I really enjoy eating salmon. It remains one of my favorite foods because it tastes good, it’s healthy and you can prepare it a number of different ways. Salmon, however, is often over-cooked and tastes very dry. This method of slow-roasting salmon produces a succulent and tender fish…perfect for warm summer evenings. It is delicious served at room temperature with a lemon vinaigrette…or simply scented with a few herbs and a drizzle of very good olive oil. The velvety salmon will pair well with crunchy vegetables such as sautéed celery.

One other interesting alternative is to wrap the salmon filet in a fig leaf or banana leaf before slow-roasting…the leaf will impart a coconut-like flavor to the salmon.

olive oil
fresh herbs (use thyme, wild fennel or tarragon)
500 gr. salmon filet, with skin-on
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Oil a baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of fresh herbs. Place the seasoned salmon skin side down on the herbs. Oil the top of the salmon, lightly season and bake at 120 degrees C for about 30-40 minutes. The salmon should be just set. If the salmon starts to bleed white fat, it is done…in fact probably a bit too done!

The first dish I made while working for Angelo Cabani in his highly acclaimed Locanda Miranda restaurant was his special Ligurian-style fish soup. What a magical culinary experience – being taught by a great chef who opened his restaurant in the same year I was born…and I’m not so young. It is also a recipe which continues to touch my inner soul in surprising ways.

Angelo’s soup recipe I made that day is actually a variation on the famous Cacciucco alla Livornese, a Tuscan town about an hour south of my Ligurian base. The classic cacciucco is more a stew than a soup. It is filled with various types of seafood and fish and flavored with an intense fish broth, tomato concentrate, onions, garlic and a bay leaf. The traditional presentation also includes a large chunk of garlic bread at the bottom of the soup bowl, which soaks up the tasty juices.

I ate cacciucco during my first visit to Livorno last year in a modern restaurant located in the canal zone of the city. I was excited to finally taste the soup which defines Livornese cooking and reminded me so much of my working days with Angelo. But I was very surprised when the ‘soup’ arrived served on a large plate and piled over a mound of couscous.

Couscous…what was the connection?

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