Friday, October 24, 2008

Salmon in Basil Cream Sauce


If there is one fish that I know nobody doesn't like, it's salmon. I've never tasted fresh salmon until I studied in Manila. The only pink salmon that found its way on our dinner table in Iloilo was the canned kind. I'm not sure if it was because salmon was not available, or our kind helpers at home didn't know where to buy. In any case, the canned salmon became a personal favorite. So when I got introduced to the fresh kind in college, you can imagine the euphoria that I felt. It was like finding oasis in a desert after one hundred years of dehydration.

Salmon these days is abundantly available in supermarkets, although still a little bit expensive. There's the belly kind that Pogiji and I so so love, and there's the more pricey sliced kind. Like all yummy but not-so-cheap goodies, we treat ourselves to a small portion once in a while.

Here is a fast and delicious way to cook salmon that will surely make you and your dinner guests happy (not to mention make you look like a cooking pro). The secret to this recipe is to use fresh herbs, the dried bottled kind will not produce the same effect.

Salmon in Basil Cream Sauce

Melt unsalted butter in a large skillet. Cook the salmon on each side until tender, but juicy. Remove fish and add garlic and onions to the butter. Sautee. Add calamansi soda (or Sprite with lemon/calamansi), cream, chopped basil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

16 comments:

vicki said...

you can get a whole lot of Salmon in Farmer's. Yummmmmmmmmmmy recipe! I wanna try it. =)

Mai da Paypay said...

vicki - I didn't know! for a person claiming to be an okay cook, i haven't been to farmers (i know, i know sigh). we usually get our seafood from a's mom who always travels to gensan so we get cheap (most of the time free) seafood delivered to our doorstep. but i am checking out farmers soon. thank you for the tip!

xc said...

greg doesn't like salmon even if the way his mom cooks it is suuuppper sarap with somekinda butter cream sauce.

Mai da Paypay said...

xc - okay, my theory just went down the drain. haha.

Anonymous said...

very cheap that salmon is--- in gensan city...where else? hehe

ms firefly said...

i love salmon too, and because of it, kj has become a fish convert. he never eats fish before, partly because, he feels for the fish. whew. anyways, this is one simple recipe, and i wouldn't have thought about it myself, so big thanks! i'm off to copy again.

Mai da Paypay said...

sheng - i swear i'm packing my bags now because i'm flying to gensan. haha.

odette - salmon has a super yummy distinctive flavor talaga ano na different. basta masarap. and best of all, it's rich in omega-3!

Anonymous said...

We still have some salmon left from your other recipe. I have this feeling I'm going to like this.

Anonymous said...

Oh my I love salmon...
The pic looks so heavenly yet the recipe is so easy ha!

Galing mo talaga...thanks for sharing :)

Mai da Paypay said...

rico - it's really good! try it!

jeanny - thank you again! :-)

The Girl With A Curl said...

Salmon already tastes like butter, and cooked in butter, I feel like this just may be one of those dishes you ask for as a "last meal." Hehe!

Mai da Paypay said...

girlwithacurl - haha! isn't salmon supposed to be good for the heart? :-)

kiah said...

I LOVE salmon, especially the sockeye variety. What kind of cream did you use? heavy? whipped? i definitely will try this recipe.

Mai da Paypay said...

kiah - i'm not sure if you can consider nestle cream heavy haha :-)

kiah said...

mai- thanks. i'll use table cream :-)

i am addicted to your blog! the foodie in me is demanding you to post 5 recipes/day! i'm kidding. but tomorrow, i'm making this salmon dish as well as one of your salad dishes as a side item.

Mai da Paypay said...

ki - so that's how it's called! hee hee. thank you! and hooray for your latest update! finally!!!