Everything but the Bagel Salmon

Let’s get one thing straight here — I love bagels and this is a bagel safe space. In fact, this recipe would be so good in between a toasted bagel.

A smoked salmon everything bagel, toasted, with scallion cream cheese, capers, red onion, cucumbers and dill is top-tier superiority. This recipe takes inspiration from the best bagel order and transforms it into an easy dinner.

Salmon fillets crusted with poppy seeds, garlic and onions granules, black and white sesame seeds and salt, is a very good place to start. Cream cheese thinned out with a bit of lemon and garlic plus olive oil, is an even better step in the right direction.

An umami bomb, everything but the bagel seasoning is super easy to make if you don’t already have it at home. With dried garlic and onion granules that melt into your salmon, the only thing to make it more perfect is a knob of butter to soften those flavours. I’m crusting my salmon with everything but the bagel seasoning exclusively from now on.

This salmon keeps very well in the fridge, so feel free to prep more than you may eat today. I wouldn’t make more of the salad than needed, that one is so much better fresh as we rely on the crunchiness of the cucumbers here. The cream cheese would only get better with time too, so don’t stress if you make too much cream cheese. It will be totally fine in the fridge for a few days.

Let me know if you make this, I would love to see your version of it!

Ingredients:

This makes two servings.

‘everything bagel’ seasoning:

1 tsp white sesame seeds

1/2 tsp black sesame seeds

1/2 tsp dried garlic granules

1/2 tsp dried onion granules

1/4 tsp poppy seeds

pinch of flakey salt, about 1/2 tsp

everything bagel crusted salmon:

2 salmon fillets

pinch of salt

1 tbsp butter, unsalted

1 tsp avocado oil, or olive oil

super crunchy side salad:

1 small cucumber, sliced in rounds

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

50g capers, drained

a handful of dill, chopped

squeeze of lemon

salt and pepper

1/2 tbsp olive oil

lemony scallion cream cheese:

handful of spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp cream cheese

squeeze of lemon

1/2 tbsp olive oil

pinch of salt

1 garlic clove, grated

Method:

Salt both sides of your salmon fillets and leave on a plate in room temperature while you prepare the rest.

Slice cucumber and red onion and place in a small mixing bowl with ice and some water to get super cold and crunchy. Chop dill, but leave out of the bath. Leave for 5-10 minutes.

Prepare the lemony scallion cream cheese by mixing all it’s ingredients together in a small bowl. The consistency should be pretty thin, not watery, but thin enough to smooth across a plate and hold it’s shape. Taste for salt and adjust.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Drizzle in oil, then place salmon skin side down. Sprinkle over the seasoning over the fillets and put the lid on the pan. Sear for about 3 minutes, then flip and cover with the lid again. After 1-2 minutes, drop in butter in between the fillets. Sear for 1-2 more minutes, then turn off the heat. Flip the fillets back on the skin side, put the lid back on and leave in the pan for another 5 minutes. The residual heat will cook it all the way through.

Drain the water from the cucumbers and red onion. Add the rest of the salad ingredients.

Add a nice smear of lemony scallion cream cheese to the base of the plate. Add a handful or two of the crunchy side salad, then the fillet alongside. Garnish with flakey salt and dig in!