Salmon in Creamy Dijon Chive Sauce with Roasted Potatoes and Lemony Zucchini

Salmon in Creamy Dijon Chive Sauce with Roasted Potatoes and Lemony Zucchini

Salmon is one of our favorite fish and when prepared properly makes an excellent choice for a quick and easy dinner. This meal features Atlantic Salmon in a simple pan sauce accompanied by roasted potatoes and zucchini. The recipe is originally from Hello Fresh (yes, we occasionally use meal prep boxes, too!), which designs most recipes to have reasonable prep time. While not every meal we have had from these services was a favorite, we found this meal to be very good and recently made it again on our own.

Atlantic Salmon is not a common fish used in our house due to the abundance of fresh pacific coast seafood found here in Seattle. However, it works very well in this meal and, when raised responsibly (like all fish), can be a good protein choice in your meal. We managed to find a nice piece of fresh, farmed-raised Atlantic Salmon at the grocery store this past week and put it to use in this meal.

The rest of the meal is straightforward: cut up some Yukon Gold potatoes and zucchini and roast on a single pan in the oven. The zucchini is finished with a little lemon zest, tying its flavor together with the salmon's sauce.

Ingredients

• 10 oz Atlantic Salmon (fresh if possible), cut into two equal pieces
• 12 oz Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 Zucchini
• 1 Lemon
• 4 Tbsp Sour Cream
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• ¼ oz fresh chives (or green part of 1 green onion)
• ¼ cup water
• [optional] 1/2 tsp vegetable stock concentrate
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• Salt and pepper
• [optional] garlic powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450℉ and adjust rack to upper third of oven. Spray a sheet pan with a little cooking spray (or spread a little olive oil over it) and set aside.
2. Cut potatoes into ½" thick wedges. Trim and halve zucchini lengthwise then cut into ½" thick half-moons. Zest lemon, then cut in half. Cut one half of lemon in half again. Mince chive (or slice thin rings of green part of green onion). Juice the half of lemon into a small dish and set aside.
3. Toss potatoes with a little olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. Spread potatoes on one half of prepared baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes in oven.
4. Toss zucchini with a little olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
   
   

   

   Adding zucchini to roasting potatoes after 10 minutes

   
   
5. After potatoes have roasted for 10 minutes, remove sheet pan from oven, add zucchini to empty half of pan, and return to oven. Roast for 12-15 minutes, until potatoes and zucchini are browned.
6. When potatoes and zucchini are finished roasting, remove pan from oven and toss zucchini with lemon zest (you likely will only need about half the zest from a single lemon).
   
   

   

   Cooking salmon

   
   
7. While potatoes and zucchini roast, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and ½ Tbsp of butter in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper, then add salmon skin side down to the pan and cook until skin is crisp and fish is mostly cooked through, 5-7 minutes.
   
   

   

   Cooking salmon after flipping

   
   
8. After 5-7 minutes, flip fish and cook about 2 minutes more, or until salmon is cooked through. Salmon should flake easily when cooked.
   
   

   

   Sauce cooking (I added the green onion early, oops!)

   
   
9. Wipe out pan used to cook salmon and return to medium heat. Add stock concentrate, ¼ cup water, mustard, and juice from half the lemon. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.
   
   

   

   Sauce after incorporating sour cream and butter

   
   
10. Turn off heat and stir in sour cream, half the chives, and ½ Tbsp butter. Season with salt and pepper. Sauce should be a drizzling consistency.
    
    

    

    Finished meal!

    
    
11. Plate each portion of salmon onto a plate and then divide potatoes and zucchini between plates. Drizzle sauce over salmon and garnish with remaining chives. Squeeze a bit of lemon over the dish or serve remaining lemon wedges on the side of each plate.

Notes

• Be careful not to overcook the salmon! Cooking salmon properly takes time to learn how to do. The times above are best estimates for "standard" sized pieces of salmon (i.e., from the head end of the fillet, about 1" to 1 ¼" thick). Salmon dries out when overcooked, so if this happens, fear not (!), and next time make sure to remove from pan right when it flakes.
• The sauce is also delicious on the potatoes!