This recipe for pistachio-crusted salmon is one of the first recipes I came up with on my own. I've made a few improvements since the first time I made it, of course, but it's still very simple. The pistachio topping has just three ingredients: pistachios, honey, and Dijon mustard.
You can even make this classy dish without fancy kitchen equipment! For the first few years that I was making it, I had to get creative to grind the pistachios—normally, I put them in a plastic bag and beat them with a hammer . . . yep, the same hammer I used for making repairs around the apartment. It wasn't efficient or elegant, but it worked. If you're in the same boat I was and don't have a food processor, you could do something similar. I'd recommend using a can or rolling pin to crush them instead, though (more surface area).
Grinding the nuts is the hardest part of making this recipe (not bad, right?). After that, all you have to do is mix the ingredients together and smear them on top of the salmon. It's actually pretty fool-proof (and extremely difficult to completely ruin—I can prove it).
When I first moved to Boston, we decided to make this for one of our first meals in the new apartment. When I got to the last step where you leave it under the broiler for a few minutes, well, I might have forgotten about it for a few minutes too long. The nuts on top got burnt, started smoking, and set off the fire alarm in the entire building (there's a silver lining, I promise!). Once the smoke finally cleared, the salmon obviously looked ruined. After scraping off the top layer of nuts, it turned out that the salmon was perfectly cooked! Magic! The nuts form a somewhat protective layer on the salmon that prevents it from getting too hot too fast, so you don't need to be super worried about overcooking it (which is pretty much the cardinal sin when cooking salmon—dry salmon is no good).
I really, really, really don't recommend making my mistake. It's embarrassing and you waste a lot of pistachios, which are kind of pricey. Depending on where you live, the fire department may also show up to your dinner party. The timing for the recipe below should leave you with well-done (but not over-cooked) salmon, which is the way a lot of people prefer it. If you'd prefer medium to medium-well salmon, just take about 3 minutes off the cook time. Enjoy!
Pistachio-Crusted Salmon
Makes: 2 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 mintues
Two 8-oz salmon fillets
4 oz shelled pistachios
⅜ cup honey
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt
Finely-ground white pepper
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Coarsely grind pistachios in a food processor (or by putting them in a bag and smacking them with something heavy).
3. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the pistachios, honey, and Dijon mustard.
4. Place the salmon fillets on a well-greased baking sheet and season with salt and white pepper. Use an old baking sheet—some of the pistachio topping will leak off of the salmon during cooking and can be hard to clean up.
5. Spread the pistachio mixture uniformly on top of the salmon, then roast for 20 minutes.
6. Turn the oven broiler on and cook until the pistachio mixture starts to darken (about 3 minutes). Serve immediately.