Anne Morgan This collection of Delia Smith salmon recipes covers everything from a ten-minute weeknight fillet to a whole poached fish that feeds twelve people at a buffet. I have cooked all of them, and this is the order I would learn them in if I were starting from scratch.
Some use fresh salmon, some use smoked, and one uses tinned. There are ten salmon recipes here and each one does something different with the fish, so no two feel like the same dinner.
1. Salmon in Foil
This is the simplest salmon recipe on the site and the one I make most often. You butter a sheet of foil, lay the fillet on it, season, fold a loose tent, and bake at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes.
Serves 4, 350 kcal per serving, and there is almost no washing up. If you are new to cooking salmon, start here and work your way down the list.
2. Pesto Crusted Salmon
Once you are comfortable with the foil method, this is the next step up. Delia builds a three-layer crust of fresh pesto, breadcrumbs, and Pecorino cheese on top of each fillet and bakes it at 230°C for just 10 minutes.
Serves 2, 420 kcal per fillet. The recipe comes from Delia’s Complete How To Cook and it doubles easily for four.
3. Thai Salmon Filo Parcels
These swap puff pastry for filo and the filling is Thai: lime zest, ginger, garlic, and fresh coriander (cilantro) tucked inside the parcel. The filo goes crisp while the lime juice steams into the fish.
Serves 2 at 380 kcal each, 20 to 25 minutes at 190°C, from The Delia Collection: Fish. If you liked the pesto version but want something lighter, these are the answer.
4. Salmon En Croute
Now we are into dinner party territory, with each fillet wrapped in puff pastry alongside a watercress and orange butter that melts inside as it bakes. The orange zest is what makes this version different from every other en croute I have tried.
Serves 4 as individual parcels, 650 kcal each, 20 to 25 minutes at 200°C. You can assemble them the day before and bake from the fridge.
5. Salmon Coulibiac
The most impressive salmon recipe on the list: a Russian-style pastry parcel filled with salmon, wild rice, hard-boiled eggs, dill, and onion. It sounds complicated but the hardest part is waiting for the filling to cool before wrapping.
Serves 6 at 680 kcal per slice, 25 to 30 minutes at 200°C from Delia’s Winter Collection. If you need to feed a table and want everyone to ask how you made it, this is the one.
6. Whole Poached Salmon
The coulibiac feeds six, but if you need to feed twelve, a whole poached salmon is the centrepiece. You bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat, and the fish cooks itself as the liquid cools.
Serves 8 to 12 at 280 kcal per portion, from the Complete Cookery Course. It works hot or cold, which makes it perfect for a buffet you can prepare the day before.
7. Salmon Lasagne
Not every salmon dinner needs to be elegant, and this one is pure comfort food. Three types of fish go into the layers: fresh salmon, smoked salmon, and prawns, with an infused white sauce and Parmesan on top.
Serves 6 at 580 kcal per portion, 40 to 45 minutes at 200°C from Delia’s Summer Collection. It reheats better than any lasagne I have made, which is useful for batch cooking.
8. Salmon Fishcakes
Delia is specific about this: tinned salmon makes better fishcakes than fresh. The filling includes capers, gherkins, hard-boiled eggs, and anchovy paste, so these have far more going on inside than most fishcake recipes.
Makes 12, serves 6, 310 kcal per two fishcakes from Delia’s Complete How To Cook. They freeze well uncooked, so I usually make a full batch and keep half in the freezer.
9. Smoked Salmon Quiche
Delia’s original is a small smoked salmon and dill tart from The Delia Collection: Fish, and I scaled it up to a full 23cm quiche. The pastry has Parmesan and mustard powder worked into it, and the filling uses crème fraîche instead of cream.
Serves 6 at 480 kcal per slice, 35 to 40 minutes at 180°C, and it slices better at room temperature for lunch or buffets. If you are still looking for a cold starter, the last recipe on the list needs no oven at all.
10. Salmon Mousse
The only recipe here that does not use the oven: smoked salmon trimmings, cream cheese, and whipped double cream blended together and chilled for two hours. It tastes better made the day before, and you can turn the same mixture into a sliceable salmon terrine by adding gelatine.
Serves 6 as a starter at 280 kcal, inspired by Delia’s smoked salmon spread from the Pink ‘Uns in How To Cook. Of all ten Delia Smith salmon recipes on the site, this is the one that impresses people most for the least work.
Delia also has a salmon with avocado, crème fraîche, and capers that I have not written up yet, but it is worth looking at on deliaonline.com if you want a cold sauce to serve over any of the plain baked or poached salmon recipes above.
