Fresh sockeye salmon with spinach, tomatoes, peaches and olives

Fresh Wild Sockeye Salmon from the Copper River in Alaska has been in short supply at Costco Wholesale in the Teterboro Landing shopping center, but on Wednesday, my wife found a fillet for $16.99 a pound -- or $12 to $18 a pound less than at other stores.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Ten minutes of preparation and 15 minutes in a preheated oven yield a delicious wild-salmon dinner for four with leftovers.

After striking out on three previous visits to Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, my wife found a 1.83-pound fillet of fresh wild sockeye salmon from the Copper River in Alaska ($16.99 a pound).

She also brought home 1 pound of fresh organic spinach ($3.99), and a 5-pound bag of limes ($4.99), both of which I needed to prepare the salmon.

I assembled serving portions of fish and the other ingredients in a pan, and placed it in a preheated 400-degree oven.

If you like your wild salmon on the rare side, pull out the pan in 10 minutes, but the oily fish will cook through in 15 minutes and remain moist.

I tried cooking the salmon portions skin-side up, but had to turn them over to get them to cook through, so I'd recommend leaving the skin side down from the outset.

The dish offers the interplay of sweet ripe peaches with savory pitted olives accenting wild sockeye salmon, one of the world's greatest fish for eating.

I lined a large pan with aluminum foil, added about a half-pound of fresh spinach, extra-virgin olive oil, seven serving portions of salmon seasoned with a little sea salt, sliced beefsteak tomatoes, ripe peach sections, pitted black and green olives, fresh orange and lime juices, and organic no-salt seasoning. Many of the ingredients are available at Costco.

The Costco Wholesale label.

The deep red color of fresh wild sockeye salmon has undeniable eye appeal, especially when compared to pale, artificially colored farmed salmon, and no farmed fish can match the taste.

On Wednesday night, I enjoyed my fresh wild sockeye salmon with a glass of red wine, then had a big salad, but this is a fish I love at any meal. Today, I ate salmon for breakfast, smothered in tomatoes, with a baked sweet potato.