I’ll be honest. The real star of this salmon dish is the green olive and almond tapenade. No offense to the salmon, which is sublime as always. But, frankly, this tapenade is positively addictive, adding salty, briny brightness and crunch to the buttery salmon. So, if possible, make a double batch of the tapenade. Then you will have extra to smear on a slice of bread or swipe a carrot stick through. You might even find yourself eating it straight up from a bowl with a spoon. I’m speaking from experience.
Roasted Salmon with Green Olive Tapenade
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: about 40 minutes
Serves 4; makes about 1 1/2 cups tapenade
Tapenade:
12 ounces pitted green olives
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
2 anchovies, drained
1 large garlic clove
2 teaspoons capers
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salmon:
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets, pin bones removed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for garnish
Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus 4 lemon wedges for serving
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Make the tapenade: Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process to a coarse paste, without letting it get mushy. (The tapenade may be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.)
2. Heat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the salmon in one layer in a roasting pan, skin side down. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and the lemon juice. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until the salmon is just cooked through the center, about 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the filets.
3. Transfer to serving plates and top each filet with about 2 tablespoons of the tapenade. Serve with a lemon wedge.
Marvelous! That tapenade looks delicious. What a beautiful color and combination of flavors.
Cheers,
Rosa
Love this, as neither of us are ripe olive fans. My mouth is watering…LOL that you put the lovely salmon in the background to highlight the “star” here!
That tapenade looks amazing.
I don’t have a good green olive tapinade recipe yet, Lynda and this one looks like it would total fit the bill for us. I love the use of almonds instead of pine nuts (did you notice how the price of pine nuts went from marginally nutty to absolutely ridiculous in the last five years?). Bookmarked for sure.
This sounds wonderful! It would be an instant hit around here. In fact, maybe it will be next week’s fish dinner. 🙂
I bet that this would make about anything taste great. Thanks again for the inspiration.
Oh my goodness. I would love this for dinner!
Lynda this is gorgeous…I am so crazy for tapenade! ps I just posted a roasted salmon today, too. pps (or is it pss?) I have the same green/white napkin 🙂
I think I know what you mean, for me. the sauce or topping is often more of a star for many dishes than the main ingredient itself. It’s more like the salmon is the stage here for the flavours of the tapenade to dance on. YUM!
This sounds so good!
I love the sound of this! What an easy and elegant tapenade to pull together before a party, and I bet delicious on top of salmon! Thanks for sharing.
Gorgeous photo! It sounds wonderful.
As no lover of salmon I am in this for the tapenade, and can totally see myself eating it by the spoonful, or perhaps even the jar full!
Love these flavors! This recipe is just what I need to pull me out of my rut of preparing salmon the same old way every time.
The green olive and almond tapenade must really take the salmon to a whole new level.
Gorgeous!!!
The Tapenade looks absolutely wonderful!!!
Such wonderful combination of flavors..
Wow, so good, this is a great recipe and the photo is stunning.
I’ve never made an olive tapenade with green olives- it looks delicious! And the colors in the dish are lovely.
Waw great !! Done it and it’s a killer
I was a bit concerned at first while doing the tapenade, I thought it tasted a bit strong and so I put a bit of olive oil, lemon juice and half a teaspoon of sugar. (maybe because of the quality of the anchovies, not sure)
But then when it went into my mouth with the salmon, it all came together and the flavors were perfect !
little bonus, I felt like putting a few drops of balsamic vinegar on the bottom of the plate before putting the salmon in and it gives an extra kick from time to time, love it !!