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Crispy Salmon With Bulgur

4.3

(13)

Crispy Salmon with Bulgur recipe
Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Frances Boswell

Bulgur is the canned margarita of grains—she’s ready to party, fast. “It’s one of the original convenience foods,” says Abra Berens, author of the wonderful new grain-and-bean-focused cookbook Grist. This isn’t brown rice you have to cook for 45 agonizing minutes. To cook bulgur, the name for parboiled and dried wheat berries, just rehydrate the grain (fine or medium grind) by covering it in boiling water and letting it sit for about 10 minutes. In this recipe, the grains get dressed up with a few herbs and served with fish and fennel for a simple dinner. Plan ahead and make a double batch of the mustard dressing to use as a sauce to serve with proteins or brighten up sturdy greens.

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What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Yield

    4 Servings

Ingredients

1

cup medium-grind bulgur

¼

cup chopped dill

3

Tbsp. plus ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

1

small shallot, finely chopped

¼

cup apple cider vinegar

¼

cup sour cream

¼

cup whole grain or Dijon mustard

4

6-oz. skin-on salmon fillets

1

large fennel bulb, shaved ona mandoline or thinly sliced

8

radishes, trimmed, shaved on a mandoline or thinly sliced

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately add bulgur. Cover pan and let sit until bulgur is tender, about 10 minutes. Drain off excess water, then mix in dill and 2 Tbsp. oil. Season with salt and pepper.

    Step 2

    Meanwhile, whisk shallot, vinegar, sour cream, mustard, and ¼ cup oil in a small bowl until smooth; season dressing with salt. Set aside.

    Step 3

    Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Season salmon with salt and arrange skin side down in skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook, pressing down gently on fish, until skin is golden brown and crisp, 6–8 minutes. Turn fillets over and cook until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large plate, arranging skin side up.

    Step 4

    Combine fennel and radishes in a large bowl. Drizzle reserved dressing over to suit your taste (you won’t need all of it) and toss to coat. Season with more salt if needed.

    Step 5

    To serve, spoon bulgur among plates, dividing evenly, and top each with a salmon fillet and fennel and radish salad.

    Do ahead: Dressing can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Image may contain: Advertisement, Poster, Lentil, Vegetable, Plant, Bean, Food, and Produce
Reprinted from Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes by Abra Berens with permission by Chronicle Books, 2021.

Buy it on Amazon or Bookshop.org
Explore Bon AppétitMainDinnerNut-FreeHealthyishWeeknight MealsEasyQuickFrySalmonFishSeafoodBulgurRice & GrainsFennelVegetableRadish
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Reviews (13)

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  • The fennel and radish salad is amazing and definitely makes the dish! Would recommend to season well, I also added some honey to the dressing for an added sweetness.

    • Anonymous

    • Sydney, Australia

    • 9/21/2021

  • Adding this to the weeknight rotation! I especially loved the crunchy salad on top.

    • Anonymous

    • Savannah, GA

    • 9/29/2021

  • Surprisingly bland dish! I would cut the mustard (haha) next time because it's basically all I could taste -- maybe I needed something higher quality.. But my husband hates mustard anyway, so I think next time I'd try a sriracha variation with different crispy veg. Not an out and out winner for me, but still a lovely plate of food, and I like the crispy salmon skin, gotta do that again.

    • Anonymous

    • California

    • 10/4/2021

  • I made it exactly as recipe called for (except I used ghee to cook the salmon…ran out of EVOO) and we all loved it. My young adult children and ‘mother more seasoned adults. Yum! Glad I made extra fennel and radish dressing. Heading out to get more salmon! Saw comment re: adding honey to dressing; that sounds good. And def taste the bulgur to make sure it’s seasoned to your liking.

    • Anonymous

    • Long Island, NY

    • 11/28/2021

  • I love the crispy salmon and the fennel-radish salad. I could take or leave the bulgur, but do appreciate how quick it is. It's a bit bland on its own, but if you get a bite of everything together, it works out. This makes a lot more dressing than you need - would definitely halve the dressing recipe if you won't use up the excess in other salads.

    • Liz

    • Chicago, IL

    • 12/20/2021

  • It was a great dinner. I subbed the sour cream to yogurt, added a bit of honey and definitely didn't use that much mustard lol turned out great.

    • Anonymous

    • Ny

    • 2/3/2022

  • This recipe worked better than I thought it would. I caught a fair amount of wild salmon but not as thick as what comes commercially so I had to adjust the cooking time a little. I also sided the entire dish with some chopped lettuce from the garden to make it a little more of a salad (I also need to use up the lettuce I'm growing!!) Only used maybe a tablespoon or 2 of the dressing. The dill in the Bulgur was refreshing and really helped brighten the flavors.

    • Tony B

    • madison, wisconsin

    • 7/3/2023