The supply of salmon seems endless and almost all of us indulge on a regular basis. After all, if you go to a catered event, your choices generally are steak, chicken or salmon. And salmon is often the safe choice.
With safety can come boredom. It’s tragic that over time this wonderful fish can lose its magic. There are so many ways to serve salmon that it should always be inspiring. How to do that? It’s the sauce and the side. Here the salmon is stacked atop mashed peas and then adorned with herbed butter. You keep the salmon flavor, but anoint it with these accompaniments that make this dish lively to look at and then consumed with surprising pleasure. Yes, this dish is different.
Peas are one of the few food that you can freeze, defrost, and find yourself still with the original taste. Here the texture is transformed by mashing and the flavor is accelerated with onion and cream. The peas provides a lively nip on your palate and well complements the salmon proteins.
As the picture shows, you might as well go all-orange here. Pair this salmon with a side of sautéed carrots, either babies or slices. When you cook them, you can experiment with herbs and spices to match that tarragon butter.
Suzen often serves this dish now for her cooking classes at Cooking by the Book. It's a great recipe for team cooking or for your culinary club. The peas, the butter, and the salmon itself can all be divided out among your group so everyone is happily "employed." And, when the parts come together into that final dish, everyone can take pride. In the kitchen, you can both satisfy your stomach and brighten your soul.
Salmon with Mashed Peas and Tarragon Butter
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 pound frozen peas (about 3cups)
- 7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, 6tablespoons cubed
- ½ medium onion, diced
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons slivered tarragon
- Four 6-ounce salmon fillets, with skin
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
In a large saucepan of boiling water, cook the peas until tender, 3 to 4minutes; drain. In the same saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter sauté ½ chopped onion until soft and translucent. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Add the peas and mash with a potato masher until chunky. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
In a small saucepan, simmer the wine with the lemon juice over moderate heat until reduced to 1 tablespoon, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, one cube at a time, until the sauce is thickened. Whisk in the tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the sauce to a small bowl and keep warm.
Heat a grill pan. Rub the salmon with the olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill skin side down over moderate heat, turning once, until browned and just cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Spoon the mashed peas onto plates and top with the salmon, skin side up. Spoon the tarragon-butter sauce over the salmon and serve
Source: Chef Gerado Valenzuela in Food and Wine Magazine, 2014
Photo Information Canon T2i, EFS 60 mm Macro Lens, F/4.5 for 1/50th second at ISO‑500