Salmon with Blackberry, Ginger & Lime Sauce with Dill Garlic Butter
It is often said that ingredients from the same region naturally go well together. Such is definitely the case with salmon and blackberries. In this recipe, we season fresh salmon filets with salt and white pepper, then drizzle with olive oil and either grill or oven roast. When ready to serve, we drizzle with a rich and savory blackberry sauce that has been infused with fresh lime and ginger, and add a nice scoop of Garlic Dill Compound Butter….just think about that melting all over the salmon OH MY! Grab a napkin!!
Ingredients
- FOR THE SALMON
- 1 fresh filet of salmon preferably wild (1-2 pounds)
- Olive oil salt & pepper
- FOR THE DILL & GARLIC COMPOUND BUTTTER
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 clove garlic pressed
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill leaves chopped finely
- FOR THE BLACKBERRY GINGER & LIME SAUCE
- 4 cups fresh blackberries
- ¼ cup granulated sugar NOTE: depending on the variety of blackberry you use, you may want more or even less sugar. Late season blackberries are pretty sweet, so go easy on it at first. You can always all more later.
- 1- cup water
- Juice and zest of one lime
- 2 teaspoons – 1-tablespoon fresh grated ginger NOTE: Peel the ginger first – using a spoon to peel off the skin is the easiest way I’ve found. Then you can either use a cheese grater or a microplane grater to do the grating stuff.
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Some honey granulated sugar, or agave – optional: just in case you need to sweeten up your sauce.
Instructions
- FOR THE SALMON
- Cut the salmon filet into 1 ½ - 2 inch wide smaller filets (depending on the appetites of those you are feeding)
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and white pepper (I just say white pepper because I don’t like seeing black flakes of pepper on stuff, but feel free to use black pepper if you don’t have my same aversion).
- Either grill on medium-high heat or oven roast at 350 degrees until the fish is just done. Here’s a trick a friend taught me: Slide a spatula under the filet and lift up gently. If it begins to look like it’s going to flake on top, STOP RIGHT THERE and put that fish down!! Your fish is done and you haven’t chopped it up with a knife or fork trying to figure it out.
- FOR THE DILL & GARLIC COMPOUND BUTTTER
- This is an easy one: Just combine all of the ingredients together. I usually kind of whip it up with a fork to make it kind of fluffy, but that’s pretty much it.
- FOR THE BLACKBERRY, GINGER & LIME SAUCE
- Place blackberries, sugar, and water in a medium sized sauce pan.
- Simmer for about 15 minutes or until berries break down.
- Stir in the lime juice and zest, and the ginger. Let everything sit there together for about 15 minutes, so the lime and ginger get infused into the berries.
- After 15 minute or so, press berry mixture through a fine sieve, removing all the seeds., zest and ginger parts.
- Return to medium heat, add butter and simmer gently until thickness you prefer. (NOTE: depending on the variety of blackberry you use, the mixture will thicken at different rates of speed. It might take 10 minutes, it might take 5, or it might take 15. Please do not stray too far from the reducing liquid, however. I looked away for a little too long on my first batch and it reduced so much it was stuck to the bottom of the pan, which was unfortunate.
- When the sauce is reduced as much as you want, or maybe even a little before, remove from heat and refrigerate if you have time. The sauce will continue to set up in the refrigerator, so you might need to thin it with some juice or water (or wine) if that happens.
- TO SERVE
- Remove salmon from grill or oven (hopefully your sauce and butter are at the ready)
- Drizzle with sauce, add a scoop of compound butter, and savor this thing. xoxoxo
