Salmon with Cucumbers

Jenny is in perpetual search for easy, weeknight recipes to attempt to feed her family. When they balk, she just eats more.

We all know of course that cucumbers go well with salmon, even if we have not thought about this since the last time we watched a rom-com from the early 1990s in which our heroine in a puffy-sleeved gown falls into a table covered with cucumber salmon sandwiches at the wedding she’s attempting to ruin with some hijinks.  

But I have not thought about this combination lately, enamored am I with Asian preparations and simple sea salt and olive oil. So I was quite intrigued to see Salmon with Cucumbers, which takes the salmon and cucumber thing and elevates it with the tang of vinegar, the bite of radishes and a dash of cucumber’s dear friend, dill. This recipe appears to be based on one from Martha Stewart, and I like the subtle changes that were made here.  

What Audrey Needs More Wooden Spoons has done here is given you a meal in 20 minutes, and very little of that involves chopping or stirring. You are simply marinating your veggies (I did not peel my cucumbers, saving another three minutes) while your salmon comes out of the fridge and gets ready for its journey to the frying pan. 

I was very tempted to make my fish in the oven, as I am wont, but stayed true to our author and did it in the pan, which reminded me of how very, very much I love me some pan-done salmon. 

There are very few ambiguities here but let me address two. Two filets of salmon, what does that mean? That means make as much as two people want to eat, in our case a one pound center cut filet with a small serving out of that for bacon girl. 

How long to cook it, really? So place your salmon skin side down and do not turn it until it lifts easily, with no skin peeling up. If you lift too early, your fish will fall apart, not be properly cooked and a deep sadness will settle in and you will become convinced that you were not meant to cook fish on the stove which really, as I just explained, is the wrong conclusion.

Set it over your veggies. That is all.  

By the way, dear Audrey, we all need new wooden spoons. I bought a beauty from this site for a friend for his birthday and he let his dog eat it. That’s sloppy spoon owners for you, folks. 

Salmon with Cucumbers by Audrey Needs More Wooden Spoons

Serves 2

2 fillets of wild salmon
1/4 cup cucumber, thinly sliced
4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons dill, chopped
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here.

Photo by Karen Mordechai