Salmon with Lemon-Dill Butter Sauce and Capers, Garlic-Roasted Asparagus and Boiled New Potatoes

Sometimes you need a flavorful meal that’s quick and easy. This salmon with lemon-dill butter sauce and capers is just that! Recently, Corey and I moved from Chicago to Atlanta; while exciting, it was also exhausting.

Despite a weekend of driving across the country, unloading and unpacking boxes, and setting up a new apartment, I was determined to break in my new kitchen with a home-cooked meal. To find a quick recipe, I turned to the Splendid Table’s Weeknight Kitchen (an excellent resource for busy cooks). This delicious salmon recipe is one-pot meal that only uses 5 ingredients (not including salt and pepper).

One of my favorite parts of this dish is the crispy salmon skin, which absorbs butter and imparts extra flavor. If you’re not a fan of salmon skin, it’s probably because you’ve had limp, soggy skin, which is admittedly quite dreadful.

The trick to getting crispy salmon skin is a hot skillet and dry skin (pat down the salmon skin with paper towels before cooking, if necessary). Also, when you place the salmon into the hot skillet with the melted butter, make sure to place it skin-side down and do not flip or move it for 3-4 minutes. You can gently press the filets to ensure the skin fully contacts the pan.

The ingredients in this recipe work well together. The lemon adds acidity, the capers provide saltiness, the butter and oily salmon impart richness, and the dill freshens everything up. It’s a vibrant, simple, and wholly satisfying meal!

This salmon goes great with just about anything. I like to serve it with garlic-roasted asparagus and boiled new potatoes tossed in a Dijon vinaigrette, but you can also serve it with a side salad, rice, or a baked potato.

Enjoy this salmon meal on a busy weeknight!

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Salmon with Lemon-Dill Butter Sauce and Capers

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Serves	4
Meal type	Main Dish
Website	slightly adapted from The Splendid Table

This salmon with lemon-dill butter sauce and capers is a fast and flavorful meal that has only 5 ingredients and uses only 1 pan, so clean up is a breeze.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons (50g) butter (diced)
• 4 (4-ounce/125g) salmon fillets (with the skin left on)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons capers (drained)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice mixed with 6 to 8 tablespoons water
• 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions

Step 1

Pat the salmon skin with paper towels before cooking to remove excess moisture. Place a frying pan over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add a couple of pats (knobs) of butter, very quickly followed by the salmon, with the skin side down. Using a spatula, press gently downward onto the filets to ensure the skin has full contact with the pan.

Step 2

Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until golden brown underneath (do not flip or move the salmon during this time). If the butter splatters too much, reduce the heat to medium. Turn over, season with salt and pepper, and fry for another couple of minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through. (The timing will depend on the thickness of the salmon fillets and heat of the pan.)

Step 3

Add the capers, along with the remaining butter, and lemon juice mixture and boil for 1 minute. Season to taste, adding more lemon juice or water, if necessary. Transfer the salmon onto warmed plates, stir the chopped dill into the sauce, and pour over the fish to serve.