Baked Salmon with Tarragon - Lemon Sauce Recipe

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly salt and pepper salmon and arrange in a single layer in a lightly oiled baking dish. Bake 8 - 10 minutes, depending on thickness, until the fish appears opaque and is easily flaked with a fork. While the oven heats and the fish bakes, prepare the sauce (can also be done ahead). Zest and juice the lemon. (See TIP , below) Chop the onion. In a small skillet, melt butter. Add onion and cook 2 minutes over medium heat (to soften, not brown). Add wine, lemon juice and zest, and cook until liquid is reduced to 3 or 4 tablespoons. Chop tarragon finely and add to sauce. Mix well and set aside. When fish is done, spoon sauce over it and serve immediately. TIP : to zest a lemon, remove only the yellow part of the skin. The inner white part is very bitter. Use a small sharp knife or a zester, a tool specially designed for zesting . If using a knife, finely chop the zest. Zest is easiest to remove before cutting or juicing the lemon, but juiced rinds, if frozen for 5 - 10 minutes, are easy to zest. Some cooks freeze and save their lemon rinds to always have a ready source of zest.