Mom's Salmon, redux

homemade garlic-olive oil mayonnaise

Growing up my mom was never much for cooking. Perhaps because she and my dad worked in restaurants, they saw a less glamorous side of the kitchen. We often ate out or brought the restaurant's food home. 

That said though, she had a few knock-out hits up her culinary sleeve. I can count on one hand the all-stars and to this day I am hard pressed to find a better version of each. She would argue these 5 or so recipes are not original or necessarily remarkable but to my mind, they are unbeatable. 

This post marks the start of my attempts to replicate each delicious dish, this time with my own twist.

salmon fillet with a layer of aioli

sprinkling of dill

slightly charred but delicious all the same

Mom's salmon entailed a light layer of mayonnaise and a sprinkling of dill placed in a 350 degree oven for 20ish minutes followed by a 5 minute broil. Simple as that. The mayonnaise works as a sort of barrier, locking all the moisture and flavor of the salmon and the dill adds a complimentary albeit subtle flavor.

mayonnaise, practically neon green from the olive oil

For my version, I decided to make a homemade garlic-olive oil mayonnaise, care of Alice Waters. Olive oil, egg yolk and a splash of water and salt is all it takes to have a truly transcendent spread. Mashed garlic cloves makes this more of an aioli but I'm not splitting hairs here. It works well on sandwiches, sweet potato fries or all alone but is far from a breath mint so to speak.

I will go on the record as saying I have no problem with store-bought mayonnaise so long as it is a good quality and preferably organic. Mayo gets a bad wrap but it has its purpose to be sure. 

tender, crisp & garlicky

 Thanks mama! Next up, chili!