Recipe:

Wild King Salmon with Dried Cherries and Smoked Almond Beurre Noisette

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Serves 4

Secret Ingredient: Dried Cherries

This recipe was brought to us by Guest Chef Braiden Rex-Johnson, Seattle food writer and cookbook author. The recipe is from her book Pacific Northwest Wining and Dining: The People, Places, Food, and Drink of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia and was created by Kevin Davis, chef/owner of Steelhead Diner in Seattle. It showcases two of the Northwest’s iconic ingredients: wild salmon and dried cherries. The browned butter, called beurre noisette in French, adds rich nutty flavor to this dish. To learn how to make this recipe, watch the Secret Ingredient cooking show.

Ingredients

Macerated Cherries
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup port or Madeira (or use cherry juice has a nonalcoholic alternative)

Salmon
4 (6-ounce) center-cut wild salmon fillets, skinned
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Beurre Noisette
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Freshly grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup lightly crushed smoked almonds

Method

Place cherries in a glass bowl. Bring port to a boil in a saucepan and pour over the cherries. Cover with plastic wrap and steep 30 minutes. Drain cherries, pat dry and set aside.

Heat a stovetop grill pan over medium heat, or prepare a medium-low fire in a gas or charcoal grill. Brush salmon lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place salmon, skin side down (if not using skinned fillets), on the grill. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, turn the fish, and cook 3 to 4 minutes longer for medium rare or longer to desired doneness.

While the fish is grilling, melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until the butter turns brown and gives off a nutty aroma, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to burn the butter.

Remove the skillet from the heat and add rosemary, orange zest, almonds and cherries, stirring after adding each ingredient. Season with salt and pepper. Be careful when adding the first two ingredients, as the butter may sizzle and pop.

Place salmon on four dinner plates, top with the browned butter and serve immediately.

Chef's Tip: Yukon River King salmon has a very high fat content and will tend to flame up if cooked too fast. It's always a good idea to have a water bottle handy, just in case. Don't leave the grill unattended at any time throughout the cooking process. Also, Chef Kevin has an easy way to prevent overcooking your fish. When using a traditional grill, simply turn the grill off when the fish is slightly underdone; this allows the carryover heat to finish cooking the fish.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 11oz/317g-wt.): 810 calories (430 from fat), 48g total fat, 17g saturated fat, 155mg cholesterol, 320mg sodium, 39g total carbohydrate (11g dietary fiber, 19g sugar), 40g protein

Tags: Entertaining, Gluten Free, Wheat Free

Note: We've provided special diet and nutritional information for educational purposes. But remember — we're cooks, not doctors! You should follow the advice of your health-care provider. And since product formulations change, check product labels for the most recent ingredient information. See our Terms of Service.