Introduction: Salmon With Banana-Ginger Salsa

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About: I helped start Instructables, previously worked in biotech and academic research labs, and have a degree in biology from MIT. Currently head of Product helping young startups at Alchemist Accelerator, previous…

Caribbean flavors mix well with Salmon.

Step 1: Prep Salmon

Find a nice chunk of salmon, preferably boneless..

This one is a wild Pacific salmon fillet, about 1.6 pounds, and fits nicely in standard Pyrex baking dish.

Spray canola oil in the baking dish, drop in the clean/dry salmon, and squeeze a lemon over the top. This will marinate while you prepare the salsa. The lemon juice will cause the salmon to turn a bit whitish on top as the acid 'cooks' or denatures the top layer of proteins.

Now leave it alone and go prepare the salsa.

Step 2: Prepare Salsa

Ingredients:
several bananas, coarsely chopped. Slightly green is good.
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
handful mint, coarsely chopped
1 inch ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, grated
2 lemons, juiced
black pepper
allspice
brown sugar
salt

Optional:
grated coconut
chopped macadamia nuts
other spices
(I really like the coconut and macadamia nuts, but we're out right now.)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, stir, and taste. It should taste good enough that you'd like to eat it straight out of the bowl. The garlic, onions, and ginger flavors will mingle and soften as the salsa is cooked, so it's OK for them to be a bit strong. Add more sugar if the lemon/ginger taste isn't sufficiently balanced with enough sweet.

Warning: I adore onions and garlic, so add them last, and taste between additons if you're not sure how much you will want.

Step 3: Cover and Bake

Smother the fillet entirely with the banana salsa, then toss it in the oven at 400F for a bit. You really don't want to overcook salmon, so keep a close eye on it. When the juice around the edge starts to sizzle a bit and the fruit on top is getting cooked, the fish is probably done. It's far better to err on the side of undercooking the fish than overcooking; it continues to cook after you remove it from the oven, and you can always pop it back in for a minute or two.

You can give it a short go under the broiler just before taking it out of the oven, which finishes the bananas off nicely. I left it a bit too long, so have a couple of blackened bananas; they were still tasty.

Step 4: Serve

Give your salmon a couple of minutes to cool on the counter, then serve immediately.

It goes extremely well with a fresh green salad.