Real Crispy Skin Salmon, For True

I admit that I am a bit obsessed with Salmon. Grilled, seared, plank roasted, baked it in parchment, topped with chermoula; you name it, I've cooked it!  It is a weekly item on our menu, especially when I need something quick, healthy, delicious and easy to pair with either red or white wines.

But my latest obsession has been crispy skin salmon, which I was never successful at until now!  I found a recipe a few months ago, which I'm sorry to say I could not find again to reference in this post, that I've modified a bit to create the perfect salmon.  The big crunch of the skin is truly the perfect contrast to a fat piece of tender, juicy salmon.  And when I say crisp I mean like a crunchy potato chip!

I will also admit that as beautiful as the Coho and the wild salmon looks, I love the fatty North Atlantic and King Salmon.  Much richer and more flavorful, I select which ever fits into my current budget.  The new Whole Foods on Broad has a really nice fresh selection and is easy to just pick  up a piece after work.  

So here it is, just a few simple tricks to create the perfect crunch:

Trick #1:  You have to descale it.

Take your salmon fillet ( I get about a pound to split between Kerry and I and we usually eat the whole thing!) and put it on a cutting board.  Then grab your chef's knife and run along the top of the skin with a bit of pressure, scraping the scales off.  You can tell they’re gone because the skin has a netting pattern to it:

Give the salmon a quick rinse to remove the scales.

Trick #2:  Water is the enemy 

Dry the salmon very well with paper towels. Water is the enemy of a good crisp sear so soak up as much as you can. Next, season the fish skin with a good pinch of salt (no pepper on the skin, it will burn) and let the fish sit for 5 minutes. Then touch the fish skin and notice that there’s moisture there. This is because the salt pulled out moisture from the skin. You've just set the skin up to be even CRISPIER.  Give the skin a good pat with paper towel again to soak up that excess moisture, and now it’s ready to be seared.

Trick #3:  Cut the salmon into even pieces.
The more evenly the meat is distributed the better it will sear.  With a large fillet you usually get the thick piece of the body and then the thinner part of the belly.  Cut off the thin part - you'll just cook it a little less.

Trick #4:  No non stick pans!
You just don't get the same sear and if your heat is high enough it won't stick anyway.  So start with an uncoated pan, fairly close in size to the piece of fish.  Heat up your pan somewhere between medium to medium high heat (6 or 7 on a 10 scale), and let it heat up for about 3-5 minutes (3 minutes for gas stoves, 5 for electric).  Since we are using an uncoated pan, you’re going to want to have a sturdy, metal turner that can really get under the fish, not one of those flimsy plastic spatulas.

Trick #5:  You need a high smoke point oil.
Olive oil or butter won't work here.  My preference is ghee or coconut oil but the ghee really helps to brown it evenly.  You could also use grape seed oil.   Add enough to really coat the bottom of the pan.

When the oil starts to shimmer, take your piece of fish and test it by touching the very end of it to the pan. If it makes that hissing sizzling noise, that means the pan is nice and hot, and go ahead and lay the fish down in the pan, skin side down, always away from you so the oil doesn't splash. (and if the fish doesn't sizzle, your pan isn’t hot enough).  Now you can season the top meaty side with salt and pepper.

Let the salmon cook for 90% of the time on the skin side. You need about 5 minutes per 1" thickness of salmon.  With the fillets I get I usually end up doing 7 minutes on the skin side.

While the skin is cooking, take a lemon and zest about half of the skin.  Take the rest of the lemon and cut into quarters to squeeze on the fish before serving.

When it is time, flip it over and give it a about a minute or so on the other side. Remove it, put a few pats of butter on it and the lemon zest and serve immediately with the lemon quarters on the side. Fantastic!!

Ok now what wine to serve?  The reason I had to make this was to give me an excuse to open the 2012 Terre Nere Cuvee delle Vigne Niche from Macrco de Grazia.  We just received our very very small allocation and half of it has come home with me!

TENUTA DELLE TERRE NERE
Etna White Cuvée delle Vigne Niche 2012
Wine Spectator Score: 92

Aromatic, with floral and spice notes. There's power to the racy acidity and smoky minerality of this finely meshed white, which is elegant overall, offering flavors of creamed apple, almond skin, apricot and preserved lemon. A vanilla-tinged, leesy overtone echoes on the finish. Drink now through 2025. 250 cases made.

Gulf Shrimp da Zaccaria

Positano, definitely one of our favorite places on earth!

The theme for our annual staff dinner this year was "Food and Wine from Our Favorite Places on Earth" so you know that the Amalfi Coast had to be represented.  I found this great recipe from Mario Batali that he took from a restaurant in Atrani that overlooks the sea called "da Zaccaria".  However, I had a lot of shrimp so I served it in individual bowls with toasted bread instead of as bruschetta.  And of course we paired it with a local wine and the 2012 Taburno Greco Benveneto was truly fantastic!

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 ounces Limoncello

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 slices of Italian bread

1 bunch chives, chopped

Salt and pepper

Pour the oil into a large saute pan over high heat. When just starting to smoke, toss in the garlic. Cook until it turns light brown.  Add the shrimp and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, flip, and cook for 1 minute. Remove the shrimp.

Pour in the the limoncello, lemon juice, and wine. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.

Toast the bread. When sauce is done, turn off the heat, sprinkle in the chives and season with salt and pepper. Place a few shrimp atop each piece of bread, and top with the sauce and lemon zest.

Tagliatelle with Fresh Tomato Herb Sauce and Gulf Shrimp

Saturday evenings in the summertime are usually spent at home.  Knowing we had a 50+ mile ride planned for Sunday, I had the perfect excuse to make a pasta dish, surprise, surprise.  But I wanted to keep it light, no heavy cream sauces or meat, and I wanted to keep it simple, not too much fuss or mess.  So Gulf shrimp are a given, and with our extremely hot summer temperatures, I enjoy making sauces and pestos that don't require cooking.  And Kerry's abundance of fresh herbs in the garden offers me lots of possibilities.

I made the dreaded run to Whole Foods on a Saturday for supplies, me and 5,000 other people, and was happy to see a huge table of heirloom tomatoes at the shocking price of $3.99/lb.  So I load up with a those, some kale and lots of other stuff to get us through the week, and drove home to get started.

I picked up the tomatoes for a sauce I wanted to make that sort of reminds of a cross between the Sicilian Pasta Trapanese, that I adore, and an herb pesto.  Based on a similar recipe from the Sicilian island of Pantelleria by Mario Batali, this one uses fresh tomatoes as the base with a mixture of 3 different herbs, spices and olive oil, no cooking required except for the pasta and shrimp of course!.  It is delightfully refreshing and the addition of mint to the herb mixture gives it a different spin.  You'll have some leftover that you can use the next day and serve over fish, toss with steamed veggies or whatever else you come up with!  I served this with my sauteed kale recipe and the deliciously fresh Vitiano Rosato from Umbria, but sadly only 1 glass since we had to ride the next day...oh well, there's always tonight!

Serves 2
Ingredients

    * 3/4 lb. fresh Gulf Shrimp, shelled and de-veined
    * Olive oil, salt, pepper
Sauce
    * 1/2 cup mint leaves
    * 1/2 cup basil leaves
    * 1/2 cup parsley leaves
    * 2 cloves garlic
    * 2 tablespoons capers, drained
    * 2 medium heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped
    * 1-1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
    * 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    * 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

    * 1/2 pound fettuccine (when I don't have time to make my own, or buy it from Chef Dan, we use the Bionaturae brand and are especially fond of the tagliatelle)

Directions

Bring 4 quarts water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

Quickly saute shrimp in a little olive oil until just barely pink.  Season with a touch of salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside, reserving the pan (it should be fairly large) and oil for later.

In a blender or food processor, mix mint, basil, parsley, garlic, capers, tomatoes, black and red pepper and extra virgin olive oil to form smooth paste. If needed, add a little more olive oil. The color is a little odd, but it tastes amazing!

Cook fettuccine according to package instructions until al dente and drain well.

Heat up your shrimp pan again to medium heat and put the lightly cooked shrimp back in the pan.  Add the drained pasta, stirring to coat it with the oil and shrimp, and cook for about 1 minute.  Turn off the heat, add the fresh tomato pesto and toss together until well mixed. 

Serve immediately, garnished with fresh basil ribbons and a little grated Grana Padano cheese.

Salmon with Moroccan Chermoula

It was a pretty lazy Sunday for us. Having gotten our long bike ride in on Saturday, we had an uneventful day with no plans to leave the house in the midst of the 100 degree temperature, except a trip to Whole Foods for the weekly grocery run. As a treat to myself, for going through the torture of a packed WF on a Sunday afternoon, I always get to stop at Puccino's Coffee for a frozen puccino. What is that you ask? Frozen ice milk and espresso blended together and topped with whipped cream. I tell myself it's lowfat and usually have at least one a week as a reward for making the grocery run to Metry...any way, I digress....

I knew I wanted to make fish tonight and that I wanted to serve a chermoula sauce with it. I got a beautiful piece of coho salmon, but there wasn't a sprig of cilantro in the store so I opted for making it entirely from parsley (I usually use mainly cilantro with a just a bit of parsley). I didn't know we were out of coriander seeds at home, so I had to skip than ingredient as well, but I threw in a few other things to make up for it!

Kerry's mom gave her a little mini cuisinart one year and I love to use it for recipes like this when I'm only making enough for the night's meal. I made the chermoula first to let the flavors set and then made a rub for the salmon as well. This is a very quick, fresh summer dish that is bursting with flavor and works with just about anything, fish, chicken, meat etc. Click here for another version that I combined with eggplant and stuffed into peppers, chermoula.

Chermoula
1-1/2 cups fresh flat leaf parsley
1 clove garlic
1 t. cumin seeds
pinch of saffron
pinch of cayenne pepper
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 t. paprika
1/4 t. salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Fish Rub
lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
salt
pepper
pinch chili powder
olive oil

Fish
1 lb. wild coho salmon
butter

Put all ingredients, except oil, of the chermoula in a food processor and pulse. When everything is well mixed, begin adding the olive oil a little at a time until well blended. Set aside.


Mix ingredients for rub and add enough oil to be able spread it onto the fish with your hands. Let sit for 20 minutes.



Heat 1 T. olive oil in a large pan. Quickly cook salmon to desired doneness, remove from heat and allow a little butter to melt on the filets. Add chermoula and serve.

Freshly Caught Yellow Fin Tuna and a Very Special Bottle of Wine....

Our new friend Mimi, Team Swirler and chef extraordinaire, gave us a gigantic piece of absolutely beautiful freshly caught tuna this week. Planning on opening a really special bottle of wine and knowing we couldn't eat all of that fish ourselves, we invited a few friends who we knew would appreciate both the wine and the meal! Kerry cut the chunk of tuna into 5 large steaks and I did a very simple preparation for the grill that included an olive oil, lemon juice and herb vinaigrette to finish the fish.

And that special bottle of wine? A stunning 1999 Yamhill Carlton, Wahle Vineyard Pinot Noir made by James Moises and his partner Mark Wahle. It was amazing how fresh and elegant yet powerful this wine was with 10 years of age! So for those of you who have been buying Moises wines and have been asking how long they can age, here's your answer: a long, long time! This wine is aging beautifully and still has at least another 10 years! Thank you James, it was a really special treat!!

Ingredients:
-juice of one lemon
-extra virgin olive oil
-salt and freshly ground black pepper
-3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
-a sprig of fresh mint, leaves picked and roughly sliced
-a sprig of fresh oregano, leaves picked and roughly sliced
-4 tuna steaks

Directions:
-Heat up the grill.

-Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and add 3 times the amount of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the garlic, mint and oregano. Set aside.

-Rub the fish with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Throw it on the grill and cook about 2 minutes each side. This should leave it a bit pink in the middle. Pull it off the grill and top each piece with the lemon herb vinaigrette.

Deliciously Simple!!

Whole Roasted Fish Paired with Adelaida Version White

Cooking fish whole, on the bone with the head and tail attached, is absolutely the best way to eat it. The meat around the bones just seems sweeter and tastier! I ran over to Kjean's Fish Market on Carollton to see what they had and was able to pick up some fresh trout. Just ask them to gut and scale the fish for you. This recipe is actually fairly simple with out a lot of mess in the kitchen and the end result is fantastic! I've adapted from Lidia Bastianich's, Lidia's Italian Table recipe for Whole Roasted Striped Bass. Apparently it is a staple on the menu at her restaurant Becco in New York, and she prepared a version of this for the Pope in 2008!

Makes 6 servings

For the garlic-infused oil:
1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

For the fish:
6 whole trout, about 1 1/4 lb. each, eviscerated and scaled
6 fresh or dried bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 medium-sized red onions, peeled and cut into 1/3″ slices
6 small, firm vine ripened tomatoes, cored and cut in half

To serve:
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley leaves

-Prepare the garlic-infused oil about half an hour before roasting the fish: In a small bowl blend the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to steep for half an hour.

-Preheat the oven to 475 F. Use the garlic-infused oil to grease two heavy, large (at least 22 x 18-inches) roasting pans, preferably with low sides. Brush each fish on both sides with the olive oil mixture and enclose the tails in aluminum foil. Place one bay leaf and one sprig of rosemary in the cavity of each fish. Arrange the fish in the prepared pans, leaving as much space between them, and between the sides of the pan, as possible. Arrange the onion slices and tomato halves around the fish in both pans so as not to overlap with each other.

-Season the fish and vegetables with salt and pepper and divide the wine between the pans. Bake until the fish and vegetables begin to brown, about 25 minutes, drizzling occasionally with about ½ cup of the remaining garlic-infused oil. (The rest of the garlic-infused oil will be used as the base of a sauce to be served with the fish.) Remove the fish from the oven.

-Stir the lemon juice and parsley into the remaining garlic-infused oil and season with salt and pepper. Place one whole fish on each plate and flank with the vegetables. Spoon any sauce from the baking pan over each serving.

-Stir the lemon-parsley sauce well and spoon a little over each serving. Set the rest of the sauce on the table for passing as fish is being enjoyed. Pour a nice glass of Adelaida Version and relax!

Gulf Coast Drum with Almond Butter Sauce

When thinking about food and wine pairing, the goal is for the subtle nuances of the wine to compliment the predominant flavors in the food. So as I was thinking about what to pair the with Michele Chiarlo Gavi, I went with one of the distinct characteristics of the wine, which is an almond undertone, and decided to go for a simple Gulf Coast Drum with Almond and Butter Sauce. The richness of the butter and almonds with the light, tangy lemon is the perfect pairing with the medium, sometimes almost oily texture of Gavi. Add some delicious Gulf Coast fish and you have a quick easy recipe that can be pulled together in about 15 minutes.

SERVES 6
The fish:

* 2 lbs of fresh Gulf Coast Drum
* milk
* 1/2 cup seasoned flour (1/2 t. mixed salt and pepper)
* olive oil

Dip fish fillets in milk, then in seasoned flour.

Pour olive oil in to a large skillet until you have about 1/4 inch of oil in the pan. Heat on a medium flame; add fillets.

Saute quickly on both sides until lightly browned; do not over cook. Place fish on a heated platter.

The Sauce:
Makes 3/4 cup
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter
* 2/3 cup (2 ounces) sliced almonds
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add almonds; sauté 2 to 4 minutes until golden brown. (Do not overcook or butter will burn.) Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Serve immediately.

Serve with a nicely chilled glass of Michele Chiarlo Gavi!