New at Costco: Fresh troll-caught wild king salmon

Wild-caught king salmon with diced tomatoes, sake and Dijon mustard.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I went looking for more fresh Copper River salmon at Costco Wholesale on Monday and landed a real treat: Fresh troll-caught wild king salmon.

At $14.99 a pound, the king salmon was a dollar more a pound than the fresh wild Copper River sockeye fillets that also were available.

But it's clear these thicker fillets came from a much bigger fish.

The label says, "Product of USA."

I wanted to prepare them with ripe peaches, tomatoes and capers, but couldn't find any peaches at my Hackensack warehouse store.

When I got home, I emptied a can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes into a non-stick pan and added several ounces of sake and a little fresh lime juice.

I brought that to a boil to cook off the alcohol, then turned down the flame and added a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, mixing it in well.

I cut the 1.6 pound king salmon fillet into pieces that varied from 2 inches to less than an inch thick, added ground Aleppo pepper, placed them into the pan, covered it and turned the flame to medium.

I cooked the salmon for 8 to 10 minutes.

I removed and ate the thinnest pieces first, spooning sauce over them and adding chopped fresh mint and oregano from the garden.

King salmon with ground Aleppo pepper poaching in a sauce of organic diced tomatoes, sake, lime juice and Dijon mustard.



I wanted to serve the salmon over organic quinoa prepared in an electric rice cooker, but it wasn't ready in time and I had to have the nutty whole grain as a second course covered with diced-tomato sauce from the salmon.

Next time, I'll use less fresh mint or none at all, because the peppery herb tended to distract from the rich taste of the salmon.

Troll-caught signifies the king salmon are caught by small boats trailing as many as 50 lines with hooks, allowing crew members to throw back fish that are too small or which they didn't want to catch.