Foil-Packet Salmon Rolls with Dill Sauce
Pouch salmon, a shelf-stable dill mayo, and a roll. Ten minutes from pack to hand.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 89
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Dinner
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Day hike
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Foil pouch salmon | 2 pouches, about 5 oz each | pouches beat cans, no liquid to drain and no lid to pack out |
|---|---|---|
| Single-serve mayonnaise packets | 1/2 cup total | shelf-stable and portioned, no jar to keep cold |
| Sour cream powder | 2 tbsp | plus 1 tbsp water to reconstitute |
| Dried dill | 2 tsp | |
| Dried basil | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried chives | 1 tsp | stands in for scallions |
| White wine vinegar | 1/2 tsp | a dropper bottle, or one packet of vinegar |
| Capers | 1 1/2 tsp, drained | pack in a small screw-top vial |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/8 tsp each | |
| Olive oil | 1 tsp | |
| Deli rolls | 2 | sturdy crumb, a soft brioche will fall apart |
| Baby spinach | a handful | day one only, or skip it |
Method
- Stir the sour cream powder with 1 tbsp water in a freezer bag or cup until smooth.
- Add the mayo, vinegar, dried dill, basil, chives, salt, and pepper. Work the bag until it is one color, then let it sit five minutes so the dried herbs rehydrate.
- Fold in the capers whole. Do not mash them.
- Open the salmon pouches and break the fish into large flakes. Toss with the olive oil.
- Split the rolls, spread sauce on both cut faces, lay down spinach if you have it, then pile on the salmon and close.
The original grilled fresh fillets and blended a sauce in a food processor, neither of which happens away from a kitchen. Pouch salmon is already cooked, already flaked, and keeps at ambient temperature for years, so the fish stops being the hard part. The sauce is the whole recipe anyway.
Dried dill and chives need liquid and a few minutes to taste like anything, which is why the sauce gets mixed first and the sandwich gets built last. Sour cream powder plus a little water replaces the fresh stuff and thins the mayo enough to spread in cold weather. Capers go in last and stay whole: they are the only sharp thing in a sandwich that is otherwise fat and fish.
Packing
Premix the dry herbs, salt, and pepper into one small bag at home. Salmon pouches, mayo packets, capers, and rolls travel separately. Rolls go on top of the pack or you will eat flatbread.
Variations
- No rolls: eat the salmon and sauce on rye crisps or wrapped in a tortilla, which packs flatter and keeps longer.
- Swap the salmon for two pouches of tuna and cut the cost roughly in half.
- A squeeze of lemon juice from a plastic packet in place of the vinegar.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/cookbook-of-the-month-recipe-salmon-sandwiches