| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 10 to 15 servings |
Ingredients
- 5 cups sliced yellow onions, 1/4-inch thick (3 pounds)
- 5 cups sliced fennel bulbs, 1/4-inch thick (3 pounds)
- 1/2 cup good olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fennel fronds
- 1 orange, zested
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (10 pound) fresh salmon
Instructions
- Have the fishmonger cut the head and tail off the salmon and butterfly it, removing all the bones. You should have about 7 pounds of salmon.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
- Saute the onions and fennel in the olive oil for 10 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme leaves, fennel fronds, orange zest, orange juice, salt, and pepper and saute for 5 more minutes, until the onions and fennel are tender. Taste for salt and pepper.
- Lay the salmon, skin side down, on a cutting board and sprinkle both sides generously with salt and pepper. Spread the fennel filling over half of the salmon. Pull the other half up and over the filling, enclosing it. Tie the salmon every 2 inches with kitchen string to secure the stuffing.
- Place a sheet pan lined with parchment paper in the oven for 5 minutes to heat it. Carefully transfer the salmon to the hot sheet pan and bake it for exactly 30 minutes (10 minutes for each 1-inch of thickness). Do not overbake!
- Allow to cool slightly, then remove the strings. To serve, cut into thick slices with a very sharp knife. This salmon is delicious hot or at room temperature.
- Note: If you’re making this in advance, be sure to cool the filling before stuffing the salmon. Refrigerate until ready to roast.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 14 servings |
| Calories | 818 |
| Total Fat | 51 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Carbohydrates | 18 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 69 g |
| Cholesterol | 178 mg |
| Sodium | 515 mg |
Reviews
Had this at an Oscar party last night… it was AMAZING!
Ddelicious. The fennel was a surprising tasty match w salmon.
Definitely a keeper. Made according to recipe, except used two individual size salmon fillets. Made onion fennel mixture separately, kept warm while salmon roasted. Seasoned salmon with salt, pepper & fennel pollen oven roasted. Served salmon over bed of fennel mixture.
Made this for dinner last night. It was absolutely outstanding. Did not use a whole fish, but used small sized pieces to make individual servings. Did not alter the recipe in any way. My family loved it and we had NO leftovers. Plan to make this again on Sunday for company. Thank you Ina, once again, for an outstanding recipe.
This recipe is wonderful. Probably the best salmon we have ever had. Will cook it often. Also loved the salad for leftovers. Yum Thanks Ina
everyone loved it.
I LOVE this recipe! My 15 year old son, who is a meat and potatoes guy, devoured this salmon. It was perfectly cooked, fennel and onion stuffing was savory and tender. Thought I would have left overs when I saw how much food was there. Possibly I have one serving left, but it is still early this evening, I am going to be surprised to find anything in the morning. Thank you Contessa, what a hit, will make again, and again!
Showstopper for a pescatarian Thanksgiving. Really quite straightforward and came out perfect despite being cooked in one oven and transported and reheated on arrival. This is probably a new tradition that I’ll make again next year. However, the recipe made way too much filling for my fish, and I don’t know from what anorexic ocean Ina’s salmon came from but a 7 lb piece of butterflied salmon with the stuffing inside was a good 6-7 inches thick and needed a solid hour of initial cooking. But Ina did say 10 minutes per inch, so it was easy to adjust for the thickness of my fish.
Very good, we tried grilling it in a tin foil pouch (the oven isn’t big enough the only downside was that the done-ness was inconsistent. Still, we like the stuffing. Overall, pretty good!
Great. I substituted lemon zest and dill as I did not have oranges. “How easy was that?” Delicious and easy.