We were very generously gifted fresh Alaskan sockeye salmon filets by our new friends Micah and Michelle. They cleaned the fish right on their boat and sent us on our merry way.
Because we no longer have our trailer in tow (Ben's truck engine is totaled and we're now driving my Honda CRV which can't pull the trailer, in case you missed it), we had brought a Coleman camp stove with us to America's Last Frontier. We decided to cook our salmon and have a picnic overlooking Sheridan glacier.
And let me tell you friends, it was life-changing. The gentle breeze was cooled by the ice and refreshed our faces under the midday sun as we made a meal fit for kings.
I now ONLY cook salmon by a glacier, whenever possible.
The recipe is simple. All you need is a camping stove, two aluminum pans, and four ingredients.
CAMPING STOVE SALMON (serves 2-4)
2-4 Salmon portions
1 Lemon
Salt
Olive Oil
First add a small amount of olive oil to one of the metal pans and swish it around, allowing the oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Use as little as possible - this is just to prevent the salmon from sticking.
Then lay the filets out in the pan, skin down. We were barely able to squeeze four of them in.
Sprinkle a couple teaspoons of salt over everything. You won't need much because sockeye is flavorful and delicious and we're going for purity, here.
Cut half of the lemon into round slices and place a slice on each piece of fish. Then use the rest of the lemon to squeeze a little citrusy goodness all over everything.
Set the pan on your camping stove to cook over low heat. You'll want to cook the fish as slowly as possible so it doesn't burn and stays nice and moist.
Here's where things get REALLY innovative: Cover with the other aluminum pan to keep the moisture in. Hello, major life-hack! You now have a salmon oven.
After only about 10-15 minutes of cooking, our salmon was done! It will look, well, 'salmon' in color instead of bright red. Test with a fork and it should be soft and flaky and consistent.
We paired our salmon with the fanciest salad-in-a-bag kit that we could find at the local grocery store. The one we found had kale and cabbage in it. I can't even begin to think how many antioxidants/Omega 3 fatty acids are on one of these plates. Eating this meal probably takes like a year off of your life. Your skin will thank you. Your cardiovascular system will thank you. Your dry eyes will thank you.
Sit down on your most hipster wool blanket and enjoy your salmon that took you hardly any time at all. Hold back the tears that want to fall when you think of how much money you spent that one time when you ate salmon in a restaurant.
After we finished our meal, we explored around the glacier hiking trails. We found a bridge that was sunken under the frosted pond. We attempted to summon it back to functioning order with the mystical powers of Indiana Jones, but, alas, no dice. Just ice.
