Roasted Salmon with Lemon, Apple and Cannellini Beans

Chinook Salmon

By Cat, Sept 2016 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

I love fish – especially salmon – but don’t eat beans often as they don’t always agree with me. However, when they are part of side dish so that I don’t eat a whole lot of them, as in this recipe, I do enjoy the flavor. Plus the inclusion of apple and lemon in the mix appeals to me. I have a McIntosh apple tree and they are almost ripe, so I will test this recipe soon.

The recipe is fairly quick to prepare, especially if you use canned beans – or better yet, you’ve sprouted then precooked and frozen some for future use.

See also: 1. Fish and Seafood Menu; 2. Basic Cooked, Dried Beans & Peas; 3. Beans & Other Legumes: Soaking & Sprouting

Salmon Roasted with Lemon, Apple and Cannellini Beans

This recipe is adapted from one in Good Housekeeping magazine, October 2007 (1). Not counting preparing your own beans from scratch, this is a very quick meal, about 15 minutes. I’ve adapted this to serve 2.

If you sprout or at least presoak dried beans overnight, they cook faster and are far more nutritious than commercially canned beans.

Ingredients & Equipment

• 1 lemon (for 1 tsp zest and 1 Tbsp juice)
• 2 pieces salmon fillet with skin (6 oz each)
• unrefined sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper
• ½ Tbsp olive oil
• ½ small onion
• ½ lb. McIntosh apples
• 1¾ cups (or one-half of 15 oz can) cooked cannellini or white kidney beans
• ¼ tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 Tbsp water
• Equipment:
• 8″ square or similar sized glass/ceramic baking dish
• 2 quart saucepan

Method

1. If cooking your own beans, start sprouting 2 – 3 days ahead, or presoak overnight. See Soaking & Sprouting Beans & Other Legumes for details. Then cook them until just done; see Basic Cooked, Dried Beans & Peas for details.
2. Day of serving: Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter or oil baking dish.
3. Prep: Grate 1 tsp lemon zest and 1 Tbsp lemon juice, and combine in small bowl. Core and chop apples, and chop onion, setting them aside separately.
4. Arrange salmon in prepared dish, skin side down. Sprinkle with half the zest and juice, salt, and black pepper. Roast salmon, without turning over, 15 minutes or just until opaque throughout.
5. Apple and Bean side: Meanwhile, heat oil in saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add onion and cook 3 – 4 minutes or until onion begins to soften. Add apples and cook 3 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
6.  Mash ¼ cup of the cooked/canned beans with fork on a small plate; then stir mashed and whole beans along with rosemary, water and remaining lemon zest/juice into the apple mixture, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Cook 4 to 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
7. Serve beans with salmon.

References:

1. Good Housekeeping recipe: goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a6943/salmon-lemon-white-beans-ghk1007