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Salmon With Crushed Blackberries and Seaweed
![Salmon With Crushed Blackberries and Seaweed](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/07/12/dining/04NativeAmericanrex7/04NativeAmericanrex7-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2cups fresh blackberries
- Coarse sea salt
- 4(5- to 6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets, preferably wild-caught sockeye salmon
- 3tablespoons sunflower oil, plus more as needed
- 2 to 3tablespoons dried wakame seaweed
- Fresh chive stems, for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, crush half the blackberries using the back of a fork. Add the remaining whole blackberries, stir to coat and season to taste with salt; set aside.
- Step 2
Pat salmon fillets dry with a paper towel. Season with salt on both sides.
- Step 3
Heat a large, heavy sauté pan or cast-iron skillet over high. When the pan is hot, add 3 tablespoons oil and carefully swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil begins to shimmer, working in batches if necessary, place the fillets in the pan, flesh-side down, and sear until the salmon picks up some color and releases easily from the pan, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the fish, reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until cooked through, about 2 minutes more, depending on the thickness of the salmon.
- Step 4
Transfer the fillets from the pan to a warm plate and tent with foil until all fillets are cooked, making sure to get any of the salmon skin that may stick to the pan. (If you’re cooking your fillets in multiple batches, you’ll want to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil to the skillet before pan-searing the second batch.)
- Step 5
Divide the salmon among plates, serving it skin-side up. Top with the blackberries, then garnish each plate with the seaweed and a few chive stems.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
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.
This is my absolute favorite recipe and one I have made more than any other! It is so quick, easy, delicious, healthy, and a beautiful presentation. It is easily adaptable with different types of seaweed, berries, and salmon. I heat and smash the berries. The berries can be elevated with a tablespoon or two of red wine and / or high quality balsamic vinegar. Great with sesame seeds added on top of the seaweed, then chives on top. Highly recommend!
Just some botanical nit-picking here from a cranky old lifelong gardener. That would be chive leaves-or just simply chives. The only stems on the plant bear the flowers in late spring. These are always removed as they are stiff and tough and moreover, if left on the plant with the ripening seed heads, will cause the entire plant to go dormant until next spring.
Instead of seaweeed, i served with simple green salad dressed with an anchovy vinagrette and coconut rice. Terrific
I love this recipe and get an enthusiastic response whenever I make it. The blackberries may be a nasty vine, but they are inspired with the wakame and scallions.
i cannot make fish without acid so i added some balsamic vinegar to blackberries and added them right into pan at end for 30 sec or so. i didn’t have seaweed so just salted a lot with sea salt. really delicious.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using Himalayan blackberries in this dish. That’s like saying Hawaiian dishes should not contain pineapple, because it’s a non-native species. The majority of iconic Hawaiian crops are non-native species, for better or worse (dating back to migrant Polynesians bringing plant species across the Pacific, to Hawaii). I’m a PNW lifer (born and bred here), and why not use this long time fruit, which is a delicious, albeit invasive, staple?
Wakame's close cousin, Alaria Marginata (aka wing kelp) can be harvested here in the Pacific Northwest with a seaweed license. Trailing blackberries are also native to the area. We used both when making this dish and it was lovely!
Loved this! I used way more wakame than instructed, turned out great.
This is beautiful! Sweet, salty, umami, and just a bit tart. Loved it!
I actually made a sort of “blackberry sauce” by adding to a saucepan with some salt and about a teaspoon of sugar, crushing half the berries, and heating. It was both sweet and savory and complimented the salmon beautifully.
This made the perfect dinner. The salmon melted in the mouth, and the combination of the sweet-salty berries and seaweed was heavenly.
Salmon are nearly extinct in the Columbia River system-only a few hatchery fish with multiple radio tags in each one...sad. Much better wild-bred Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan these days, where much natural reproduction occurs and only 25% of the salmon are hatchery fish. The salmon available for purchase in Portland is the exact same sockeye flown in from Alaska to everywhere in the US. Don't think you need this somehow "local" Portland salmon to make this dish.
I liked the seaweed better when reconstituted. Can’t speak to the native aspects as we are in Colorado, but I loved this combination and would happily make it again.
This was the best salmon recipe!!! So easy and delicious. It was all about the cast iron skillet and the sunflower oil. Awesome!
Could not be bothered with seaweed. I added a little blackberry vinegar (I am sure Balsamic would work). Turned out fantastic! Served with roasted cauliflower & broccoli.
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