Seared Salmon and Tomato Butter Dill Sauce

This was Fish Night this week. I was looking for salmon and a lemon/dill-type something. But I found this Tomato Butter Dill Sauce instead and it looked good. So all I had to do was find something interesting to do with the salmon and found this Seared Salmon Fillet recipe. Both came from Food Network. I usually start my recipe searches on Food Network and usually find something there, so that’s where it seems that most of my recipes come from.

The searing part of the salmon burned the skin but you don’t eat that anyways. The recipe says “high” heat and “nonstick pan” and “about seven minutes” so that’s what I did. Though it probably should have been closer to 4-5 minutes on the seared side. Then the 3 minutes on the flip side. The only real problem with searing was smoking up the kitchen. The fish itself turned out cooked through, rather than the barely pink center, but it wasn’t overcooked and was still moist and tender.

The tomato dill sauce tasted great with it! It was less saucy and more like warm, diced tomatoes with dill. Because it was just warmed through, the tomatoes kept their fruity flavor and the fresh dill was great. Served it as white rice on the bottom, topped with the seared fish, and topped with the tomato dill sauce.

Verdict – pretty good, but there have been other salmon recipes that I like better. The big HOWEVER here was that it was very easy to make and very quick to cook (the rice takes the longest).

Seared Salmon Fillet
Recipe courtesy Robert Bleifer
Show: Sara's Secrets

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skin on
Salt and pepper
Dill fronds, for garnish
Lemon slices, for garnish

Heat a large non-stick pan over high with olive oil. Liberally season salmon with salt and pepper. Place skin side down in pan and reduce heat to medium-low. Do not move fillets. Allow to cook about 7 minutes or until well browned and cooked about three quarters of the way through. Turn fillets and cook about 3 minutes more, or until still just barely pink in the center. Serve immediately, with the skin side up.


Tomato Butter Dill Sauce
Courtesy of Michele Urvater

2 tablespoons butter
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced dill fronds

Heat butter until golden, saute tomatoes just to warm; add dill off heat, season with salt and pepper. To assemble hot meal: Place a bed of rice on a plate; top with salmon steak and spoon any steaming juices over salmon. Garnish with warm tomato sauce.