Prep8 minutes
Bake12 minutes
Serves4

Ingredients

  • 4 wild-caught salmon fillets, about 6 ounces each, skin on
  • 1 packed cup fresh organic flat-leaf parsley, leaves and tender stems
  • ½ cup fresh organic dill
  • 3 cloves organic garlic
  • 3 tablespoons organic cold-pressed olive oil, plus a little for the pan
  • 1 teaspoon organic whole coriander seed, toasted and ground
  • ½ teaspoon organic whole fennel seed, toasted and ground
  • 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
  • Organic freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a sheet pan and brush it with a little oil.
  2. Toast the coriander and fennel in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking often, until you can smell them, about 90 seconds. Grind them while they are still warm.
  3. Pile the parsley, dill, and garlic on a board and chop everything together until it is fine and uniform. Scrape it into a bowl and stir in the olive oil, ground spice, salt, and several turns of pepper. It should look like a loose green paste.
  4. Pat the salmon dry and set it skin down on the pan. Season lightly with salt, then press the herb mixture over the top of each fillet in a thick, even layer. Use all of it.
  5. Bake 10 to 14 minutes depending on thickness. It is done when the thickest part just flakes when you press it and the center is still deeply colored.
  6. Serve immediately, straight from the pan.

Notes from my kitchen

Wild salmon cooks fast. It is leaner than farmed, so start checking at ten minutes.

Toast the spice. Ninety seconds in a dry pan is the difference between an herb crust that tastes green and one that tastes finished. Coriander in particular goes from dusty to citrusy, which is where the brightness comes from without any acid in the dish.

Do not make the paste in advance. Chopped parsley and dill go dull and dark within a few hours. Chop it while the oven heats.

Leftovers. One of the better lunches in this house is cold salmon broken over a bowl of crisp greens and sliced cucumber, with a spoonful of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and more fresh dill.

What to serve with it

  • Grilled vegetables made earlier in the week, warmed in a hot pan
  • Cucumbers and thinly sliced sweet onion with olive oil and salt
  • Creamy mashed potatoes, so the herb crust is clearly the point
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