March 13, 2012 Northern California Wine Country Dinner – Medallions of Salmon Ripened Tomato and Roasted Asparagus

March 13, 2012  Northern California Wine Country Dinner – Medallions of Salmon Ripened Tomato and Roasted Asparagus

I am not sure how we acquired the “California Wine Country” Cookbook by Janine Saine, but we use it and like it and Suzette selected her menu for the April through June 2012 special meals at the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery from it.

We went to taste wine at Vivace with Jim from Southern and after saying hello to Gordon, the owner, we sat with Ann Setser, the Bistro's Executive Chef, and tasted and discussed and selected 8 wines from among 12 northern California varietals.  Even though Jim was kind enough to order a melted fresh mozzarella cheese in marinara sauce and frito (fried baby  bay scallops, shrimp and calamari) with a green aioli mayonnaise, I was drunk when I got home. 

Thank God Suzette took over to test her recipe.  I took the one lb. filet of salmon (Ta Lin $5.99 per lb) and cut it into two equal ½ lb. pieces and then sliced the hump off the salmon to leave a flat filet, which Suzette rolled into a tight roulade (medallion) and secured each medallion with a bamboo skewer and salted and peppered them. 

I took about ten stalks of asparagus and cut the tender portion of the stalks into diagonal slices so that the slices were flat and thin.  We then heated water to remove the skin from the tomato and I removed the hard stem area and sliced a large slicing tomato in two halves with a knife.  Suzette then dunked the tomato halves into the boiling water and removed the skin and then removed as much of the seeds and liquid and pulp from the insides of the tomatoes and cut the tomato halves into 6 or 8 wedges and reserved the tomato pulp to a bowl to which she added salt and pepper and about 1 Tbsp. of Balsamic Vinegar to make a sauce for the dish.

Suzette then sautéed the salmon and asparagus slices in olive oil, while I re-heated the PPI paella from Sunday night’s dinner at Lucia in the microwave and fetched the three white wines chosen for the Bistro tasting, Garnet Sonoma Cost Chardonnay, Educated Guess Napa Valley Chardonnay, and Raymond Reserve Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and put them on the table with two glasses so we could try the different wines with the meal to see which wine complemented the salmon dish the best.  We did not have any micro greens so Suzette took a head of heart of romaine from the fridge and sliced it into thin slices and then plated the dish in the manner shown in the picture of the dish on page 81 of the cookbook and garnished the salmon with the sliced romaine and poured the balsamic/tomato sauce over the fish and we sat down to try our new recipe.

I was still a little drunk and did not taste the dish accurately or enjoy the pairings of wine but the salmon tasted very tender and the asparagus were a little crisp.  I think I prefer classical French Cuisine to California cuisine (See March 14 dinner for my French take on the recipe).  But Suzette loved the dish and thought it was a keeper and that the wine worked well with the dish.  I look forward to trying the dish at the Bistro to see how the dish is prepared by the Bistro chefs.  It definitely is a classic California Wine Country dish that should be wonderful with the Northern California wines.

Bon Appètit