Tuscan salmon is a buttery cream sauce salmon, fragrant with Italian spices. I always more chili flakes in this recipe to give it more of a kick. 

How do you prepare salmon?

If you’re a vegetarian like me, and you have never cooked salmon in your life and not able to taste it, this is a fool-proof method of preparing and cooking salmon:

• Remove the salmon from the packet, and wash the fillet in cold water to remove any of the slime/sticky fluid
• Place the fillet in a bowl, and rub a thick slice of lemon over the top and bottom of the fillet
• If you are very sensitive to the smell, you can squeeze the lemon over the fillet so the juice helps mask the smell
• I love adding grated garlic (roughly 2 cloves) and a bit of ginger (1/2 a tsp) to to marinate
• Cover the bowl and set aside

How do you cook salmon?

• Salmon is super easy to cook as it takes a maximum of 20 minutes on medium-high flame 
• I always cook the salmon skin down, and then wait for the entire fillet to cook before turning it over and cooking the top for that extra glaze. 
• The skin is easier to pull off once cooked, you can peel this off when you flip sides when cooking
• As soon as you see the fillet flaking, your salmon is ready

Recipe for Creamy Buttery Tuscan Salmon

Ingredients:

• 1 large salmon fillet
• 5 basil leaves, chopped
• 3/4 cup cooking cream
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
• 1.5 tsps of Thyme
• 1 tsp oregano
• Red chilli flakes
• Lemon
• 1 cup of spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup of chopped brown button mushrooms

Method:

1. Wash the salmon fillet in cold water, and salt and add some lemon to season. Set aside
2. Heat a large frying pan on medium to high heat, add the butter
3. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and let it sizzle until it is fragrant and light brown
4. Sprinkle a few red chilli flakes onto this mixture for a bit of spice.
5. Add the spinach and mushroom. Stir it all in for a few minutes until the water from the vegetables evaporate
6. Add the basil, thyme and oregano. Stir for a few more minutes.
7. Add the cream. Stir it in for a few minutes more to blend all the spice,, and to thicken the sauce a little bit. If you’d like a thicker consistency, add a tsp of flour.
8. Add the fillet to the pan, along with the lemon juice that it marinated in.
9. Fully cover the fillet with the sauce mixture in the pan, and steam it up by covering the pan with the lid. Let it cook for about 5-7 minutes.
10. To check if it’s done, the salmon will look like it’s tearing apart, and it will be light pink in colour. If the salmon tears apart easily, you’re good to go.
11. Garnish with more chilli flakes and a dash of lemon!