A whole fillet of salmon looks and tastes impressive while leaving you time to enjoy the day.
Some holiday traditions are meant to evolve.
At least that’s what I told myself when I decided to make a whole fillet of salmon the center of Easter brunch. Among classic main dishes, it requires the least amount of time to cook, but looks and tastes impressive, pink for spring and light for all the new brightness in the day.
Around the world, lamb is served for its religious significance, and because lambs are slaughtered in spring. Ham, the other common option, used to come from pigs butchered in the fall. Their haunches were cured and ready by Easter, and the cycle of that pastoral life led to ham becoming the traditional celebratory main.
As much as I love ham and lamb, I found that preparing them well either meant eating late or missing the egg hunt. One year, to accommodate a traditionalist and a pescatarian, I cooked ham, lamb and salmon. Within that trinity, everyone raved about the salmon, so here it is, ready to grace the table.
Wild salmon works especially well with this recipe because the butter in the honey-lemon sauce glosses the lean fish with richness. (Fatty farmed salmon will simply taste even richer, not a bad thing at all.) Dill, lots of it, balances the caramelized buttery sauce with its freshness, green as cut grass.
