Cooking at the Cove: Salmon with a maple twist for St. Patrick’s Day

Serve some salmon, sweet with a little heat, and add some green for your St. Patrick’s Day meal. Karen Schneider / For The Forecaster

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, I’m reminded of my trips along the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland and all the lovely restaurant meals I’ve enjoyed there where salmon is served front and center.

Here in the states, I eat a lot of salmon as well, and am always looking for ways to change it up and dress it up. Here we have a little sweet and a little heat, along with fresh dill just because. Of course you can experiment with other herbs if you wish, and if you want to use fruit preserves instead of maple syrup, I can vouch for no-sugar-added fig, cherry, apricot or peach varieties. Maple syrup is the clear favorite, though.

Karen Schneider cooks and writes in the village of Cundy’s Harbor. You can reach her at iwrite33@comcast.net or 504-0545.

And because we’re smack in the middle of March in Maine, embracing the magnificent mapleness, let’s bake maple oatmeal scones.

I’ll admit these are a bit of a job to do, but well worth the effort. Remember, the butter, buttermilk and eggs should all be very cold, and remember not to overmix.

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, use whole milk with a teaspoon of white or apple cider vinegar stirred in, allowing it to sit in the fridge for 10 minutes or so before adding to the other ingredients.

The glaze is lovely, but if you’d rather make maple-infused butter, just soften the butter and whip in enough maple syrup so that it tastes exactly as you want it to. Either way, you’ll want to eat these scones warm, accompanied by a pot of strong hot tea. (Try spiking that with the syrup as well.)

I really don’t know if the Irish put maple syrup in their scones over there across the pond, but if not, they definitely should start. I’m sure you agree.

Herbed sweet and spicy salmon

2 pounds salmon fillets

2 teaspoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3/4 teaspoon sriracha sauce

1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the salmon on the baking sheet and brush evenly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, combine maple syrup and sriracha.

Roast for 7 minutes, then remove from the oven and spread a thin layer of the sauce on the salmon. Sprinkle with dill, then lightly press with the back of a spoon to embed the herbs into the fillets.

Return to the oven and roast for about 7 more minutes, or until the fish flakes evenly with a fork.

Yield: 4 servings

Maple oatmeal scones

3½ cups flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound cold butter, diced

1/2 cup cold buttermilk

1/2 cup maple syrup

4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Blend the cold butter in at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-size pieces.

Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup and eggs and add to the flour and butter mixture, mixing just until blended. The dough may be sticky.

Scoop the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4- to 1-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into 3-inch rounds with a plain or fluted biscuit cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are flaky.

Cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle each scone with 1 tablespoon of glaze. Sprinkle some uncooked oats on the top of each for garnish.

Yield: 14 scones