30 Before 30: Roasted Salmon with Cheddar Dijon Bechamel (#17)

I know I said I needed to stop using roasted as a title so much, but guys, roasted things are so good! Sockeye has been on sale a lot lately, so we got more. I can't help myself, I just love salmon so much. Wanting to branch out even more than the meuniere and maybe find a good alfredo, I poked around my cookbooks and found something even more different. I was excited because I had almost everything on the ingredient list at home already, something that has been a major challenge within the challenge this month. I had to sub out the Dijon for sweet hot mustard because I was out for some reason (we are a multi-mustard home). I also subbed in some amazing herb tagliatelle from Pastaworks for the rice since we'd already been out shopping that day and it's fresh pasta. You can't say no to that. I also cut this recipe in half, which leads to two very large servings of salmon – but it's salmon. Don't say no.

Roasted Salmon with Cheddar Dijon Bechamel via The Tillamook Cheese Cookbook:

Serves 6

6 6 oz. Center-cut salmon fillets, skin-on

3 Tb. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tb. Dijon mustard

Freshly ground black pepper

1½ c. whole milk or half-and-half

¼ c. Dijon mustard

1 Tb. all-purpose flour

1 large egg yolk

2¼ c. shredded white extra sharp cheddar cheese

Salt

3 c. hot, cooked wild or brown rice

Position the oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place the fillets, skin side down, on a baking sheet. Mix the olive oil and mustard, and brush on the tops and sides of the salmon and sprinkle with pepper. Roast until the fish is just opaque, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by combining the milk, mustard, flour, and egg yolk in a small saucepan. Whisk to blend, and cook over medium heat, whisking gently and constantly, until the mixture just begins to bubble, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and add ¾ cup of the cheese. Stir, until the cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, place a spoonful of rice on serving plates. Lift the fillets from the skin with a metal spatula, and place the salmon on the rice. Spoon the sauce over the fish and rice. Sprinkle each serving with ¼ cup of the remaining cheese.

We had ours with some steamed broccoli. This was one of my favorite meals this month because it was new, it was easy, it was fast, and I managed to get all of the components of dinner done at about the same time.

Recipes Complete: 17

Recipes to Go: 13

30 Before 30: Salmon Meuniere (#1)

I love, love, LOVE sockeye salmon. It makes for delicious lox. It makes for delicious dinners. It basically makes for delicious everything. I usually just bake it with lemon and butter and call it good, but since I'm doing my 30 before 30, I wanted to try something new. Well new resulted in very similar flavors. It was fun anyway, as are most Alton Brown recipes.

Very rarely do I have to double a recipe. The one posted below is for one. Double everything and turn up the heat a bit.

Salmon Meuniere via Good Eats – The Early Years:

1 8 oz. skin-on sockeye fillet (or trout, if you're into river fish)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tb. canola oil

2 Tb. unsalted butter, divided

1 Tb. capers, drained but not rinsed

1/2 medium lemon, juiced

2 Tb. finely chopped parsley

Put a 12-inch skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat, avoiding non-stick.

Season flesh side of salmon with salt and pepper. Dredge fish with all-purpose flour. I followed Alton's tip here to put a 1/2 cup per fillet into a lidded rectangular container, cover with the lid, and gently shake it. Shake off the excess flour and move along. So much easier than regular dredging!

Add oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to hot pan. The butter will melt, then foam, then turn light brown. My pan was a wee bit too hot and the butter proceeded almost immediately to medium brown. It was a nuttier flavor and good, but not my intention.

Add fish to pan, flesh side down. Gently jiggle the pan to make sure there's not sticking. Cook until a golden crust forms on the fish, about 2 minutes. If the fat in the pan starts smoking around the edges, drop the heat a bit.

Using a slotted spatula or fish turner, flip the fish away from you and jiggle a little harder than before and cook another 2 minutes or until the meat facing up starts to flake or separate.

Remove fish to a plate. Add the remaining butter to the pan and when it melts, add the capers. Fry them for 30 seconds, then kill the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Swirl until sauce thickens slightly from the flour.

Pour the sauce over the salmon and garnish with parsley.

The one big benefit to this recipe as opposed to my old stand-by was how much faster it was. Oh, and who can say no to crispy salmon skin?

Recipes Complete: 1

Recipes to Go: 29

Salmon Pasta

This is a really simple recipe from last summer and while I don’t remember exactly what I did, it looks like something I do fairly often in the summer and I know it’s good.

Salmon Pasta:

Serves 2

1 large wild Alaskan salmon fillet
Herbs of choice (here is rosemary, dill, and tarragon)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
Cooked pasta (pappardelle is great for this dish)

 Salt, pepper, and herb your salmon. In a medium size pan over medium-high heat with a bit of olive oil, grill it until done. Fish cooks quickly, so watch it. When done, set aside. In the same pan, add more olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic until tender and fragrant. While this is happening, break up the salmon into bite size pieces. Remove pan from heat, return the salmon to the pan with the cooked pasta, and mix together. Serve immediately.

This is a fast recipe and it rocks with some grilled summer vegetables or salad.

Home-Cured Lox

What is a bagel without lox? Well, a lot of things, but it’s better with lox. As I mentioned in the bagel post, my dad made lox whenever my grandma came to town with her box o’ bagels. Being in Alaska, we had lots of access to good fish, particularly my favorite for lox, sockeye (or red) salmon. When talking to my folks about Jew brunch, I was asked what brought it on. The answer is simple: I saw a beautiful piece of sockeye for a decent price at the store and decided to go for it. So why is lox second in my postings if it was the impetuous for the whole brunch? Because the bagel entry took longer to type and it’s the base for the bagel sandwich. That’s why. Make this. You will be so pleased.

Home-Cured Lox from Deli:

¼ c. kosher salt
¼ c. sugar
1-2 Tb. freshly ground pepper
1½ lb. salmon fillet in one piece, with skin


Combine the salt, sugar, and pepper. Spread half the mixture on the bottom of a shallow glass baking dish of a size to hold the salmon comfortably. Remove any small bones left in the salmon. Dry the salmon well with paper towels. Rub the skin side with a little bit of the remaining salt-sugar mixture. Rub the rest of the mixture into the other side of the fish. Place the fish, skin side down, in the glass dish. Cover well with plastic wrap.


Place another dish on top of the salmon. Cover with a cutting board and place a weight on the board – a clean brick or some heavy canned goods (obviously I like green beans). Refrigerate for 72 hours. Every 12 hours, remove the weights, unwrap the fish, and baste with the liquid that has accumulated in the dish. Then re-wrap, re-cover, and return to the refrigerator.


At the end of the 3-day period, remove the fish from the dish and scrape off the remaining pepper. Or try to and then give up when not that much comes off. Dry, wrap well in plastic wrap, and return to the refrigerator for one more day.


To serve, place skin side down on a cutting board. With a thin, sharp carving knife, slice thinly on the diagonal, detaching flesh from the skin as you slice. Serve with bagels, cream cheese, tomatoes, and sliced sweet onion.


There would have been more to serve, but I kept eating it while slicing it off the fish. It’s kind of hard not to eat it with the smell of bagels in the oven and the anticipation of a feast on your mind. Plus, lox is ridiculously delicious. This is probably one of things I have made that I am most proud of. It came out exactly the way I wanted it to. I suppose it was a good thing I was eating so much of it because lox does not keep for long. It gets slimy after a few days, so invite some friends over and eat it up.

But what did this lox rest on? Well, of course it was cream cheese, but not store bought. Up next, the conclusion of Jew brunch!

Anniversary Dinner

On February 2nd, Aaron and I celebrated nine years together. Over time our celebrations have gotten a bit smaller, especially since we also have our wedding anniversary to celebrate, and now we mostly cook for each other. I kept it fairly simple this time around and I think it was really nice.

We had baked salmon, spicy broccoli, dill Israeli couscous, and garlic crostini. I didn’t follow recipes for any of these, but it was such a fantastic dinner that I had to share.

This is what I did:

The salmon was a gorgeous about one pound piece of sockeye. I heated the oven to 350 degrees. In a big casserole dish, Aaron rubbed it down with butter. I cut the skin off of the filet and he rubbed both sides with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. We then dotted the salmon with butter, squeezed some lemon juice on it, and sprinkled it with diced garlic.

It went into the oven for about 20 minutes. You can tell when the salmon is done when it turns a much lighter pink and it just looks tasty.

For the Israeli couscous, I put it in a pot with water, mixed in dill, pepper, garlic, and kosher salt and brought the water to a boil. It’s a similar ratio of couscous to water like rice to water. I reduced to a simmer and covered it while it cooked for another eight minutes or so. The consistency is a lot more like pasta, but it cooks like rice. I love it.

While the couscous was going and the salmon was in the oven, I heated olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, tossed in broccoli florets, crushed red pepper, my ubiquitous garlic, salt, and pepper, and cooked that for about 30-45 seconds. When the broccoli was still bright green, but a little toasty, I turned the heat down, added about ½ a cup of water, and covered until the broccoli was cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.

Finally, while the salmon was cooking, I cut up a couple of pieces of rosemary loaf, brushed them with garlic olive oil, and put them in the oven with the salmon until they were crispy and browned. While the salmon was resting, I pulled them out and rubbed them with a cut clove of garlic.



Overall, the dinner was delicious and it was a great way to celebrate another year with my baby.

Salmon Chowder

What would you say if I told you I made chowder just because I had already purchased oyster crackers? Because yeah, I made chowder because Trader Joe’s was selling boxes of oyster crackers. This chowder, though, is quite worthy of all those crackers. The original recipe is here and it has been modified quite a bit. I do like the note in it that says preferably wild on the salmon filet. I’m from Alaska. Aaron’s from Alaska. We only eat wild salmon in this house. Whenever we go out, we check if the salmon on the menu is wild. If not, we don’t eat it. I even make sure my friends ask (if they’re not from AK. If they are, they already do).

Anyway, not the point. Salmon is delicious and wonderful though and sockeye has always been my favorite. I just love the color and the taste. Plus, it makes for amazing lox. And apparently chowder too.

Salmon Chowder modified from Gourmet via epicurious.com:

Makes 6 servings

About 1 lb. red potatoes
6 oz. sliced bacon (we used about 2 oz. regular thick cut bacon and the rest turkey bacon)
2-3 Tb. butter
1 bunch scallions
¼ sweet onion
6 cloves garlic (they said 3. Ha!)
1 c. frozen corn
Dash of thyme
1 bay leaf
Few dashes of crushed red pepper
3 c. whole milk
2/3 c. heavy cream
1 lb. sockeye salmon filet (always wild. Always), skin discarded and fish cut into 1” pieces
Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
Roux



Accidentally dice up ¾ lb of red potatoes. Cut remaining potatoes into ½” cubes. Boil water in pot and add potatoes, cooking until the large pieces are tender. Drain in colander and set aside.

Add scallions, onion and garlic into a food processor and pulse until diced (about 5-6 pulses).







Cook bacon in heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. If you use mostly turkey bacon, add in butter with the bacon fat, otherwise there won’t be enough fat to cook with. Cook scallions, corn, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and red-pepper flakes in fat in pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until scallions are tender, about 5 minutes. Add milk and cream and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat to moderately low, then add potatoes, salmon, bacon, salt, and pepper and cook, gently stirring occasionally, until salmon is just cooked through and begins to break up as you stir, 5 to 8 minutes.

At this point, Aaron and I realized that the chowder, while smelling and tasting delicious, wasn’t really thick enough to call chowder. So I threw together a roux and we mixed that in and it thickened right up. So delicious. Discard bay leaf before serving.





Ladle into individual bowls and cover with an insane number of oyster crackers.

This chowder (or should I say chowda?) was so delicious, I can’t believe I ever stopped eating it. It’s got just the right amount of salt, salmon, potato. It is perfect in every way. Next time, it’s going in a bread bowl!

Grilled Salmon

It has been very hot in Portland. Very, very hot. There were rumors that it might get to 108 degrees in some parts of Portland yesterday. I also heard 111. As a result, I have not been cooking very much. Or at all, really. Aaron's been cooking and grilling, but now it's just too hot for any of that nonsense. So rather than bore you with what I've been eating (mostly Otter Pops), I've got a short post about grilling salmon and why it is wonderful.

I love salmon. It's not just being from Alaska, although that does have a lot to do with my love, salmon is just wonderful. Correction, WILD salmon is wonderful. I don't eat farmed and I eat Pacific only and Alaskan when I can. Grilling salmon is so fantastic and it really lets the fish shine through. All you really need is a piece of fish, some butter, salt and pepper. I went an extra step last time and added basil and sage from my own garden (I love saying that!). It was delicious. Heck, you don’t even need that stuff if you don’t want to. Salmon is delicious in and of itself.



Either way, go get some delicious, tasty, wild salmon. And, if you feel like it, dot it with butter, a bit of salt and pepper and some herbs if you feel like it. Wrap it up in foil. Throw it on the grill and wait until it is cooked through and a beautiful light pink. You'll know when. It will be moist and delicious and you'll thank goodness for fish and summer. Unless it's like right now and you just wish you were a fish and could swim around all day.

Did I mention it's hot?

I've got some things up my sleeve for when it cools down, some of which involve my oven. I'm not touching that thing until I'm not on a steady diet of Poncho Punch and Sir Isaac Lime. See you on the other side.