Greek Salmon

I could've sworn I posted this already but I'm not seeing it so unfortunately (or fortunately if you like salmon), I'll be posting two salmon dishes back to back.  I found some Scottish salmon at a local specialty store that I frequent and hadn't had salmon in awhile so I picked up a package of it.  I tend to only get fresh Alaskan salmon but the filets looked so good, I thought I'd try.  Plus, the lady next to me picking some up as well said that she eats it every week so I figured it couldn't be too bad.  Turns out, I loved it!  But back to the store.  Once I'd plunked the fish into my basket, I had to think on how I was going to cook it.  I've been hooked on arugula lately and my favorite thing to go with arugula is pasta.  I wanted something a bit on the lighter side however so I was thinking greek style.  I grabbed some feta cheese, a jar of capers, the arugula of course, and a jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil.  When I got home, I pulled out the black olives, some fresh herbs (dill, parsley, and thyme), a jar of greek dressing and some orzo pasta.

I got the things going that needed to be cooked - orzo and fish.  That means I put some water in a pot with about a tablespoon or two of salt and turned the heat on high.  I also got a deep, flat bottomed pan and put about a tablespoon of olive oil in it and set it on med heat.  I unwrapped the fish, cut it in half lengthwise and sprinkled with some mango-curry salt.  If you don't have mango-curry salt, you can either just use salt or salt and just a touch of curry powder.  Curry powder goes a long way so just a little dab'll do ya!  Once the oil was swirly looking, I put the fish in the pan - fish side down (not skin side down).  When the water for the orzo got to boiling, I put about two fistfuls of pasta in the pot.

Now to the chopping and dicing.  While everything is sizzling and boiling, chop the arugula into just a bit smaller dice.  I use about two fistfulls for two people.  Stack it up as high as you can get it and run your knife through it about 2 or 3 times.  That should be good.  Set aside.

If you don't have already sliced black olives, slice some up and set aside.  My jar of sun-dried tomatoes are julienned so I cut them into chunks.  No precision needed here - just chop 'em up.  Then chop the herbs into a tiny dice.

By now, the fish should be cooked about half way so flip em to the skin side.  Check the pasta.  If done, drain the water off.  Dump in all of the chopped items into the pasta pan with the pasta and give it a stir.  Add about a tablespoon of the capers with the liquid.  Crumble in the feta.  Add about two tablespoons of the greek dressing and give another stir.  Give a sprinkle of pepper.  Before grabbing the salt shaker, take a taste.  There's lots of already salty items in there so you may find you only need the pepper.

Poke the fish.  They should give just a little.  You don't want it to be firm but just a little soft.  Once you're at that point, put the orzo on a plate and top with the fish.

I've found that the scottish salmon is a bit fattier than Alaskan salmon so it has a very buttery soft consistency and a wonderful taste and texture.  Just love it.