What To Do With Leftover Baked Salmon?
Finding things to make with leftovers is a fun challenge in our house but we try our best to rise to the occasion. That's what we did with some leftover salmon when we prepared this salmon risotto dish.
Sunday night we had friends over and put together another fantastic meal with local ingredients:
- salmon served with a dill seafood sauce
- fresh Jersey corn that was so sweet it didn’t need butter
- heirloom tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella
- fresh basil
- olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- a fresh salad with local greens
- and finished it off with homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh peaches and strawberries.
Salmon Risotto to the Rescue
Last night I was looking for something quick and easy and wanted to use up the leftover salmon. The answer? Salmon risotto.
Easy to prepare and I usually have all the ingredients on hand like Arborio rice, stock and seasonings. In fact, there was some frozen lobster stock leftover from boiling up the lobster shells from some previous dinner.
You will see frozen peas listed as an ingredient. Of course fresh peas would be great if you have them but we always have frozen peas in the freezer and my wife and I rarely make a risotto that doesn’t include them.
They are our risotto staple, one started as a method to get veggies into young children. You could always add leftover corn, zucchini, whatever veggie leftovers you have on hand.
I also added a spoonful of our leftover salmon seafood sauce at the end for an additional layer of flavor and it worked, but I suspect most of you don’t have seafood sauce hanging around so I suggest try the fresh dill.
📖 Recipe
Salmon Risotto Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 6 cups seafood stock chicken or vegetable stock will work too
- 2 – 3 cups leftover salmon
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill finely chopped
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in the pan until hot and add the diced onion. Cook over medium heat until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Push the onions to the side of the pan and add the Arborio rice. Cook for a few minutes to coat the rice in the olive oil.
- Add a ladle full or two of the stock to the pan and stir and stir and stir. One of the secrets to great risotto is a lot of stirring. You need to take your time and let the rice absorb the liquid before adding more. And keep stirring!
- You don’t want to dump all the stock in to the pan and let it absorb like you might with other rice types - just a ladle at a time and lots of stirring.
- When the stock is running low, about 2 cups left, add the peas. When you are down to a cup, you can add the salmon and it will reheat in the rice.
- Now add the frozen peas. Let this cook for a few more minutes, taste, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and serve.
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