Recipe: Lummi Island-Style Sockeye

Serves 6

You can create a reasonable facsimile of the conditions in a professional wood-fired oven by installing a pizza tile inside a backyard barbecue. Preheat the barbecue with the pizza stone inside at full heat for 20 to 30 minutes before baking the salmon directly on the tile. Smaller than other wild salmon, sockeye bears thin filets that cook pretty quickly. Watch them closely so they don't dry out.

2 sides of sockeye salmon (each about 1 ½ pounds), skin on

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra oil for the pizza stone

1 medium shallot, peeled and finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste

1. Put a pizza stone on the floor of the oven or on top of the grill inside an outdoor barbecue and preheat the oven to 500 or heat the barbecue at full heat for 20 to 30 minutes.

2. While the oven is preheating, arrange the salmon filets skin side down on a cookie sheet that has no raised edges. Combine the olive oil with the shallot, garlic, parsley, cilantro and basil. Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of the filets and let the fish stand at room temperature until just before baking.

3. When the oven or the barbecue is very hot, brush the pizza stone with a little olive oil. Squeeze the lemon juice over the fish and sprinkle it with sea salt. Slide the fish from the baking sheet onto the preheated stone. (Note: if you are uncomfortable doing this, just place the baking sheet directly on the stone.)

4. Close the oven or cover the barbecue and bake the fish just until the juices begin to turn opaque, almost white, about 6 minutes. (Like egg whites, salmon juices will coagulate and turn white when they are cooked.) The fish should be slightly firm but still tender when pressed lightly with a fingertip. Shimmy the fish off the stone with the baking sheet and serve it hot.