Salmon’s sweet, buttery flavor is easily highlighted with a few simple spices, but it’s a delicious adventure to dress it up with a wider range of ingredients. From a citrusy sauce to miso honey glaze, the fish serves as the ideal foundation for experimentation. If you’re on the hunt for fresh ways to spruce up your salmon, look no further than pistachios.
The green-hued nuts are enjoying the spotlight (Dubai chocolate, anyone?), and their popularity is well-deserved. Although they’re mostly spotted in sweet frappes and lattes or adorning chocolate bars, brownies, and cookies, don’t discount them as an entree accompaniment. Pistachios are earthy and a little sweet, making them a perfect unexpected ingredient to pair with salmon. They indulge salmon’s richness while offering a grounding presence that balances everything out. Plus, the nuts’ light green color looks striking on the coral fish, working as both a visual and literal feast.
There is an abundance of ways to pair pistachios and salmon, but crushing the nuts up to make a crust for the fish is a simple way to combine the two. The nuts create a crunchy coating that contrasts salmon’s tender interior. To get your pistachios to stick to the salmon’s surface, apply a honey or maple syrup, lemon juice, and olive oil mixture onto the fish before pressing the pistachios on top. You can elevate the dish by adding in minced garlic and shallots, dijon mustard, or miso into the mix, or keep it simple so that the pistachio flavor shines through.
How to elevate your salmon and pistachio pairing
If you’re not keen on giving your salmon a crunchy crust, there are other ways to seamlessly incorporate pistachios with the fish. Replacing pine nuts with pistachios in pesto gives both the classic sauce and salmon a sweeter touch. The nuts elevate the freshness of the basil, bringing a more honeyed element to balance out the peppery olive oil and savory parmesan.
A drizzle of unsweetened pistachio butter is another way to take your salmon to the next level. The smooth condiment is easily swiped onto the surface of the fish, imbuing it with a delightfully nutty taste. Pistachio butter, salt, pepper, and chili flakes are enough to make a delicious salmon dish, but you can stir some other spices into the mix, too. Za’atar’s aromatic, zesty taste brings a delicate brightness to pistachio butter that doesn’t completely overtake the spread. A pinch of cardamom also works well with pistachios, bringing a warm, peppery flavor to the party.
