November 25, 2013 Medallions of Salmon with Vine Ripened Tomatoes and steamed string beans and cauliflower

November 25, 2013 Medallions of Salmon with Vine Ripened Tomatoes and steamed string beans and cauliflower

I stopped at Sprouts between meetings today and picked up a 1 lb. piece of fresh farm raised Chilean salmon ($7.99/lb.) and a few more string beans (I had picked up some on Thursday at Sprouts $1.50/lb.) that were more like haricot verte because they were so thin and tender.

When I got home at around 5:45 Suzette was home and we discussed dinner.  We decided to cook the cauliflower and string beans, so I cut the flowerets of cauliflower off the stem and then de-stemmed the tips of the green beans and put them in the steamer with some water.  I also went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2012 Les Portes de Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc I had bought at Trader Joe’s recently for $6.99 and chilled it.

I then made guacamole with the four small avocados, fresh cilantro, and red onion I had purchased at Pro’s Ranch Market last Thursday with the addition of four small cloves of garlic finely diced and some Cholulu hot sauce.

Then I went to pick up Mohan at the hotel and when I got home at around 7:15 Suzette said she had decided to cook the Salmon recipe from the California Wine Country Cookbook that she had included in her California Cuisine menu at the Greenhouse Bistro last year.    We found the recipe and while Mohan and I watched his beloved San Francisco 49ers play the Washington Redskins and ate corn chips, salsa and guacamole, Suzette made the recipe.  The only modifications Suzette made to the recipe were she did not remove the skins by plunging them into boiling water and, since the tomatoes were relatively small Roma tomatoes, she cooked them only about 30 minutes, which made them cooked but still tender.  Also, we substituted steamed cauliflower and string beans for the asparagus.

 

 

 The wonderful secret to this recipe is that when you use large filets of fatty salmon, such as  fatty farm raised salmon and fold the salmon into a medallion skin side out, it cooks the inside more slowly and you end up with a very delicate and tender center of the filet, which I find very delicious.  Also the fresh salmon gives off a very pleasing aroma as it sautés and its skin is crisp, so a special treat.  

 

We enjoyed the simplicity of the dish with its steamed vegetables.  Suzette liked the Sauvignon Blanc because it had pronounced citrus flavor overtones, but I thought it lacked the crispness of a good single vineyard raised Sancerre or good California Sauvignon Blanc.  If you look on the back label of the bottle you will see “Mis en bouteille pour”, which means to me that the wine is a monopole of different grapes from different vineyards that are processed and bottled together, which I think blurs the clarity and crispness that is more often found in a good single vineyard grown and produced Sauvignon Blanc, such as the Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc we drank last week ($10.99 Costco).  Sometimes the extra four dollars makes a world of difference.

For a healthy dessert we mixed the PPI pears poached in Moscato and the candied quince with a dash of cognac and served a spoonful of them over European yogurt.

At around 9:15 when the score was San Francisco 26 and Washington 6, we decided to call it a night and drove Mohan back to the hotel. 

Bon Appétit