Sounds fancy schmancy, eh?  It isn’t really.

Brian got me a book of fish recipes when he had the misfortune of going to Las Vegas for a work conference.  You are swimming in sympathy for him, right?? Anyway, he got the book for free and it is a rather comprehensive fish cookbook.  One of the recipes was for making salmon paillards, which is just cutting the salmon at an angle at about a half inch thick.  Cooking them only takes minutes, so wait until the end to start cooking them.

This meal consisted of the salmon, remoulade (think fancy tartar sauce), sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes with roasted garlic.  It was paired with a bottle of 2007 Londer Anderson Valley Pinot Noir.

A note on the roasted garlic: I have it on hand lately.  I have been roasting up the squash I have been getting from the CSA, and so I put garlic in the oven, too.  Just cut off the top, add a little olive oil on top, wrap in foil, and roast.  Allow to cool and squeeze out.  Store in the fridge.

Recipe:

1/2 Salmon filet (or whole filet if you are feeding a larger group)
olive oil
Salt and pepper
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Large bag of spinach
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced (1-2 TBSP lemon juice)
salt and pepper
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4 large potatoes
1/2 cup buttermilk (no buttermilk on hand?)
2 tsp roasted garlic
2 TBSP butter
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Remoulade:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 lemon, juiced (1-2 TBSP lemon juice)
2 TBSP capers, chopped
1 TBSP dijon mustard
1 tsp dried shallots (or regular dried onions)

Take the skin off the salmon, remove any pinbones and then cut into it at an angle about 1/2 inch thick.  Do this for the whole filet.  Some pieces will be smaller, but they cook just fine.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and set aside.

Rinse and cube the potatoes.  Set on stove to boil up.

Get out a large skillet and heat to medium.  Add olive oil and garlic for the spinach.  Let it cook a few minutes and then add in the spinach.  Season with salt and pepper.  Get everything mixed all together, making sure the garlic doesn’t just sit on the bottom and get burnt.  Add in the lemon juice.  Cook for about 5 minutes to get it wilted down.  When done remove to bowl and set on stove to keep warm.

While the spinach and potatoes are cooking, mix the remoulade ingredients together.

In the same skillet you used for the spinach, add a bit of olive oil to coat the bottom and heat to medium.  Put salmon in the pan.  Let cook for a few minutes until you can see it getting about halfway cooked up the side.  Flip over and cook another two minutes and take it off the heat.  It will finish up cooking while you mash up the potatoes.

Check to make sure the potatoes are done, and then drain.  Mash them up with the buttermilk, roasted garlic, butter and salt and pepper, to taste.

Everything is done!  Plate up and enjoy. 🙂