Halibut w/ Spinach & Scallop-Citrus Beurre Blanc

I'm telling you - I'm Beurre Blanc obsessed.

When in doubt for a pairing sauce for a dish - beurre blancs are your answer.  I mean, does butter not go with nearly everything?!  Seriously.

The only thing I didn't like about this dish is that the scallop flavor didn't come through as much as I wanted it do.  It may have been the citrus.  It could have overpowered the delicate flavor of the scallops.  But besides that, I was pretty satisfied with this dish - and Andy cleared his plate so I can't complain.

Ingredients:

Fish:

2 6 oz. halibut fillets
flour, for dusting
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups raw spinach, stemmed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper, to taste

3 sea scallops, cut in half
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Scallop-Citrus Beurre Blanc:

1 sea scallop, thinly sliced (think sashimi)
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup citrus champagne vinegar (alternatively, you can just do 1/4 cup citrus juices or a mixture of champagne vinegar and juices)
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

You can prepare your sauce first.  In a medium saucepan, combine the shallot and citrus vinegar.  Reduce to about 1-2 tablespoons.

Turn heat to low and slowly whisk in unsalted butter, one cube at a time.  Be careful not to add to much butter at once or you run the risk of your sauce breaking.  When all of butter is emulsified into the sauce, season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in thinly sliced scallops (the residual heat will cook them through) and chopped parsley.  Reserve sauce in a warm area until needed.  You can also choose to strain the mixture of the solids at this point, but I chose not to.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Season both sides of halibut fillets with salt and pepper.  Dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat an oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add butter and oil.  (On a side note: We use a combination of peanut oil and butter in the restaurant I work at for two reasons.  The butter is there for browning and flavor, and the oil is there for a higher smoke point - to help achieve a desired "crust" - you can choose to not use both, but be forewarned if you just use butter, you run the risk of it burning, and if you just use oil, you may not get that desired golden crust)

Add your halibut to the pan and cook the first side until it is a nice golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.  Flip each fillet over and carefully transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 3-5 minutes.

While your halibut is finishing you can wilt your spinach and saute your scallops.

Heat two pans under medium high heat.  Add butter to both pans, adding your spinach to one, and your scallops in the other. Of course you can do these separately, instead of all at once, but hey, multitasking is a skill we can all get better at, right?

Cook the spinach until wilted and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Sear your scallops until you get a nice golden brown sear, and then flip over to continue cooking for about 30 seconds to a minute.  Since they're cut in half, you won't need to cook them as long as if they were kept whole.

To plate, arrange a mound of spinach in the center and top with halibut fillet.  Arrange 3 half scallops on each plate and top halibut with beurre blanc.  Voila!

I love using wilted spinach as a side dish.  It comes together so easily and give you an added color boost to any plate.

Hope you guys have a great start to your week!

Red Snapper w/ Pickled Pearl Onions, Bean Medley, & Fortified Fish Stock Beurre Blanc

 

"You can cook fish any time you want, baby."  The exact response I heard after Andy straight devoured this plate.  I was kinda iffy about the beans, and didn't know if he'd like them - but he ate every last bit of them! 

Not only is this just a plate of simple, humble foods - but it's absolutely gorgeous!  Or I think so, anyway. 

Dress up a fish stock, reduce it down, and whisk in some butter for a downright flavorful sauce that you can put on practically any fish, any time.

Ingredients:

Red Snapper:

2 - 6 oz. red snapper fillets 
salt and pepper, to taste
flour, for dusting
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Pickled Pearl Onions:

1 cup pearl onions (about 12-16), peeled
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon pickling spice

Bean Medley:

1 cup dried cranberry beans, soaked overnight (or at least 3-4 hours)
1 cup lima beans (I used frozen)
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Fortified Fish Stock Beurre Blanc:

1/2 cup fish/seafood stock
juice from 1 lemon
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
salt and pepper, to taste

You can use fresh cranberry beans for this too, if you can find them.  I just happened to have some dried sitting in my pantry, for what seems like forever, so I figured I'd use them up. 

Add chicken stock to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add cranberry beans and turn down to simmer.  Cover and let cook for about 30-45 minutes.  You can add water to the pot if needed, or if there is not enough liquid to cover beans.  Drain and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the red wine vinegar, sugar, and water to a boil.  Simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Place pearl onions into a small container with peppercorns and pickling spice.  Pour vinegar-sugar liquid over top of the pearl onions.  Place in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

To make the beurre blanc, combine the stock, lemon juice, and white wine in a medium saucepan.  Turn heat onto medium high and reduce liquid to about 2 tablespoons.  Turn heat to low, and while whisking constantly, add butter cubes one at a time.  Make sure not to add more butter until the previous cube is almost entirely incorporated/emulsified in.  When all of butter is added, stir in chopped parsley and season to taste.  Keep sauce warm until needed.  Be sure to watch it carefully, making sure it does not break on you.  (You can help prevent the beurre from breaking by adding heavy cream to the reduced liquid before whisking in the butter, but you don't necessarily need to do that.)

Heat a large oven-proof saute pan under medium high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan.  Season snapper fillets with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off any excess.  Add fillets to the pan and cook until browned on the first side, about 2-3 minutes.  Flip fillets over and transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 3 minutes.  Carefully take pan out of oven and let fish rest for 1-2 minutes.

Heat a medium saute pan under medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add cranberry beans and frozen lima beans (be careful - any residual water/ice on beans may cause butter/oil to splatter) to the pan.  Cook until warm and slightly caramelized around the edges.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To plate, place a mound of bean mixture on the center of the plate.  Top with snapper fillet and pearl onions.  Top with beurre blanc. 

Bam!  Art on a plate.  I loved this because it wasn't overly unhealthy (can't really argue with the beurre blanc being a healthy addition, but it's damn tasty) - but everything else on the plate is full of protein and nutrition!  I know it may seem a little time consuming, but a lot of the stuff you can pre-prepare ahead of time - like the beans and the pickled onions.

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Salmon w/ Lemon Cream Beurre Blanc & Sauteed Vegetables

The traditional beurre blanc we made the other day was a very temperature sensitive sauce.  A lot of us don't have the time or patience to hover over something to make sure it doesn't break.  Am I right?  Well, a cream beurre blanc is a more stable version of a beurre blanc.  It allows the emulsification to become more stable. 

So today I've got a beautiful salmon dish, topped with the beurre blanc.  Easy. Simple. Delicious. 

Ingredients:

Lemon Cream Beurre Blanc:

1/2 tablespoon shallot, minced
1 teaspoons olive oil
3 oz. white wine
4 oz. heavy whipping cream
4 oz. butter, cut into 1 oz. portions and chilled
juice from 1 lemon
3 sprigs thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

Salmon:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets
1/2 cup flour, for dredging
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Vegetables:
 
1/2 lb. haricot vert (French green beans)
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
salt and pepper, to taste

Start by making your beurre blanc.  Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute shallots until translucent.  Add wine, lemon juice, and thyme and reduce mixture by half.

Add the cream and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce by two-thirds.

Remove from the heat, but keep warm.  Whisk in the butter, an ounce at a time, moving back to the heat if necessary.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Strain mixture and hold warm.

Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper on both sides.  Dredge salmon in flour, patting off any excess.

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan and add salmon, skin-side down (or presentation side if you've removed the skin).  Cook to desired temperature and set aside.

Season your vegetables and saute under medium high heat (you can use the same pan as the salmon, if you'd like - make sure to wipe out any excess grease).

To plate, place a mound of vegetables in the center of the plate.  Top with salmon fillet and beurre blanc.

This was a meal we enjoyed out on our back deck.  It was such a lovely summertime meal.  Hope you guys are having a great week so far!

Citrus-Thyme Beurre Blanc

Happy Wednesday ya'll!

I already feel so accomplished today.  I've worked out (went for a grueling hot 3 mile run!), gone grocery shopping, and mailed off some bills!  And now I'm even doing a blog post!  I'll have to use up my free time as much as I can, because after next week, it's back to school I go!

Anyway, I've been on a sauce kick lately (can't you tell?!) and I want to share another one of my favorite sauces.  A beurre blanc - translated to "white butter".  It's basically an emulsion of white wine/white wine vinegar and butter.  Throw in some herbs, citrus, or pretty much anything, and your possibilities are endless!  Today I'll be doing a Citrus-thyme beurre blanc because those are the flavors I have on hand, but feel free to play with the combinations of flavors!

One important thing to remember with beurre blancs, unless used right away, you need to keep them warm.  However, they can't get too hot (over 136F), or the emulsion will break, releasing the butter fat.  This can be fixed though if you allow the mixture to cool to about 110-120F and then rewhisk the emulsion.  The beurre blanc also can't get too cold.  If the temperature gets below 85F, then the butter fat will solidify.  Reheating it will separate the mixture into butter fat and water.  No rewhisking in the world can save it after that.  You could, however, use it as a softened flavored butter, just not a beurre blanc.  Anyway, let's get to it!

Ingredients:

1/4 oz. champagne/white wine vinegar (I used an orange champagne vinegar from Trader Joe's)
1 oz. white wine, like a chardonnay
juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper (white, if you have it), to taste
1/4 oz. shallot, minced
1 sprig of thyme
4 oz. butter, cut into 1 oz. portions, chilled

In a small saucepan, combine the white wine, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, thyme, and shallot under medium to medium high heat.  Reduce the mixture to about 2 tablespoons of liquid.  If too much liquid is left, your sauce will be too thin.  Remove the thyme from the mixture (it'll just get in the way when you start whisking)

Turn the heat down to low and whisk in the butter, one portion at a time.  Only add the next piece of butter when the last one is almost melted in.

 

Once all the butter is incorporated, remove saucepan from heat.  Strain the mixture and hold the sauce at a temperature between 100F and 130F or use right away.

A beurre blanc is perfect for topping seafood, chicken, or even beef!  Another versatile sauce that has many different flavors and applications.  Keep these babies in your arsenal when you want to impress - and stay tuned to what I end up doing with my beurre blanc!

Crab-Stuffed Salmon w/ Corn Red Pepper Relish, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, & Lemon-Thyme Beurre Blanc

So maybe that title could have been a little bit shorter, eh?  I just wanted to make sure I had your attention!

This was, by far, one of the best meals that has ever been cooked in this household.  Andy DEVOURED this plate.  Seriously, I've never seen such a constant smile on his face after eating a meal.  You just know it's gotta be a winner then!

Before we get into anything... how are you guys?!  I know I'm sporadic in my posts, but I try to do one at least every other week.  Things are just getting crazier and crazier!  School, work, school.  And this week I helped make hors d'oeuvres for a fundraiser that the restaurant on campus is holding tonight.  I made some sweet potato biscuits and sandwiched in between them are some fig preserves, country ham, and manchego cheese.  DELICIOUS.  Hopefully they'll be a hit tonight!

Anyway, let's get to some salmon.  Don't be weary about the seemingly long list of ingredients.  Everything comes together quite quickly (less than 45 minutes) if you have everything prepped and ready when you need it!

Salmon:

2 - 8 oz. salmon fillets
1 cup lump crab meat
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

Corn-Red Pepper Relish:

1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fresh or frozen corn (I used shoepeg because Andy loves shoepeg, but sweet yellow would be great too)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:


5 medium-sized yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup garlic cloves, peeled
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Lemon-Thyme Beurre Blanc:

1/2 cup white wine
1 small shallot, minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
juice from 1 lemon
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
salt, to taste

Like I said, don't be scared!  Everything is super easy, and you don't necessary have to have all the components - but I promise you, if you do... it'll be one hell of a knock out dinner if you're trying to impress someone special!

So first, let's prep the crab stuffing.  Super easy.  In a medium bowl, combine the crab meat, parsley, lemon juice, and garlic.  Season with salt to taste, and bam.  You've got crab stuffing.

Now let's stuff out salmon.  But first we have to cut a slit down the middle of each fillet.  You don't want to go all the way through, maybe leave anywhere between 1/4 to 1/2 inch on the bottom. 

Place about 1/2 cup of the stuffing in the slit (and on top of the salmon). 

Place in a container and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge until ready to use. 

Now we can make our mashed potatoes and relish at the same time. (But for ease, I'll describe each one separately).

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Place the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Place the garlic in a small roasting dish and toss in olive oil.  Season with a little bit of salt.  Roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until garlic is golden and soft.  Let cool.

Drain the potatoes and add roasted garlic, sour cream, butter, and heavy cream.  Mash until you've reached your desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the relish, add a little bit of olive oil to a large saute pan and heat under medium high heat.

Add corn and scallions, cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Then add red bell pepper and garlic.  Cook until pepper is slightly softened, but still has a bit of a bite, about 2-3 minutes.

Turn off heat and stir in parsley.

Place mixture in a medium bowl and add in lemon juice and honey.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Now we can make our sauce while the salmon is cooking (hope your oven is still at 375!)

Place the salmon on a baking sheet and bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until at your desired doneness.

In a medium sauce pan, add shallots, thyme sprigs, and white wine.  Place under medium high heat and reduce wine by about two-thirds.

When wine is reduced, slowly add in one or two pats of butter at a time, whisking constantly to form an emulsion.  Don't add any more butter until the last bit of butter is almost emulsified.  Continue adding butter until all is incorporated.

Whisk in lemon juice and season with salt, to taste.  Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer.  (A great video on a beurre blanc is this one - so versatile, add whatever aromatics/flavors you desire)

To plate your final dish, first make sure all of your components are warm.  If you did this all at once, everything should still be okay (if not, nuke it in the microwave for 30 seconds and you're good to go!).

Place about 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes on the center of the plate, slightly flatten out.  Place salmon on top, slightly to the right or left of center (in other words, not exactly in the center, hehe).  Place a small handful of the relish next to the salmon and drizzle the beurre blanc around the plate and a little bit on top of the salmon, as well.  And voila... a plate designed to impress and satisfy any seafood-hungry stomach!

Hope you guys have a great weekend and see you soon =)