After picking up an almost-whole salmon, I challenged myself to use as much of it as possible. While I managed to avoid learning to cut up a fish by convincing them to fillet the fish for me, I did accept the offer of bagging the bones and other bits separately to take home. I wasn’t sure what I would do with them, but figured it couldn’t hurt to try. While I didn’t find any direct answers in my research, I did learn some techniques and collected some ingredient ideas. I decided to roast the salmon bits (which contained a significant amount of meat), reserve the meat, use the bones to make stock, then use the stock and meat to make risotto.
Step 1: Roast salmon
I just spread the fish pieces out on some oiled foil and brushed it with a bit of olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I roasted it at 400° for about 15 minutes.
It came out smelling delicious and I probably could have just picked it off the bones and eaten it right then and been quite happy, but I refrained and just let it cool.
Once it had cooled, I picked the flesh from the bones, which gave me about 6 oz. meat. Apparently I was not careful enough, because there were a few bones in the finished product. It wasn’t a big deal because the bones aren’t sharp and my husband and I were the only ones eating it, but next time I will have to pay more attention.
Step 2: Salmon stock
Apparently fish stock gets bitter if you cook it too long, so one can’t expect to get the same type of yield as from other meats. But I wasn’t looking to fill my freezer with salmon stock, just to make enough for risotto for two. I decided to shoot for four cups. I used some celery, garlic, onion, carrots (the baby cut carrots you see are all I had – not necessary but work fine for this), garlic parsley, thyme, white wine, a bay leaf, and some peppercorns.
I put everything in a 2 quart pot and filled it to a reasonable level with water, brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for an hour.
I removed the big pieces with a slotted spoon then strained the rest into a storage bowl. I got just under 4 cups, which worked out perfectly for my plan.
Step 3: Risotto
At this point, I was really winging it. While we generally liked how it turned out, there are a few ingredients I would want to change or add when I make this again. I really like lemon and basil with the richness of salmon, so those went in. I had a red pepper and garlic, so that went in. I went with a Vidalia onion because I had one, but I think I’d go with a yellow one next time as the sweet onion was a bit too mild. White wine, butter, and Parmigiano Reggiano, along with the arborio, are what make this risotto. I was thinking of throwing in some corn, but decided against it at the last minute. We regretted it! I think corn would have worked well with the flavors and added some nice texture and color. Next time for sure.
I melted two tablespoons of butter, sauteed onion for about 5 minutes, adding a pinch of salt.
Then I added the red pepper and sauteed another five minutes.
I added the garlic and gave it another minute.
I then poured in a cup of rice and toasted it for about four minutes.
I added a half cup of white wine.
After the wine was absorbed, I poured in about a cup and a half of the stock which had been simmering. I learned from America’s Test Kitchen that it isn’t necessary to add the stock as gradually as is traditionally thought, particularly in the beginning. So I let that simmer for about ten minutes, until it was absorbed.
At that point, I added more stock by the half cup, let it absorb, then added more, repeating in the same way until the rice reached the proper doneness.
Once the texture was right, I added the reserved cooked salmon, and the zest and juice from ¼ lemon and seasoned with salt and pepper.
Then about an ounce of grated cheese went in.
We served it with a bit more cheese. We liked it a lot and found it to be a great use of little bits of salmon. With the stronger onion and the addition of corn, I think this recipe would be one more reason to look forward to salmon season.
