Salmon: All of the Glam, None of the Fuss

I'm afraid I can't really take much credit for this one. It was mostly Dan's doing. I just handled the veggies. However, I will say, having witnessed the whole process, that this recipe makes for a very elegant meal, with very minimal fuss.

The sauce and salmon are made separately, and assembled at the end. So there's the option of multi-threading the whole process, to make the assembly time even shorter.

Also, I second Food and Drink's opinion: rosemary potatoes go very well with this dish. If for no other reason than that they provide another vehicle for the sauce.

Roasted Side of Salmon With Mustard and Tarragon Cream Sauce, originally uploaded by CaitKP.

Roasted Side of Salmon With Mustard and Tarragon Cream Sauce

With 2 sides (potatoes and steamed green beans), serves 4.

Ingredients:

3 lb salmon (skin on. deboned)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper (freshly ground)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup shallots finely chopped
1/2 cup vermouth/dry white wine
3/4 cup 35% cream
3 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1 tbsp grainy style mustard

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F and line a baking sheet with tinfoil

2. Place salmon on baking sheet, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in oven until just cooked (20 min)

3. While salmon is cooking, heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and saute until translucent, but not browned (8 minutes). Add white wine and reduce for 3 minutes.

4. Add cream and cook over medium high heat until reduced to a sauce-like consistency (12 minutes) Stir in tarragon and mustard and season with salt and pepper.

5. Serve sauce alongside salmon, or over the whole piece.

Rosemary Potatoes

1 lb red new potatoes, or other potatoes with thin skin.
4 springs rosemary
1 tbsp butter
salt

1. In a large pot of water, add the rinsed potatoes (cut into 2" chunks if large), 2 sprigs rosemary, and some salt. Bring the whole thing to a boil, and cook covered over med-high heat until potatoes are just done (15-20 min).

2. Drain potatoes and put into serving bowl. Add the leaves from another sprig of rosemary, and the butter, stir with a spatula to melt butter. Serve alongside salmon.