Oven-baked. Spiced. Salmon. Skewers.

 

Salmon night is always a night to look forward to. These flavor nuggets are so easy to prepare and, as my friend opened my eyes to, don’t need to be grilled like Bon Appetit’s recipe says. Mind. Blown! Usually I disregard any recipes that call for a grill because I am terrible at cooking over coals. The science behind it just doesn’t make any sense. Heat coals until their grey and then hope they retain enough heat to cook food thoroughly? Every time I use my tiny Weber grill I worry that I’ll have food poisoning the next day because the whole time the chicken was on the grill the coals are dying. That’s no way to eat! So now I use my oven and it makes life, and this recipe, so much easier.

The original recipe says to soak the skewers in water for an hour so they don’t burn over coals, but cooking these in the oven doesn’t require that part. In the amount of time it takes to heat your oven, you’ve got plenty of time to fully prep the skewers. Unless you forget to buy lemons and have to run back to the store so you can make this meal for your boyfriend’s parents who are visiting from out of town. That was fun. “Oh, yes, I love to cook! Oh, you’re going to love this recipe, David does; I make it all of the time! Oh, you want to eat soon, I’ll get started now so we can eat in 20 minutes!” <Face palm> “I mean…we’ll eat in an hour. I forgot to buy lemons…the only other actual ingredient to this recipe that isn’t readily found in my spice drawer.” Apparently I was at the grocery store earlier in the day thinking “for salmon skewers I have salmon and I have skewers, so I’m awesome.” Rookie move.

Lesson Learnt: Don’t assume you know a recipe by heart. Just. Double. Check.

At least once we finally did eat, everyone agreed that it truly was a delicious recipe and that lemons were worth waiting for. Ok, on to the recipe.

 

Oven-baked Spiced Salmon Skewers

Adapted from Bon Appetit’s Spiced Salmon Kebabs

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons dried fresh oregano
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless salmon fillet (preferably wild), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 lemons, very thinly sliced into rounds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 bamboo skewers

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Mix oregano, sesame seeds, cumin, salt, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl to combine.
2. Using your hands, coat salmon pieces in olive oil, and in a bowl, or on your cutting board, toss with the spice mixture. (I did this before skewering to make sure the seasonings stuck to the fish and didn’t mostly end up on the pan below, which is what, frustratingly, happened the first time I made this)
3. Beginning and ending with salmon, thread salmon and folded lemon slices onto 8 pairs of parallel skewers to make 8 kebabs total.
4. Set skewers across the rim of the short end of a casserole dish so the fish are hovering above (not sitting on) the dish below.
5. Bake for 15 minutes until the fish is opaque throughout.