Salmon With Crushed Blackberries and Seaweed

Is the seaweed dry, like nori - possibly the shredded nori used on top of soups and stews? The wakame I use needs to be rehydrated and is used in salads and soups. (I am never without it in the pantry - it is delicious.) But I don’t see any prep of the seaweed, it appears to be more of a garnish.

I work with a native Quinault elder on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and she always laughs when she hears cedar smoked salmon. The wood most often used to smoke and cook salmon out here in the NW is red alder. It leaves a much softer less oily flavor.

Black berries are all wrong. They are certainly plentiful in the PNW, but mostly they are nasty nasty weeds, no matter what poetics are spread about them by timber company employees. A native version of this might be Salal berries (traditional with dried or smoked salmon) or maybe Salmon berries, which are a native Ribes, a raspberry type fruit of a golden/blush color. Another perfectly native berry that's good with salmon is blue berry. Can't beat that. We have options here.

Wakame (Undaria) is a kelp, but not native to the Pacific coast of North America, but is grown and eaten in Japan, China, and Korea. First Nation people in the Pacific Northwest have traditionally harvested and used other seaweeds: nori (Pyropia) and native kelps. Nori tastes great with salmon!

Blackberries are 'all wrong'? That is antipathy trying to overrule the judgment of the palate. The invasive 'Himalayan' (actually Armenian) blackberries are certainly overabundant and irrepressible in the Pacific Northwest and my backyard. All the more reason to enjoy their gorgeous fruit. Moreover there are Northwest native 'trailing' blackberries as well, that many consider even tastier.

Interesting combination! I wasn't sure how much salt to add "to taste" to the blueberries, so I added just enough to cut the tartness. Next time, I'd strain the crushed blueberries to reduce the seeds in the sauce, which not everybody liked. Soaked some more wakame to hydrate it and added it to a side of brown + wild rice to complement the dried Wakame garnish. Simple, fast, beautiful and delicious!

I've been doing salmon with blueberries since I lived in Oregon for 7 years and discovered the glory of fresh salmon. I use a Mark Bittman recipe from his fish cookbook -- salmon in a hot cast iron skillet with lots of butter and into the oven at 475 for a couple minutes. When I flip the salmon, I also dump a pint or more of blueberries for the last couple of minutes of cooking. If I've thought ahead, I let the blueberries sit for several hours in a lemon zest and berry liqueur. Divine!

The color combo looks beautiful on the plate. However, I found the room temp/cold berries a little jarring on the hot salmon. Next time I will warm them up. It might also soften the whole berries, which would be an added benefit in my mind.

I live in Japan, where wakame is generally not sold dried, but fresh, and this recipe seems to be calling for fresh wakame. If you are using dried wakame, I think reconstituting it would definitely be called for.

You will want to rehydrate the wakame seaweed for about 5 minutes before adding it. Wakame is also known as Alaria and you can find it in some retail stores as well as on Amazon. Ocean's Balance and Maine Coast Sea Vegetables are a couple of brands that sell wakame harvested in Maine rather than China where most seaweed is harvested and imported from.

I should admit that most of us do our very best to eat all those rotten Burbank breed blackberries- but we're just doing our part for the sake of our ecology, of course.

Amazing, simple and quick! High quality sockeye salmon seared on the flesh side made the texture perfect.This was an impromptu meal so I used what I had on hand. I freeze organic berries so I put blackberries in a saucepan on low heat to thaw and warm while the fish was cooking. The seaweed I had on hand was Sea Salt Premium Roasted Seaweed. I have no idea what type it was, but it balanced well with the berries. This would be perfect for a dinner party - beautiful colorful presentation!

I think it would be good with whatever kinds of berries you like. It was perfect with the blackberries, but I may try other berries next time, and I'm confident the dish will be equally delicious.

The suggestion that the plant blackberries is a nasty one is correct, but the berries themselves are wonderful and perfect for this dish. Salmonberries are tasteless, and salal berries have a very tough peel and are mostly seed. Bravo to the cook who paired these items. Delicious and beautiful also.