Asked what they want of a chef's cookbook, most readers would reply, good contemporary recipes I can actually make at home. This seemingly simple requirement can sometimes be lost in the rush to deliver signature dishes that serve to support or further reputation. Fortunately, that isn't the case with Inspired by Ingredients by Bill Telepan, chef at Manhattan's JUdson Grill. Noted for his fresh, direct cooking, Telepan gives readers 80-plus recipes for a wide range of year-round dishes.
Salmon with Braised Cauliflower, Lemon Brown Butter, and a Pine Nut–Currant Crust
Recipe from:
Inspired by Ingredients
by Bill Telepan, Andrew Friedman, Photographs by Quentin Bacon Cookbook Heaven at
Recipelink.com
This salmon dish was inspired by the flavors and textures of pasta alla palina, a traditional Sicilian pasta dish made with bread crumbs, cauliflower, pine nuts, currants, and anchovies. The thing that drew me to this recipe was the cabbage-like flavor of cauliflower, which I’ve always enjoyed pureed and in soups, and even steamed with cheese sauce when I was a kid. Roasting or braising cauliflower is the best way to maximize its flavor, but you can use it just about any way you’d use broccoli: steamed, blanched, or sauteed. When shopping for cauliflower, there’s an easy way to test its freshness: if you rub its florets and they break easily, it’s getting old and should be passed over.
Servings: 4
CRUST:
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 tablespoon dried currants, soaked in warm water for 1 hour and drained
1/2 anchovy fillet, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dry white wine
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
CAULIFLOWER:
2 tablespoons butter
1 small head cauliflower, cut into 2-inch-long florets, then halved lengthwise
1/2 cup vegetable stock
SALMON:
8 sprigs rosemary
8 sprigs thyme
8 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
4 skinless salmon fillets, 6 to 7 ounces each, ideally cut from the head end
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
BROWN BUTTER AND ASSEMBLY:
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup cream
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
CRUST: Spread the pine nuts out on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and let the pine nuts cool to room temperature.
Place the currants, pine nuts, and anchovy in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until coarsely chopped.
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a sauté pan set over low heat. Add the onion and garlic, and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and reduce until dry, 2 to 3 minutes.
Place the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a sauté pan set over high heat and cook until melted and brown. Add the bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until golden brown, working quickly so the crumbs remain crisp. Add the currant mixture and onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper, toss, and set aside.
CAULIFLOWER: Melt the butter in a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower florets, cut side down, and sauté until well browned, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook until the other side is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the stock, cover, and let simmer over low heat until the florets are almost tender, about 5 minutes. Remove
the lid, raise the heat to high, bring the liquid to a boil, and let boil until reduced and thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
SALMON: Arrange half the rosemary, thyme, and parsley sprigs on a baking sheet. Put the fish fillets, skinned side down, on top of the herbs. Scatter the remaining herb sprigs over the fish. Cover the fish with plastic wrap, molding the wrap around the fish to keep it moist, and gently press the herbs into the flesh. Place the fish in the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Remove the fish from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature about 15 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap from the fish. Remove the herbs from above and below the fillets and set aside. Rub 1 teaspoon olive oil into each side of the fillets and season both sides with salt.
Spread all of the herbs on the baking sheet and place the fillets on the herb bed in a single layer. Roast until just opaque in the center, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets (pry apart the flesh on 1 fillet to check for doneness).
Brush the top of the salmon (not the skinned side) with olive oil and sprinkle with the crust.
BROWN BUTTER AND ASSEMBLY: Place the lemon juice in a deep, heatproof bowl.
Place the butter and cream in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and whisk constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise and the milk solids separate out and float on top. Transfer the mixture to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process for 20 seconds to break up the solids. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, for about 3 minutes, until its color changes from reddish brown to a deep walnut brown.
Add the mixture to the lemon juice (it will foam up a bit). Swirl the sauce and lemon around, and season with salt and pepper. (You may notice little bits of milk solids in the mixture, but don’t worry about them; they’re sweet, nutty, and delicious.) Set aside.
To serve, divide the cauliflower among four warm dinner plates. Top with the salmon. Drizzle with brown butter and pass any remaining brown butter on the side.
WINE A rich, ripe Alsatian white would stand up to the flavors in this dish. Try a pinot blanc or the Pinot Auxerrois Vieille Vignes from Albert Mann, a producer from Alsace, France.
