Westport Salmon, a Recipe Born of Necessity

Several years ago, we met my in-laws in Westport, WA so that my father-in-law could take my husband (“the Grill-Meister” in this blog) and our two boys deep-sea fishing. They caught 50 pounds of salmon – five big fish! It was an wonderful experience to cook and eat salmon that was caught that day, and to hear the (true) “I caught a fish that was THIS big” stories over dinner in our rented bay-front condo.

These guys knew where the fish were!

The Grill-Meister’s fish was the second-largest one caught that day (for real!)

My mother-in-law and I took a scenic drive and had a leisurely lunch at a local winery while the menfolk were doing the fishing, then headed out to the tiny grocery store to buy provisions to cook the salmon we just knew they would catch.  This recipe below was born out of necessity from the few ingredients we could find there.  It’s pretty good! The crunch of the topping with its sharp horseradish bite is a great balance to the smoothness of the salmon on its bed of softened vegetables.

Westport Salmon

Ingredients 

• 4 – 6 salmon steaks, 1 – 1 1/2 in. thick
• 1 small yellow onion (or 1/2 large), thinly sliced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced, including leaves (or a similar amount of bell pepper – whatever you’ve got!)
• 2 tsp. seafood seasoning, divided, plus more for sprinkling on the steaks (Old Bay is great, so is Paul Prudhomme’s)
• 3 tbsp. olive oil, plus more for drizzling in the pan
• 1 tbsp. prepared cream horseradish
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp. green onions tops, finely chopped

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the onion, celery, seafood seasoning and 1 tbsp. of the olive oil until combined in a bowl. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil in baking pan that will hold the salmon steaks without them touching, then add the onion and celery mixture to the pan, spreading evenly. In a small bowl, combine the horseradish, Panko, green onion and remaining olive oil and seafood seasoning. Place the salmon in the pan on the onion / celery mixture and then add the Panko topping to each steak, patting it on firmly. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until just done. Turn on the broiler for the last minute or two if your breadcrumb topping isn’t browned.

Note: if you want to serve a quick sauce on the side, combine a tablespoon or two of the horseradish with about a half cup of sour cream and a teaspoon of your seafood seasoning.  Yum!

And just for fun, below is a photo of the Westport Salmon that I took the first time I made it here at Glover Gardens, after developing the recipe on our trip.  Although my food photos above are imperfect, look how far I’ve come! (And the white plates work a lot better, don’t they??)

Hopefully, I’ve convinced you to try the recipe. In the next post, we’ll take look at the lovely little waterfront town.

Copyright 2017, Glover Gardens Cookbook