Baked Salmon ala Conti's

While doing the groceries last weekend, we saw some Salmon and thought of baking it with the Teriyaki marinade which I've tried before.  (To read about it, please click here.)  And just as I was about to start working on the marinade, I suddenly thought of (craved for!) Conti's Baked Salmon! (Conti's is a popular Bakery and Restaurant in the Philippines which is known for their cakes and Baked Salmon to name a few)

So I went online and looked for Conti's-inspired Baked Salmon recipes and found a few but went with the recipe shared by The Happy Tummy Kitchen.  I'm glad I did!  You know the recipe is going to turn out great when your picky eater suddenly says "Mama, it smells good!"  And she said this when we were just working on the sauce.  But it does smell good!  The smell was that of . . . Conti's! *insert dance of joy here* I guess I was on the right track!  

So before I call it a day (and before I forget what I did, haha), I want to share with you this picky eater-approved (hubby-approved too!) Salmon dish.  She ate fish for the first time!!!!  Woohoo!  Thanks to the Cheesy-garlic mayo sauce!  Haha!

Hope you like it too!  

Happy Cooking!

*Inspired by the recipe from The Happy Tummy Kitchen's blog.  For her exact recipe, please click here.  

My take on this recipe:

Ingredients:

Salmon (around 800-900 grams)

Salt 

Pepper

Garlic powder

Juice from half of a lemon

Half a block of Cream Cheese

3/4 cup of Shredded Parmesan (1/2 cup to go to the cheese mixture and 1/4 cup for toppings)

4 tbsp of Mayonnaise

Garlic (3 big cloves, minced)

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

1. Marinade the Salmon (around 30 mins) with salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon juice.  Sorry, I don't have any measurements, I just eyeball it when I do a marinade. 

2. Pre-heat oven to 450F.

3. Mix the cream cheese, Parmesan, mayonnaise, minced garlic, salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust the seasoning (and consistency) to suit your taste.

4. Butter your baking dish.

5. Pat the salmon dry and put it in your baking dish and top it with the cream cheese mixture and sprinkle some shredded Parmesan cheese.

6. We baked it for 25 minutes and it came out pretty well.  Please take note that the cooking time really depends on the thickness of your fish.

7. Best to Serve it with buttered vegetables and mashed potatoes (I wish I had more time!)

My Notes:

The next time I bake this, I will make more of the white sauce mixture, probably another garlic clove, will bake it a longer time only because we want the top to be a little more golden brown (just a matter of preference).

**********************************************************************************

After posting this entry, I've made this dish soooo many times (it's my go-to recipe whenever we have guests over, haha) so I thought of sharing with you a more updated photo of the dish and that baked golden brown color we love!

Baked Salmon in Teriyaki Marinade

We rarely cook salmon at home (we leave that to the restaurants, haha!) but I saw some really nice and fresh salmon fillets at the grocery that I just had to buy at least a pound of it!

The easiest (and fastest) way to cook a salmon fillet. . . is to bake it in your favorite marinade.  

My personal fave, teriyaki marinade.  There are bottles of teriyaki marinade which can be bought at the grocery but since we don't have any at home, I googled for some sauce recipes and I remembered seeing a recipe for homemade teriyaki sauce in Jenni Epperson's blog.  She actually used it for her chicken burgers (which I plan on making one of these days).  Her sauce's ingredients were so simple, we have everything at the pantry!  Well, except for the honey.

For a pound of salmon fillet, I used the following:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 ground ginger or minced ginger

1/4 teaspooon garlic powder

5 tablespoons packed brown sugar

Zola's Mom's add-ons:

2 tablespoons of sugar - just because we didn't have honey

3 tablespoons of olive oil - just because we have it, haha!  I saw Ina Garten's recipe for her Asian Salmon and saw olive oil in it.

Cooking Directions:

1) Preheat the oven at 350 degrees
2) Combine all ingredients and marinade the fish for at least 2 hours.
3) Line your baking pan with aluminum foil and grease it
4) Sprinkle some peppery love on your fish before popping it in the oven
5) Put your fish in the oven and cook it for 12-15 minutes (depends on how thick your fillet is)
6) To check the doneness of the fish, poke the fillet with a fork and see if it flakes apart.  (Tip: check at the thickest part of the fillet) 
7) If it's cooked, remove from the oven and serve it with a smile =)

Cooking Notes:
The salmon was delicious all by itself.  Glad we bought them fresh!  I am also happy with the taste of the marinade.  However, we got a taste of it only at the outer layer of the fillet.  So the next time I'm doing this, I'm going to:
- Marinade the fish at a longer time so the flavor would seep through the  meat
- Put honey (I really think it would make a difference)
- Put a little bit of salt for extra seasoning

- Or I can just buy a bottle of teriyaki marinade at the grocery, hahaha!

Happy Cooking!