Salmon in blueberry marinade

Well, the combination of fish with blueberries and a large load of onions and garlic seems quite unusual at first glance - but young Icelandic cuisine likes to try out unusual things and put traditional local products together in a new taste context.

Blueberries, bláberja, are a popular, typically Icelandic product that can be found almost everywhere on the island's heathland - so it can happen that in the local museum the nice museum guard unexpectedly offers you a bowl of delicious fresh blueberries, which she had collected in the morning on the way to work. And there are also plenty of salmon rivers (“laxá”) and the associated salmon river valleys (“laxárdalur”) in Iceland - with correspondingly many salmon, of course.

Ingredients for 2 servings

1 salmon half (with skin)

200 g blueberries

1 clove of garlic

1 onion

1 cm ginger

1 Tbsp lime juice

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp chopped basil

salt and pepper


Preparation

First, peel the onion and cut it into small pieces and grate the garlic clove and ginger (freshly grated ginger simply tastes more intense than plain ginger spice!). Then heat some butter in a pan for the marinade, add the blueberries with the grated garlic, ginger and onions with a little lime juice, balsamic vinegar and basil and simmer for a few minutes. Let the marinade cool briefly and then puree it.

Place the salmon half with the skin side down on a suitable tray, spread some of the marinade (not too thick!) and let it sit in the fridge for several hours.

Then preheat the oven to 475 °F (250 °C) and cook the salmon, skin side down, in the oven at this temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.

Then dress the salmon with the remaining marinade and, as is traditional, serve with vegetables and potatoes.



[Translated from here.]