Wild King Salmon with Asparagus, Peas & Morels

May 28th, 2006

The other night I found myself with 4 wonderful and fresh ingredients:

-Wild California King Salmon (just off the boat)
-Asparagus
-Fresh peas in the shell
-Gorgeous morel mushrooms

So what to do with all of these, I asked myself?

Here’s how it came together…it was an experiment and it turned out really well. This dish has a permanent place on my menus.

I shelled the peas, trimmed and cut the asapargus and sliced the morels in half (cleaning out any bugs). Next I took a pan and sauteed the asapargus in a bit of butter over medium heat. I added a little sea salt along the way. Once the asparagus were close I added in the fresh peas and tossed for another 2 minutes. Then I took this pan off the heat.

Next I sauteed my morels in butter over medium heat, stirring often. Once complete I added a quarter cup of French calvados brandy and ignited the pan (this is not totally necessary but it did add flavor). Then I set this pan aside.

Meanwhile, in another sautee pan, I added a half cup of olive oil with freshly ground black pepper and turned on the heat to medium. Once hot, I added my salmon face-down (skin side up) and covered the pan with a lid. Then I waited six minutes and checked the salmon for doneness. The objective here is to create a nice crust on the top of the salmon and yet have the inside nice and pink. Once ready, I removed the salmon to a cutting board and let rest.

Now I took my mushroom sautee pan and turned up the heat to medium. Next I added my asparagus and peas to the pan with the mushrooms and tossed over medium heat. Then I added half a cup of heavy cream and let reduce for another 2 minutes. Voila, ready to plate.

I placed a spoonful of the aparagus/pea/morel mixture into the middle of each warmed serving plate. Then I placed the salmon directly on top. I finished off each dish by spooning the rest of the asparagus/morels/peas and sauce over and around the fish. Buon appetit.

Entry Filed under: Recipe Postings, General Food Postings