This Sweet and Tangy Salmon Is the Easy, Weeknight Dinner You’re Looking For

Boyfriend Salmon

There’s Ina Garten’s famous Engagement Roast Chicken recipe — and then there’s this less-intense, equally useful boyfriend salmon. Think: St. Louis-style barbecue sauce (my hometown, thank you) meets crispy-skin salmon and a cooking technique that looks impressive but is nearly impossible to mess up. It’s the salmon to get your boyfriend down with salmon. It will at least lock him in for four more dates because he’ll think you’re a fish genius. (But also, gender is a construct, and cooking for a man is antiquated, so if you’re in the mood to fight the patriarchy, just make this salmon for yourself.)

• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

• 4 skin-on salmon fillets (about 1 pound)

• Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

• ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds

• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• ½ small red onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2. Set a large ovenproof pan over medium heat and add the grapeseed oil. Season the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides and place skin-side down in the pan. Cook until the skin gets golden around the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 135°F.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the fish sauce, tomato paste, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, cayenne, and ¼ cup water.

4. Set a medium pan over medium heat and add the butter. Let it melt and begin to brown slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in the fish sauce mixture. Turn off the heat and stir to combine, seasoning with a generous pinch of salt.

5. When the salmon is out of the oven, gently flip it into the pan with the sauce, exposing the crispy skin side. Transfer to a plate, taking a scoop of sauce for each fillet, and pooling any additional sauce around and on top of the salmon.

Justine Cooks by Justine Doiron

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Reprinted with permission from Justine Cooks: A Cookbook Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen by Justine Doiron. Copyright © 2024 by Justine Doiron. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Jim Henkens. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.