This delicious salmon gratin recipe gets an extra boost of flavor and nutrition from crimini mushrooms and broccoli, and a generous sprinkling of melted mozzarella cheese. It’s a perfect way to enjoy a healthy and satisfying meal that’s also easy to make.
Salmon Gratin: French Dish With A Japanese Twist
Gratin is a French dish… originally. But strangely enough, it’s really popular in Japan!
So Japan does this thing where… they take things from other countries and then go crazy with it. Liiiiike have you ever had Japanese crepes? Oh baby. And how about cars? Any type of electronic device? Yeah, Japan is all about taking things from other countries and making it better.
You might not think gratin, which is basically any dish that has either a cheese or breadcrumb (or both) topping that gets browned in the oven, would be very Japanese. But, it’s just one of those things that took off, and now it’s a typical weeknight meal.
I thought it was a popular dish in America, since I grew up eating it, but turns out it’s actually not so common. My husband had never heard of it before, which made me realize… I had eaten it because my Japanese mother made it as a Japanese dish, not an American one.
Weird. I mean, doesn’t it just seem so… American? A white sauce, cheese, bread… a lot of times it’ll have potatoes or pasta in it… It seems so American! Well, I guess we DO eat scalloped potatoes a lot here. But there just isn’t the variation that you see in Japan.
The recipe I’m sharing with you is a healthy salmon gratin, with lots of vitamins and nutrients! It’s packed with salmon, mushrooms, broccoli, and onion! If broccoli and mushrooms aren’t your thing, you can substitute other veggies in there. Just make sure you cook or steam them first. The oven stage is just to melt the cheese and brown the top. Most importantly, this dish is very light and low-calorie, so you don’t have to worry about being overweight.
This gratin is easy to prepare, and SUCH a comfort food. Not to mention, if you make it in the individual dishes, it’s kind of a fun presentation. Of course, if you don’t have individual gratin dishes, you can make it in a bigger dish and just scoop it onto a plate!
Look at thaaaat. Mmmsalmonyumyumyum.
p.s. need a gratin dish
Salmon Gratin
Ingredients
- 2 6-8 oz salmon fillets skin removed
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 4 oz crimini mushrooms
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 400 ml milk
- 3 Tablespoon butter
- 6 Tablespoon all purpose flour
- salt to taste
- mozzarella or white cheese blend
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Instructions
Make White Sauce
- Combine the thinly sliced onion and flour.6 Tablespoon all purpose flour,1 small onion, thinly sliced
- Heat a skillet over low heat and add the butter.3 Tablespoon butter
- Add the onion and cook until no longer powdery and white.
- Add the milk a little bit at a time, stirring well after each addition. Once the milk is added, continue to stir until thickened.400 ml milk
- Salt to taste.salt
Cook Salmon & Veggies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut the broccoli florets into bite sized pieces and either boil in salted water, microwave and salt, or steam and salt.2 cups broccoli florets
- Cut salmon fillets into bitesized pieces and salt.2 6-8 oz salmon fillets
- Cut mushrooms into quarters (or in half, or in sixths according to size).4 oz crimini mushrooms
- Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and brown the salmon pieces.
- Remove salmon and saute and salt the mushrooms.
Bake
- Put the broccoli, mushrooms, and salmon into either individual gratin dishes or a casserole dish.
- Pour white sauce on top and lightly stir to help bring pieces to the top.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the top and cook in oven until melted. Do a quick pass under the broiler to brown the top more, if desired.mozzarella or white cheese blend
Notes
Nutrition
I made this tonight. It is baking to melt the cheese right now I used a broccoli blend. That’s all I had. I put it all in a casserole dish. It looks amazing! Thank you for this recipe. I will let you know the outcome !
Thank you for sharing, great tasting & super easy!
However, curious how this is a Japanese dish? Maybe I’m just used to Americanized Japanese food but I’ve never seen a seen a cheese smothered, baked entree on any Japanese menu…
Hi RC, thanks for the comment! Gratin is a really popular home dish in Japan! Japan loves to take foreign dishes and make them their own, and gratin is a great example of that. So you won’t be seeing it on any American Japanese restaurant menus, but you would definitely find it on the menu in Japanese homes and restaurants!
Hi! Can I use oat milk instead?
I’m not familiar with cooking with oat milk, but if it can be substituted for milk with baking and other cooking applications, I’m assuming it would be fine!
Oh this is so delicious! I cut off some corn off of a couple of cons and added that with some diced cooked red potatoes. Will definitely make this again!
Thanks LaDawn, glad you liked it! The corn and red potatoes sound like great additions!
Was very easy to follow. And turned out delicious, definitely will make again.
Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Could you add potato’s? Would you have to fully cook them first?
Hi Mary Jo, each ingredient (broccoli, salmon, mushrooms) is sauteed or steamed before it goes into the gratin dishes, so I would do the same if you are adding potatoes! We are putting it in the oven to melt the cheese and meld everything together, so it wouldn’t be long enough to cook the potato at all. Hope that helps!
What does the measurement T represent please ( English ) thank you .
T is tablespoon and t is teaspoon ?