Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

RAVE

Trader Joe’s Skinless and Boneless Salmon poached in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Top TJ’s Product!

Trader Joe’s came out with this product called “Lightly Smoked Salmon“. It’s a bit of an odd name but a great product. It’s in a pink can along with the cans of tuna, sardines, and two or three other kinds of “normal” cans of salmon they carry. However compared to those other cans of salmon this stuff is Off The Charts better. We are talking Gourmet Level. Now the first time I saw this I was both curious and confused by the name. Canned “smoked salmon”?? So first off just ignore that. It’s not smoked salmon. What it is is the best, repeat The Best canned salmon you ever tasted. Not anything like “smoked salmon”. A more accurate name for this would have been something like “Gourmet Canned Salmon” or “Olive Oil Poached Salmon”, which what this is. This stuff makes me think about those imported pricey gourmet tins of fish like high end canned tuna from Spain (Ortiz for example) which sell for $15-19 I see at Zabar’s and Fairway. “Lightly Smoked Salmon” is skinless, boneless salmon poached in extra virgin olive oil. Word has gotten out and Trader Joe’s has a hit here and sometimes it’s even sold out as it’s become so popular.

When you open the can, you will find a really nice hunk of pure meaty salmon swimming in lovely orange colored olive oil along with it’s juices. It was cooked (“poached”) in the can in this EVOO and because of this, the salmon is so moist and flaky. The fish has a wonderful flavor and texture from this decent quality extra virgin olive oil (probably Chilean?) Yes it is farmed Atlantic salmon not wild but it is high quality. This is a “Product of Chile” which I’ve learned is the world’s second largest producer of salmon. Now while “Applewood smoke” is listed in the ingredients I can’t really taste any smoke flavor so again forget about that. Just know when I first tried this to review it I found it so tasty I kept saying to myself “well let me just try one more bite” and soon noticed the can was almost empty. Now about that Golden Colored Stuff it is swimming in? It’s wonderful. If you dump this oil out you are making a huge mistake. Therefore I am ordering you: “Do not even think about dumping out that Golden Elixer”! Like how one usually immediately drains off all the oil in a can of tuna? But in this can, the golden oil is wonderful It’s the salmon’s cooking broth and decent quality EVOO and this golden elixer is a super yummy sauce just oozing with UMAMI. Spoon this golden sauce on the fish, add a squeeze of lemon. Ah! So good. You could equally spoon some of that flavorful golden sauce on top of say your salmon and greens salad, or say boiled potatoes, or rice bowl, or what have you when you serve with the salmon. You can think of this can of salmon exactly like it’s a piece of poached salmon, which is more or less what it is. You can simply open the can up and put it on a plate. Put it on top of a salad or greens or in a protein bowl, or mashed up into an avocado. Voila, you have an easy, instant, delicious – and healthy! – dinner or lunch with no effort. This salmon is wonderful as-is right out of the can. Try it on toast, or a toasted bagel, or on crackers. I found this is a perfect match with TJ’s great Norwegian CRISPBREAD for a Scandinavian style open faced sandwich. This salmon is especially perfect for summertime heat or whenever you don’t feel like cooking. Mix a bit of mayo and lemon juice into this and you can have a wonderful salmon salad in about a minute. The other night I didn’t feel like cooking. I found I had a nice ripe avocado I needed to use, so I just mixed a can of this salmon with a little mayo, lemon juice and some Peri-Peri sauce and spooned that into an avocado and voila! I ate this lovely avocado stuffed with salmon for dinner, which took me less than 5 minutes and was so tasty.

One serving contains 190 calories and a whopping 21 grams of protein. The 5 oz can has about 3.6 oz of drained salmon. It’s $3.69. Product of Chile. Great pantry item. I would gladly buy it again.

RECIPE IDEA – Japanese Salmon Rice Bowl: I make this all the time. Put some fresh cooked rice in a bowl (if you have it, short grain) Now top it with this salmon, which you flaked up. Drizzle some of the Golden Oil over things. Sprinkle on a TJ’s Furikake seaweed seasoning and chopped scallions. Mix gently. YUM. Dinner! Optional: a sprinkle of Soy Sauce and a sprinkle of Toasted Sesame Oil. Maybe slices of avocado and cucumbers?

One might even get extra cans of this salmon and put it away in your larder for a year or two to improve with age (canned fish improves with age like wine*) *Spain and Portugal have some bodegas which specialize tinned fish and seafood aged for a year or two or three… Believe it or not the cans of fish improve with age like fine wine. Here’s a video of the late great Tony Bourdain visiting one of the most famouse of these bodegas in Spain, eating cans of seafood and loving every bite…. EL ESPINALER