Salmon, tomatoes, capers, and onions

In an attempt to eat healthier, the husband & I decided to get our hands to cooking at least one salmon dish every week. I came across Elise's SimplyRecipe site and chance upon this wonderful salmon dish. This dish requires fresh salmon fillet and here in Manila, a kilo of fresh salmon could cost as much as 750 pesos per kilo - so we used the cheaper variety instead, frozen salmon fillet (350 pesos per half kilo), less hassle as it is already vacuum sealed and frozen too, no need to worry on the freshness on the way back to our place. It took us approximately 30-40 minutes to cook and prepare this dish and about 15 minutes to eat everything in the pot! :) Because it was such a success, I was actually thinking of cooking this again sometime next week.

 

Here's Elise's recipe & my notes: 

Salmon with Tomato, Onions, and Capers Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
• 2 large fresh tomatoes, diced
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped (Catz: if there's no available fresh thyme, you can also use 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)
• 2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• The juice of one meyer lemon, or half a regular lemon with a teaspoon of sugar (Catz: I used honey instead of sugar)
• 2 Tbsp of capers, drained
• 1 teaspoon of chopped jalapeño peppers (no seeds, no stem, no ribs) either fresh or pickled (Catz: used 2 tbsp of jalapeño peppers since we both love spicy food)
• 1/3 cup white wine (Catz: used some left over cabernet sauvignon)
• 1/4 cup water
• Salt and pepper
• 2 fresh salmon fillets, 1/2 lb each

Method

1 In a large, wide (at least 12 inches wide) saucepan (one that comes with a cover), heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the tomatoes, thyme, lemon zest, lemon juice, capers, and jalapeño peppers. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding a little water if needed to prevent the sauce from getting too dry. Salt and pepper to taste. 

2 Add 1/3 a cup of white wine - a simple Chardonnay will work. Add 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a simmer. Place the fillets in the pan on top of the sauce, skin side down, if the fillets are still in their skin. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the cuts of fish are. Poke the fish with a fork and look for doneness. The fish should still be somewhat rare in the middle, but not raw. Serve immediately, with tomato sauce generously applied.

Serves 4 (well,in our case, there were only 2 of us ^_^)