I commercial fished for several years. Something about wading in fish slim day after day made me detest salmon. I can stand it smoked, canned and on rare occasions, as a meal depending on the recipe. Last night I whipped up a dish that was pretty good. Good enough to write down share……..

A buddy of mine dropped off a couple fillets yesterday. He just got back from dip netting in the Copper River, so the Red Salmon Fillets were about six hours from being alive and swimming up the river. I’m pretty sure this recipe will go with any salmon, regardless of how fresh it is (within reason, four year old frozen crap should go to the neighbor’s dog that barks all night)

Place the fillets on aluminum foil. You will be cooking them in the oven or grill, totally encapsulated with the foil, so size it accordingly.

Liberally sprinkle fillets with salt, pepper and dill (preferably fresh dill, but dry will work too).

Slice two lemons and two sweat onions. Place the slices on the fillets, then rap the fillets in the foil. You will be saving the juices, so make sure the foil is wrapped in a manor to contain the juices.

Cook until the fillets are “almost” done. It will take a few minutes to prepare the sauce, so the fillets will continue to cook on their own in the foil while you make the sauce. Most people overcook fish. To cook fish properly, you want the flakes to separate when gently pressing on the fillet with a fork. If you over cook them, they will not flake. Undercooked is when you have to twist the fork to get the fish to flake. You want these cooked to the point where they “almost” flake with gentle pressure.

Pour off the juices through a strainer into a sauce pan. Cook the juices over low-med heat for a few minutes to reduce the juices some. When the juices start to thicken (it will not be much), whisk in low fat plane yogurt. Keep mixing in the yogurt until you can taste the yogurt along with the lemon. Add some more dill. Add some sugar and cayenne to taste. It should be spicy sweet, but neither real sweat or real spicy – just enough.

Plate the fillets and pour sauce over the fish and onions. Remove the lemon slices, or not…

With the fish, I made some cous cous with lemon zest and roasted pine nuts.

Pair with a New Zealand Sav Blanc. The Sav Blanc goes extremely well with this dish.

This was probably the best salmon dish I’ve ever had. (keep in mind that I don’t even like salmon).