Category: creatures of the deep

Salmon is a great fish. Cheap and plentiful if farm-raised, it doesn’t have a very strong “fishy” flavor. In fact, it’s very good at absorbing flavors, which is what makes steaming it so much fun. You can experiment with all sorts of liquids. I find that sherry gives the salmon a pleasant sweetness. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so this recipe is a bit like candy. If you want to eat more like an adult, there are simple modifications that you can make to this recipe that suggest themselves.

Ingredients:
1 lbs of Salmon fillets
1 and 3/4 cups Sherry
3 tablespoons Pecans
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4 cup of Honey
Dash of Paprika

1. Slice the salmon filets into strips that are no thicker than 1 and 1/2 inch. Brush the scaly bottom of the filets with olive oil. This won’t necessarily prevent the fish from sticking to your steamer tray, but it will make it easier to clean. Lightly sprinkle the fillets with paprika and place on steamer tray.

2. Pour 1 and 1/2 cups of sherry in steamer pot. Place steamer tray, with fish, in the pot and cover. Put on high heat and cook for 14 minutes. Note: you can’t really “oversteam” the fish; it will merely get softer. However, after about 14 minutes, the fish will be steamed all the way through and the wine will begin to evaporate.

3. Chop the pecans into quarters and place on a cookie tray. Toast them in the oven for 10 minutes on 300 degree heat.

4. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Mix in the honey and a little bit of sherry. When the sauce starts to bubble up, add the toasted pecans. Don’t keep the sauce on the burner for more than four or five minutes, or it will carmelize.

5. Spoon the honey sauce over the salmon fillets. I would also recommend cooking up some greens as a side (asparagus is good, but I prefer string beans). You can spoon the honey sauce over the greens, too, if you are a big kid like me and won’t eat your veggies unless they taste like candy.

6. Enjoy! Tell me what you think.

I had a taste of this dish at a restaurant in Washington’s Dupont Circle. I’ve ordered it at a few other restaurants, but found the quality to vary wildly (One diner in the West Village, which shall remain nameless, served up a hash of white button mushrooms and imitation crabmeat). I decided to take a crack at the dish myself. I thought it was promising enough to memorialize the recipe here for future experimentation.

Ingredients:
8 ounces of lump crabmeat (I found a can of Phillips brand crabmeat for $6; usually this will cost upwards of $10)
4 Portobello caps (No more than 3 inches in diameter)
1 small green pepper (I only used about 2 tablespoons of chopped pepper)
1 celery stalk
2 slices of bread
3 cloves of garlic
1 shallot
Olive oil
Small jar of alfredo sauce (Do yourself a favor and use light alfredo sauce)

1. Place the portobello caps, bottom side down, on a cookie sheet or tray and place in the oven at 350 degrees. Be sure to brush the mushrooms with olive oil so they don’t stick to the tray. Bake them for ten minutes, or until they begin to wilt.

2. Finely chop the garlic, shallot, celery and pepper. Toast the slices of bread and break them up into itty bitty little bits.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot. Allow a minute or two to blend, then add the pepper and celery. Allow five minutes for vegetables to reduce.

4. Slowly mix in the crabmeat. Wait three minutes and then fold in the bread crumbs and alfedo sauce. Cook the whole mixture for an additional five minutes.

5. Flip the wilted mushrooms over so that they are upside down. Again, make sure to brush the caps with olive oil. Spoon the stuffing onto the mushrooms. Place back into the oven for five minutes, until the stuffing turns slightly brown.

6. Enjoy! Tell me what you think.