Name: Slow-Baked Salmon with Butter Beans
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 4 center-cut and skin on salmon fillets (6-8 ounces each); ½ tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon black pepper; 1 lemon (sliced thinly + plus more to serve with the fish); 2 tablespoons of olive oil; 3 leeks (washed thoroughly and chopped); 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced); ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional); ¼ cup water; 2 cups of cooked butter beans or One 15-ounce of canned butter beans (drained and rinsed); 1/3 cup fresh dill (chopped + more as garnish); 4 tablespoons of Green cashew sauce (or crème fraiche)

I am little embarrassed to admit that I hated salmon for a very long time. Or I should say, until 3 years ago when I tasted my first smoked salmon at a holiday party. It was one of those potluck parties that you can find all kinds of food. But it seemed like the most popular dish was a large smoked salmon that was brought by a gentleman who likes to fish. He had caught and smoked the salmon himself a day prior.

This Slow-Baked Salmon with Butter Beans is served with creamy butter beans that are flavored with leeks and dill. With a little bit advance preparation, this recipe could be one that you can make under 45 minutes for a weeknight dinner.

Three pieces of Slow-Baked Salmon with Butter Beans over butter beans and salad

Everyone was raving about how good it tasted. I thought to myself, it was now or never. I put a piece on a cracker and right into my mouth. And just like that, after the first bite my life has changed forever. His smoked salmon was nothing like I thought what salmon would taste like. It was so soft and creamy that if you wanted you could spread it on a piece of toast. To this day, that smoked salmon is probably one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life.

After that day, I decided to give salmon another chance and learn to cook it. It wasn’t long after I remembered why I didn’t like it in the first place. Because the thing is, it is so easy to overcook salmon and if you do you end up with a tasteless and dry piece of fish that no one likes to eat. Now that I look back and think, I must have been served one of those overcooked salmons.

Three pieces of raw Salmon prep for seafood dinner

You may ask, so what one needs to do to not overcook it? Well, it seems like there are a couple different approaches to cooking salmon. Some people say they would treat it like a piece of steak and bake it in a high temperature oven for a very short amount of time. Some others prefer searing it in a non-stick skillet with a little olive oil first and then bake it in a low temperature oven for around 10 minutes to cook the inside of the fish. I, on the other hand, found that the best way to cook it is to bake it in a low temperature oven (300 degrees, to be exact) for 18-20 minutes or until the thickest part of the fish registers 125 F degrees when inserted with an instant thermometer. This ensures a medium-rare salmon that is still moist and soft. To me, this is not only foolproof, but also one that requires the least amount of work.

Still, in order for this method to work there are 3 other things you need to pay attention to. First one is pretty obvious, but goes without saying: Get the freshest fish you can get your hands on. Second, it is best if you can get a center-cut fillet and cut it into 4 equal pieces yourself. Because equal pieces in size and thickness will ensure even baking. Last but not least, make sure that each fillet is pat-dried with a sheet of paper towel, lightly brushed with a little bit of olive oil and seasoned well with salt and pepper. I found that 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper are enough for 4 pieces of salmon.

Close up view of three Slow-Baked Salmon from the oven placed on lemon slices

About the Recipe:

For this recipe, I used leeks and butter beans to serve with the salmon. I love leeks because of their milder-than-onion flavor. Also, I think they pair very well with butter beans. If you can’t find butter beans, you can use regular white beans as well. If you have time, I highly recommend cooking your own beans, as this is one of those dishes that beans shine. And as we all know, home cooked beans taste much better than canned beans. You will see in the recipe below that it asks you to add a ¼ cup of water to keep the beans and leeks moist as they cook. However, if you cook your own beans you can swap water with the its cooking liquid.

If you cover the leftovers tightly with stretch film and keep it in the fridge, it will still be pretty tasty and fresh when served the next day. You can lightly warm it up in the microwave (no more than 30 seconds) or eat it cold, like we did.

Finally, I topped each salmon off with a dollop of my green cashew sauce flavored with dill, but you can use crème fraiche as well.

Slow-Baked Salmon with Butter Beans in a bowl

Overhead view of two plated seafood dinners of Slow-Baked Salmon with Butter Beans

On Styling and Photography for this post:

Props and styling: This was the first time I photographed salmon and I found it to be a little bit more challenging than I thought. Because (1) you have a very short amount of time to get a good shot of the salmon as you do not want raw fish to dry and (2) unless you put some sort of a garnish on top it looks pretty bland after it comes out of the oven. Therefore, I used a dollop of green cashew sauce (for a contrast in color) and a frond of dill on each salmon. As I photographed, I made sure that the butter beans and leeks are visible as they are an important part of the dish.
The large plate is a gift from Crate and Barrel. The cutting board is from Foodiebords. The sheet pan is an old pan that I have been using for years.

Photography: I took all these photos with my Canon EOS 5D Mark III using either my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 , or Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Lens . I didn’t use any filters as I wanted to make sure that I showcase the true colors of the fish as much as possible. In terms of editing, I decreased the highlights, shadows, and blacks and increased the whites, vibrance, and clarity in Lightroom. If you want to see the exposure values for each photo and more photos from this shoot, check out my Flickr account.

Do you want to buy these photos? Thank you! You can purchase these photos and all my other photos in my Picture Pantry Library.