Pan Seared Salmon with Crispy Capers and Brown Butter Sauce
December 13th, 2024From Freezer to Table in 20 Minutes
This decadent recipe for seared salmon with a brown butter sauce is the perfect way to prepare flash-frozen, wild-caught salmon. In under 20 minutes, you can treat yourself to a delicious, elevated meal — and you don’t even need to defrost the salmon before you start cooking.
Making brown butter sauce is an easy way to add incredible depth of flavor to a meal, as it makes butter better. The milk solids in butter pick up a nutty flavor and toasty aromas as they caramelize in a skillet, transforming into a golden sauce. Just before serving brown butter over the fish, you’ll crisp up a small handful of capers and herbs in the pan, which gives the final dish a beautiful finishing touch.
For a step-by-step guide that walks you through how exactly to cook salmon from frozen on the stovetop, please visit the post on How to Pan-Fry Salmon from Frozen.
The WAC recipe team featured Seared Salmon with Brown Butter Sauce in a live cooking class! Watch the recording of the cooking class to see how it's made.
About Chef George Pramatarov:
George Pramatarov is a chef based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the past decade, he has worked at several award-winning restaurants including St. Genevieve, Hai Hai, Grand Cafe, and Petite Leon — recently included in New York Times's 50 Favorite Restaurants of 2022. Born and raised in Bulgaria, George moved to the United States at age 14 and is equally influenced by Bulgarian, French, and American cuisine. Through cooking food and creating recipes, he is continually revisiting the feeling of home. When not cooking, George unwinds with his partner, Sara, and their crazy Beagle at the family lakeside cabin in Wisconsin.
Pan Seared Salmon with Crispy Capers and Brown Butter Sauce
By Wild Alaskan Company
Prep time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Total time
20 minutes
Yield
1 serving
Ingredients
- 1 (6-ounce) portion Sockeye Salmon, frozen
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- Lemon, juice and zest
- Flaky sea salt to garnish, optional
Instructions
1. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Arrange parchment paper in skillet. When pan is warm, place frozen fillet of fish skin side up on the parchment paper, then cover skillet with a lid. Allow fish to steam until center of fillet is no longer frozen, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add a few splashes of water if paper starts to brown too quickly.
2. Remove fish for a moment and discard parchment paper. Then raise heat in empty pan to medium. Wipe pan dry if needed, then add butter until hot enough to sizzle.
3. While butter is heating up, pat dry skin of the salmon fillet with a tea towel and season with salt and pepper. Then, return fish skin side down to the pan. Make sure you add the fish away from you so no butter splashes back. Use a fish spatula to press down on the fish for 10 to 15 seconds to ensure good pan contact.
4. Cover pan with lid and let fish sear undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove lid and transfer just the fillet to a serving plate skin side up.
5. Meanwhile, allow butter in pan to cook until it starts to turn golden. Gently tilt pan away from you to add capers, careful to avoid splattering. Allow capers to fry for a couple of minutes until lightly crispy and butter has developed a nutty aroma and browned color.
6. Remove pan from heat, then add thyme and swirl pan until herbs are lightly fried. Carefully add a few squeezes of lemon to pan, then spoon brown butter sauce over salmon fillet. Garnish with lemon zest and flaky sea salt. Enjoy immediately.
Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of food-borne illness, especially if you have a certain medical condition. The FDA recommends an internal temperature of 145°F for cooked fish.
