Mom's salmon for 40?

My mom has this salmon recipe that we've eaten in our family for the past 10 years or so. It's a really easy recipe that is perfect for a weeknight quick dinner. When I cater events, I often go to menu items that I'm very familiar with so that I know I can produce predictable results on a limited timeframe. When I heard we were going to cater a group of 40 for an office function...and that they wanted salmon - I knew exactly what I would do.

I had just left my line cook job at a major hotel. Although I worked on the hot line for the restaurant and bar, I was also frequently recruited to help out with banquet catering. Catering is a lot different than cooking on the line but there are some elements common to both. Organization, mise en place, and timing are essential to successful catering as well as successful restaurant cooking. Cooking on the line is all about cranking out individual dishes as you get inundated with several orders all at once. In this case timing yourself such that an entire table's order comes out at the same time and making sure every piece on each plate is perfect is crucial. Catered events vary, but the client for this intimate office party wanted buffet. Luckily I had designed my catering menu around buffet friendly food.

On any given menu, cooks generally rely on what they know they can do well in order to pull off a successful meal. This is also great advice for the home cook who throws an ambitious dinner party. Do what you know you can do well. In most cases that means cooking something you're very comfortable with - something that will give you expected results and if something should happen to go wrong...you're cooking something you have enough experience with to be able to fix in some way. Hence my choice of doing my mom's salmon for this event. I decided to modify the salmon bumping up some elements for added texture, adding some of my own style into the dish. In addition to the salmon, we also did a prime rib with jus, classic mashed potatoes as a starch, and mixed roasted veggies. With a few appetizers and chocolate mousse and French fruit tarts for dessert, this was one office party that was enjoyed by all. Someone came up to me at the end of the evening and told me that the salmon was simply amazing. I replied that it was a take on my mom's recipe and she simply smiled and said, "No kidding". No kidding indeed.


Panko crusted roast salmon
*adapted from mom's recipe

4 salmon pieces (4-6oz each)
6 T garlic aioli (store bought mayonaisse works fine)
1.5 C Panko bread crumbs
1 package onion soup mix
2 T butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat pan over medium high heat. When pan is hot, add butter until melted and drop in panko bread crumbs.
3. Saute until the bread crumbs become golden brown. Remove from heat and cool.
4. Take salmon pieces and dry well with paper towel. Slather a generous amount (about 1.5 T per piece) of aioli over the top of the salmon, frosting it over almost like a cake.
5. Take the cooled, toasted, panko bread crumbs and mix in with the package of onion soup mix.
6. Take the bread crumb mix and pack onto each salmon piece as a thin coat.
7. Place in 375 degree oven until salmon is about medium, just cooked through...about 10-15 minutes depending on its thickness. Serve immediately.

Note: you might be tempted to overcook your fish for safety reasons, but don't do it. As fish cooks, its inherent oils develop. Your final product may gain an undesirable "fishy" taste because the oils have over developed during an extended cooking time.