"It's here!"
Several local markets have hung banners triumphantly announcing the arrival of Copper River salmon. Even at $26.95 a pound, it sells briskly for the three to four weeks each May that it's available, and it's heralded for its deep red, fatty and flavorful flesh that's rich in omega-3 fatty acids. So, I decided to bite.
I brought home some sockeye and we grilled it simply, serving it with a Rioja -- a punchier wine than you'd usually pair with salmon, for this is a punchier salmon, having swum upstream more than 300 miles in frigid Alaskan waters.
We cooked a large fillet skin-side down for 4-5 minutes, brushing it with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and then placing it on a bed of dill to be served.
Other components of the meal were steamed red potatoes with butter, salt and fresh dill, and a mixed green salad with blueberries, red bell pepper, Gouda and lemon vinaigrette. And tasting the salmon's rich, delicious flesh, we were hooked.*
*"Bite" and "hook" are cute metaphors, but did you know that Copper River salmon is usually not caught on a hook? According to www.copperriversalmon.org, commercial fishermen use the gillnetting technique, which involves laying a net wall in the water in the fishes' path. The fish swim into the mesh and are prevented from escaping. I wonder what it would be like to catch one on a line -- they must have Herculean strength! Perhaps some of my dad and dad-esque readers would like to weigh in on this, hmm?
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