A delicious and simple spice-crusted roasted salmon recipe,
from Paula Shoyer’s new book The Healthy Jewish Kitchen.
Do you wish you could eat more healthily? It’s no secret that a lot of Jewish food falls at the less healthy end of the spectrum. Traditional dishes tend to be heavy on the schmaltz and salt. Meanwhile modern recipes often call for the liberal use of highly-processed ingredients such as MSG-laden stock powders or heavily-sweetened sauces.
All of which makes Paula Shoyer’s latest offering, The Healthy Jewish Kitchen, a breath of fresh air on the ‘Jewish cookbook’ shelf.

Not just baking
An American, Paula studied at the Ritz Escoffier in Paris. She is now best known for her baking (her website is thekosherbaker.com). However, this book shows that she excels in all areas of the kitchen. It contains a wide range of fabulous recipes, covering appetisers and salads, soups, meat, fish & vegetarian main dishes, side dishes, and desserts and breads.
Healthier eating habits
The book is forthright in its aim to encourage healthier eating habits. It includes helpful information on stocking a pantry, and meal planning. Paula has also included a section containing menu suggestions for everything from Shabbat lunch to a summer barbecue. This makes it really easy to put together great healthy meals without too much extra effort.

Dietary information
I loved that each recipe was prefaced by information on its dietary suitability e.g. parve, gluten-free, vegan, etc. and whether it’s suitable for Pesach (Passover). Quantities are given in both US measures AND in grams/ml – hurrah!
Each recipe also includes details of preparation and cooking times, and a comprehensive list of the equipment you’ll need to make the dish – right down to things like a vegetable peeler, or a roll of aluminium foil. These details mean you can start cooking, relaxed in the knowledge that you have everything ready and won’t be caught out later.

Hints and tips
Dotted throughout the book are also boxes with hints & tips and extra information, such as how to thoroughly clean leeks, or how to use specialist spices or other ingredients. These often include personal tales and have a wonderful conspiratorial tone. It’s as if Paula was chatting to you about her experiences as you cook.
Delicious healthy recipes
The book is packed with delicious sounding recipes, and it was a challenge to decide which to make first! We eat quite a bit of fish and I’m always looking for new ways to prepare it. So in the end I settled on the recipe for dry-rubbed roasted salmon. It looked fairly easy, and could be part-done in advance, which was perfect for my schedule. The dish applies a robust spice blend to salmon fillets. Then they are left to marinate before cooking in the oven.

I ground the spices in my mortar and pestle, and obtained a coarse mixture which smelled amazing! Even my daughter Kipper, who usually likes her fish quite plain, took a sniff and decided to brave having the mixture on her roasted salmon too.

Roasted salmon – ingredients
The ingredients list for this tasty salmon dish looks intimidating, but the vast majority of it is spices. If you have a reasonably well stocked spice rack you should be able to make this roasted salmon without any difficulty at all. To make this recipe, you will need:
- salmon fillet, whole or cut into pieces
- light brown sugar
- salt

Plus, from the spice rack:
- coriander seeds
- whole black peppercorns
- mustard seeds – black or yellow mustard seeds are both fine
- juniper berries
- fennel seeds
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- smoked or regular paprika
- ground cloves

Roasted salmon – hot or cold
We had the roasted salmon warm for dinner on Friday night, then again cold for Shabbat lunch. It it was really delicious both ways! The fish was succulent, tasty and had a wonderful combination of textures from the crunchy spices.
Kipper loved it too! I’d feared I might have to scrape all the lovely seasoning off her portion, but she was very enthusiastic and ate it all. (The spice blend is quite peppery though, so less adventurous eaters might prefer it toned down a bit.)
More to try…
Next on my list to try are the mango coleslaw, Moroccan lentil soup, roasted broccoli with mustard and za’atar drizzle, and caramelized apple strudel. If you’re a fan of world-food influences, you might also enjoy the Sri Lankan rice with dried fruit and nuts, Tuscan farro soup, fish tacos, Cambodian spring rolls, or Indian spiced rice pudding.

This recipe for dry-rubbed roasted salmon is reproduced with permission from The Healthy Jewish Kitchen by Paula Shoyer.
If you want deliciously easy, family-friendly recipes like this one delivered straight to your inbox, simply click here to subscribe. (Of course, I’ll never pass on your email address to anyone.)

Dry-rubbed roasted salmon
Ingredients
- 3 pound salmon fillet, whole or cut into 6 8-ounce (250g) servings
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon black or yellow mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons juniper berries
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked or regular paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Place the coriander seeds, black peppercorns, mustard seeds, juniper berries, and fennel seeds into a coffee grinder or food processor and grind them into small pieces (making sure none are left whole), but not completely into a powder. If you use a food processor and some of the spices are still too big after processing, crush them using a mortar and pestle, or put them in a quart resealable plastic bag and then smash it with a rolling pin. Transfer the ground seeds, peppercorns, and the rest of the mixture into a small bowl. Add the brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cloves, and salt, and mix well.
- Spread the spice mix on a plate and press each slice of salmon into the mix to cover it completely. Use all the spice mix. Place the fish on a roasting pan, leaving space between the pieces. Let the fish sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap, or refrigerate it if you will be cooking it later.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Bake the salmon for 20 to 22 minutes, 20 minutes if you like it a little pink inside, longer if you want it fully cooked. Serve the fish hot or at room temperature.
Nutrition
More delicious salmon recipes
For more recipes using salmon, take a look at roasted salmon with beetroot and horseradish topping, spicy pan-fried salmon, or salmon with sun-dried tomatoes.
The Healthy Jewish Kitchen by Paula Shoyer, is published by Sterling.
More Jewish cookbook reviews
If you’re in the mood for reading reviews of Jewish cookbooks, check out my thoughts on Modern Jewish Baker, Fress, Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking, Feasting and 100 Best Jewish Recipes.
I’m linking this up with CookBlogShare.
dgriffiths
On a tangent I do recommend you to try the guacamole in a mortar and pestle, there is just something extra added to it when done by hand.
Midge @ Peachicks' Bakery
We love salmon here & this looks like a beautiful recipes – love the idea of all the spices too – it would definitely go down well with The Peachicks!
Helen
Thanks Midge. The spices make it really delicious ?
Katie Bryson (@cookingkt)
I adore Salmon, so I’m really interested in the sound of this rub. There’s nothing finer than these kind of flavours with fish. Wonderful.
Helen
Thanks Katie. The spices really complimented the flavour of the fish.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
Sounds like an amazing book…and I love the sound of this recipe…such delicious flavours…and I always love salmon!! Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare this week. Eb x
Helen
Thanks Eb. It’s a great book – loads of lovely recipes.
Heidi Roberts
I love salmon – this rub looks tasty and healthy
Helen
Us too Heidi. It is – really tasty, and so easy to make.
Dannii
I love salmon any way I can eat it, but that rub sounds lovely. Especially with a little sugar in it.
Helen
It was really delicious! We’re also big fans of salmon, and I’ll definitely be making it this way again.
Amy Nash
Sounds like a great cookbook! I love a good dry rub and salmon, so this is right up my alley! Looking forward to making this at home!
Helen
Thanks Amy. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did 🙂
Tina
I love the idea of this book! Learning to cook Jewish and Israeli food is on my agenda this year. Looking forward to reading her book, and the salmon looks fab!
Helen
Thanks Tina. There are loads of terrific Jewish and Israeli cookbooks about, including this one. Have fun experimenting 🙂
Traci
Wow, all the spices in this recipe must make it so flavorful! Looks pretty too…bookmarking and sharing. Thanks for the review!
Helen
Thanks Traci. It was full of flavour and it looked great – my photos don’t really do it justice!
Rebecca
This is so mouthwatering!
Helen
Thanks Rebecca. It was really good.
Julia
Mmm, it’s been ages since I had salmon! The dry rub sounds just like the perfect coating for this fish. Delicious!
Helen
Thanks Julia – it was really tasty.