of heirloom and local tomatoes from our favorite farms like Hepworth Farms in Milton, NY and Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative in Lancaster, PA. For this recipe, we really love the Garden Gem tomatoes from Lancaster Farm Fresh cooperative, which are grown exclusively for us—these little ones have a sweet flavor that’s so good, we had to have it all to ourselves.
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Roasted Alaska Sockeye Salmon with Sautéed Summer Corn & Roasted Tomatoes Recipe
For the sautéed corn:
6 ears corn
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
5 mini sweet mixed peppers, chopped
2 jalapeño or serrano peppers, minced (optional)
1 cup chopped mixed herbs such as basil, cilantro, marjoram, dill, parsley, or savory
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
Salt to taste
Remove the husks from the corn and cut the kernels off as close to the cob as possible (this should yield about 5 cups of kernels).
Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large, heavy sauté pan. Add the onion, peppers, salt and smoked paprika. Sauté on medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until onions are soft. Remove from pan to avoid crowding.
Turn up heat to medium high, add remaining oil and corn to pan, season with salt and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Fold in onion and pepper mixture and chopped herbs. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
For the oven-roasted tomatoes
2 pints whole cocktail tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
1⁄4 cup olive oil
6 sprigs thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450 F. Toss tomatoes in the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Marinate for 10 minutes, then pour tomatoes out onto a foil-covered baking sheet.
Roast tomatoes on sheet until soft and blistered, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before using.
For the pan-roasted sockeye salmon
Four 6–8 oz. sockeye salmon fillets
Salt
Olive oil
Liberally season the sockeye salmon fillets with kosher or sea salt and let rest for 20 minutes or up to an hour.
Lightly coat a nonstick or cast-iron pan with olive oil over medium-high heat. Carefully place the salmon in the pan skin side down, trying not to crowd. After approximately 5 minutes, gently flip and continue to cook for 3 minutes on the other side. Remove from the pan.
To grill salmon, follow the same instruction above and place on a section of a clean, oiled grill over medium-high heat for best results.