Salmon with Anchovy Butter

We had friends over for Labor Day and while the guys wanted to grill ribs, I wanted fish, so we went with surf and turf.  I made my favorite ribs that were falling off the bone by the time I gave them to Mike to put on the grill.

While they were wonderful, I thought the star of the evening was the salmon with anchovy butter.  Don’t turn your nose up when you hear anchovies, these can add so much flavor to a dish.  I didn’t tell our friends what was in the sauce and they had a hard time guessing.  The first time I made this, I was almost licking the pan to get the last of the anchovy butter, it’s that good.

Along with anchovies, the garlic butter blend is the perfect combination with the salmon.  Not only is the flavor amazing, but the cooking method resulted in perfectly flaked and not overdone salmon.  Start by adding half the butter mixture to a hot oven proof pan. Cooking the salmon skin side down for just a couple of minutes sears the bottom and gets things started so that when it goes in the oven, it just takes a few minutes to get to the perfect temperature. Adding capers to the salty butter mixture finishes off this wonderful dish.  I used anchovies that came in a jar rather than a can. I think the flavor is a bit milder.  When cooking the salmon, I used a meat thermometer and baked it until it was around 120º and not overdone.

Our friends brought pasta salad and everyone was happy.  Even though I made two entree’s, both were so easy that it didn’t take hardly any time at all.  I decided I would just throw some apples on the grill for dessert while we ate.  However, I forgot to turn the grill down and then forgot about them while talking over dinner. When I went out to check on them, they were black!  Oh well, we just had ice cream instead.