Posted on

Thai Influenced Tomato-Basil-Coconut Salmon

Often baked or broiled, salmon can get a little been there-done that. Sometimes salmon needs just a little extra, a saucy swim in the deep end of a delicious red pool, a sun-kissed browning under a broiler sun. Sometimes salmon wants to let loose and get saucy!

Ingredients:
2-3 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
1 med/large yellow onion, finely diced (shallots are also great here too!)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
2 tbsp or more (a nob) of ginger, peeled, and minced or grated
1 can of coconut milk or coconut cream
1 jar Due Cellucci Tomato Basil Sauce
3-4 Salmon fillets (about 4-6 oz. each)
2 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves (save some for garnish)
Salt & pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
1-2 teaspoons of lime juice (save some wedges for garnish)

Preparation:
1. Sauté the diced onion in the coconut oil on a medium flame, to a soft translucent brown, about 5-8 minutes. Choose a large saucepan that can also transfer to the oven and fit all your fillets.

2. Add the minced garlic and ginger. Sauté for another 1-2 minutes. *Note: we also like to add a little more garlic and ginger toward the end, just before transferring to oven broil. Aromatics lend an additional impactful brightness at the end of a simmer.

3. Reduce flame to low, add the jar of Due Cellucci Tomato Basil Sauce, being careful that pan is not too hot or it will sizzle and splatter.

4. Add the entire can of coconut milk. Stir well and simmer the combined sauce for a while – about 5-10 minutes, on a low flame. You want to thicken the sauce a bit. Give a few squeezes of lime and a handful of torn basil leaves. Salt & pepper to taste and some red pepper flakes to taste. Stir.

5. Lightly salt & pepper your salmon fillets (no need to remove skin). Carefully slide fillets into the sauce and place a cover over the saucepan to steam fish a little on top while they gently simmer for 2-3 minutes. You can cook salmon to your desired doneness, baring in mind that you will be finishing this dish in the oven broiler, where it will continue to cook more. *Here is where we like to add in a few more gratings of garlic and ginger to the sauce and over the tops of the salmon fillets. With a fork, gently stir the fresh aromatics into the sauce around the salmon to incorporate.

6. In the meantime, turn oven on to broil. You can also spoon a little sauce onto the tops of the salmon fillets to get a little additional color under the broiler. Transfer entire saucepan to the oven. Move oven rack to farthest position from broiler flame. The freshly grated aromatics will toast under the broiler too. Watch carefully, you don’t want to burn the tops!

7. Serve over steamed rice or pasta. Garnish with leftover torn basil leaves and squeezes of lime.