Saumon en feuilles de blettes, purée de chou-fleur, fondue de légumes et jus d’estragon

Here is a Sunday lunch that gave me some punch (en plus ca rime) – I have not eaten salmon in a long time, probably because I find salmon a little boring to be honest. Maybe when a product becomes easy to find, I lose my interest, not that I like “hard to get” products but let’s say that what’s rare tends to be more special. So I tried to make this salmon a little more interesting and special. Et voila, c’est fait!

I am not a huge fan of regular potato puree with fish, so cauliflower worked very well here, and this way you lose the starch content.

I like to use large chard leaves, the flat and smooth kind (such as swiss chards) instead of spinach, simply because spinach leaves are fragile to manipulate and it’s sometimes difficult to find large leaves. In this case, I used one chard leave for one salmon fillet. For the vegetables, you can use whatever you like, I love the combination of fava beans and oyster mushrooms, they have two complementary textures and go very well together.

I really liked this dish, the herbs made it very fragrant, delicate and not a strong salmon dish with too many powering flavors. I will certainly put this on my “to make again soon” list.

Ingredients for 4

For the salmon

  • 4 salmon fillets (about 1/2 lb each)
  • 4 large chard leaves
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • salt and pepper

For the purée

  • 1 small cauliflower
  • 2 medium size potatoes
  • milk
  • 1 tsp salted butter
  • salt and pepper

For the vegetable fondue

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 cup oyster mushrooms
  • 1/2 lb fava beans
  • 1 tomato, peeled, seedless and diced
  • salt and pepper

For the tarragon jus

  • 1/2 bunch tarragon
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • salt and pepper (if needed)

Preparation

For the salmon

Blanch chard leaves in salted boiling water for one minute, until the chard softens but still keeps it shape. Remove from heat, and place in cold water to cool. When cooled, remove from water and pat dry carefully with a towel, removing excess water. Using a knife remove the hard leaf from bottom to top, this will leave you with two long panels of chards.

Remove skin from salmon, add salt and pepper on both sides and cook three minutes each sides, in a pan with a little olive oil. Then, wrap carefully the salmon with the two chard panels. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and cook in a pre-heated oven at 360F for about 10 minutes or until the salmon is cooked to your tastes.

For the purée

Cook the potatoes at low heat covering them with milk. When they’re cooked remove from heat and let them cool in the milk. At this pint, they would have absorbed a substantial part of the milk.

Boil cauliflower in salted water for about 10-15 minutes until tender.

In a mixing container, mix potatoes and cauliflower and mash with a potato masher to obtain a smooth texture, adjust with salt and pepper. Then add butter and mix well.

For the vegetables

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallot, sweat for a few minutes, then add mushrooms and cook until the eater evaporates. Place fava beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, let them cool. Peel fava beans and add to the mushrooms. Stir well, then add tomato and crushed garlic. Cook for a few minutes, until the tomato softens but still remains firm.

For the tarragon jus

Bring 1/2 cup of broth to a boil, add tarragon and cook for 30 seconds, remove from the pot and pat dry. In a blender, mix tarragon with broth to make it into a very fine mixture. Remove from blender into a bowl, add 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed.

After placing your puree and salmon in the plate, add a some vegetables around and end with tarragon jus.