A B.C.-inspired meal to celebrate Canada's gold medal in womens snowboard cross today (one of my favourite events - it's like roller derby on a snowboard!). Actually a note on the wine first (2007 Gray Monk Pinot Noir) - I was hoping to sneak out of the office and catch the race at a nearby bar, but unfortunately scheduled a meeting at the same time that I couldn't get out of. So I was diligent about not responding to text messages, answering phone calls or emails, or using the interweb until after I got home from work and streamed the event online. I made it all the way to the wine store next to my house (iPod in tow, to block out potential discussion of the event by passersby) and when I was paying for my Pinot Noir, making small talk with the clerk, he mentioned how psyched he was about the womens snowboarding gold medal. "DAMN!" I exclaimed, "I was just about to stream that online, I've made a point of avoiding all human/computer contact in the last 2 hours so I could be surprised!". Needless to say, he felt badly, and I got a discounted bottle of wine!
Ingredients:- salmon (individual piece or fillet, just adjust the glaze recipe accordingly)
- spinach
- new/fingerling potatoes
Salmon glaze ingredients:
- lemon juice
- mayonnaise (seems odd, but keeps the salmon moist)
- mustard (I used both dijon and a dill-pepper my roommate stole from a stampede party, but feel free to improvise)
- maple syrup
1. Combine equal parts of all ingredients. I made an entire fillet of salmon and about 1-2 tablespoons of each suited me. Adjust to suit your individual taste.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover a baking tray or other oven suitable dish with tinfoil (enough to wrap around the salmon) and put salmon in middle. Curl edges up so when you pour the glaze on top it does not leak. Cover salmon with glaze and fold tinfoil over to seal salmon. Set aside.
3. Slice potatoes in half. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add potatoes. Also, put salmon in oven.
4. Allow potatoes to boil until soft (approx. 10 minutes). Once soft, drain water and dump potatoes into baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, butter, salt, pepper as desired (I used butter, of course), and put
in oven with salmon. Set timer for another 5 minutes.5. The salmon will be done when you stick a fork in it and it flakes slightly along the grain of the flesh, but the meat itself does not separate. It may be done after 5 minutes, or may take another 5 minutes.
6. While waiting for salmon and potatoes to finish, add a small amount of water to the pot you used to boil potatoes just to cover the bottom an inch or so (if still clean) and add a significant amount of spinach (it will shrink when you wilt it). Over medium heat, stir spinach until it reduces to about half the size and then drain. It should only take 2 minutes or so.
7. Remove salmon and potatoes from oven. Drain spinach and plate. Cut salmon steaks and serve on top of spinach, with potatoes on the side. I finished my potatoes with chives, but rosemary, thyme, garlic, or various other spices/herbs would also be delicious.
8. Enjoy with a glass of wine!
A note on the wine pairing: I enjoyed this meal with a 2007 Gray Monk Pinot Noir (in keeping with the B.C. theme). It was actually a lighter wine than I expected - very clear, bright, ruby colour. This wine has a toasty, berry aroma, which follows through on the palette with hints of raspberry and tea. Would probably have been delicious if I somehow incorporated the wine into my cooking of the salmon (but don't worry, the cooking with wine segment will follow in not too much time when I have my annual duck roast).
Tip: when preparing a salmon prior to cooking, run your hand along the highest point of the fillet, against the grain. Your fingers should hit and lift any bones still in the salmon. You can remove these easily with tweezers (but please, buy a pair just for kitchen use!).
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