Apr 04 2009
Herbed Cheese Stuffed Salmom
This wonderful herbed cheese stuffed salmon recipe is a departure from our usual seafood simplicity plan. But’s a perfect cooler season seafood dish where you want something a little heartier. Thanks to Better Homes & Garden for the recipe.
We do a lot of seafood, but generally stick with simplicity – grilled, broiled or baked with olive oil and lemon, that’s it. This was a departure for us, but well worth it.
We’ve used Boursin for the soft cheese, which has worked well. One of the keys, we’ve determined, is to be a bit lighter on the cheese to avoid getting it too rich. The real highlight for us has been the breading.
This is a great cooler season salmon recipe and will be a staple offering on our dinner party menu rotation. We’ve served with rice and a vegetable, either asparagus or carrots.
Ingredients
- 6-oz. fresh or frozen skinless salmon fillets – pretty important to get fillet with at least the meatier end about an inch thick
- 1 lemon – we use two, one to grate the peel and another to cut and serve
- 1 5.2-oz. container semisoft cheese with garlic and herbs – we use herbed light Boursin 5.2-oz. containers
- Sea salt or salt
- 1 cup soft bread crumbs (about 1-1/2 slices) or pre-processed box or canned crumbs
- 1/3 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (1-1/2 oz.) – higher qualify Parmesan Reggiano makes a huge difference
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted
Directions
Chef Notes
I’ve generally found the cooking time of 14 minutes to be just a touch long in our Wolf gas oven using convection bake – 12 minutes has been better. That may be a function of the convection, so adjust to your oven.
Really try to get thicker salmon, an inch or a bit more at thickest point. Just do a half-inch cut a few inches long and put just a little cheese inside. For six to eight pieces, we DO NOT use all of the Boursin cheese.
What do do with the extra Boursin cheese? Get some of the cheap grocery store mushrooms. Pull the stems and dice finely dice. Mix with a little of the cheese mix. Coat the mushroom caps with a little olive oil. Stuff the cheese and mushroom mix back into the mushroom caps. Bake for about five minutes. Serve as an appetizer.