The {Perfect} Salmon Dinner Salad
”All right! Stop whatcha doin'..."
And go ahead and tap that little bookmark right there and save this recipe! This is one of our many #restaurantrecreations that I upgraded with a perfectly cooked piece of salmon and some @tessemaes creamy ranch dressing. I initially tried the house salad at @thirstymonk south and loved the simplicity and balance, and just knew with the salmon and creamy ranch addition it would make the most delicious entree salad. Tessemae's Creamy Ranch is the absolute perfect dressing for this too...the dill flavor ties all of the simple ingredients together...this dressing and these ingredients are a match made in heaven!
Ingredients:
arugula
dried cranberries
walnuts
salmon
How to get perfectly cooked salmon every time:
Dry your fish with a paper towel and lightly salt&pepper the fish. Heat a cast iron skillet on high and add avocado oil just before adding the salmon, skin side up. Give it a little shake so it doesn’t stick and then leave it alone to brown. The time here will depend on the thickness of your salmon, but about 3 minutes is a good time to flip (you can see the cook of the fish move up from the skillet, once it gets about halfway up the side of the fish, it is time to flip). Flip the salmon, (skin side down), turned off the heat, and cover with the skillet and let it steam until done, about another 3 minutes (I do not cook my salmon well done, so adjust according to your preference). Timing is going to depend on the thickness of your fish.
If you don't have Tessemae's Creamy Ranch:
Bummer! 😉 The dill is what defines this particular ranch, so I would either add fresh dill to the salad or mix in some dried dill weed to whatever ranch you are using. A simple dill vinaigrette would be nice too!
Leftovers?
Turn your salmon leftovers into a delicious cold salmon salad (make it like a tuna salad). Use the dressing instead of mayo (not as much though) and add in the chopped walnuts, dried cranberries and chopped pickled onions. Serve over bed of arugula or open-faced on a delicious piece of toasted bread (imo, this deserves something special, not grocery store wonder bread) or a decadent croissant.