Fear not the fish (Slow cooked salmon)

"You don't have to necessarily copy recipes all the time, the gaining of experience and confidence allows you to find your own style and be creative. But you have to always think with a certain logic, the logic is, "is it tasteing good?" its not about being overly creative, its not about creating a miracle. Its about creating an edible dish. "- Chef Eric Ripert

Fish is a protein that had alluded me for most of my life. My parents ate alot of catfish and when I was young choked on this boney fish and was traumatized. It was only when I discovered fresh Salmon, that my horizons opened and my life changed forever.

I admire Chef Eric, owner of my fave french restaurant Le Bernardin in NYC. I like him because his pallet is simple yet he has such a deep understanding of how to give simplicity to so much life. In this recipe I spotted, he takes something simple such as slow braising leeks, moves on to something unique such as laterally cooking a fish, and finishes it with the complexity of creating a sauce. You might think, "how hard is it to make a sauce?". In truth it can be very easy. The complexity comes from honing your techniques to refine your pallet. It is all about tasting each step of the way. "Taste, taste, taste" as Chef Ripert would say. Mixing a ingredients into a pot can be simple enough, but does it taste fantastic?

Your task: start with choosing the protein of your liking. Second pair a vegetable that will help highlight the star quality of your meat, then finish it with a flavor that will tie it all together.

This time I will go in-depth on a Barely cooked Salmon with leeks in a Red-wine butter sauce

Barely cooked Salmon

Ingredients

½ cup red wine
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon shallots, minced
4 sprigs tarragon
2 leeks
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skin off
Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

The Garnish:
1 teaspoon sliced tarragon
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon finely minced shallots

1. In a small sauce pot, combine the red wine, red wine vinegar, black peppercorns, shallots and tarragon. Bring the wine to a boil and reduce slightly. To about 6 tablespoons. Reserve in pot.

2. For the leeks, before its washed prepare them on a cookie sheet. Sometimes there will be sand in the stalks of the leeks that would get into the cracks of your cutting board. Trim the ends of the leeks, remove the tough outer greens and wash thoroughly. Split the leek in half lengthwise and thinly slice the leeks into juliennes; place the leeks in a shallow pot and cover with water and 1 tablespoon of butter. Bring to a simmer, lightly season with salt and pepper and cook slowly until the leeks are very tender, about 10 minutes, adding more water as needed.

3. Finish the red wine butter sauce by whisking in the remaining butter 1 tablespoon at a time
until fully emulsified. When your adding fat to a sauce, make sure the sauce is boiling. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove the aromatics by straining the sauce through a fine mesh sieve and keep warm.

4. For the salmon, put about ½ cup of water in a pan (just enough to cover the surface); season with salt and bring to simmer on medium heat. Season the salmon on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the salmon in the pan; cook at a bare simmer until the top of the fish is just warm to the touch (about 5-7 minutes). This method allows the top of the salmon to retain its pink color but still be thoroughly cooked. This is a Scandinavian technique called lateral cooking. (make sure you move the salmon around just a bit to ensure it doesn't stick to the pan)

Meanwhile, gently reheat the leeks in the cooking liquid. Spoon the leeks onto each plate,
remove the salmon from the pan and drain each fillet on a towel. Place a salmon fillet on top of each bed of leeks. Sprinkle tarragon (which has an anise flavor), black pepper and shallot over each fillet. Careful not too add too much you don't want the shallots to overpower the star of the dish.

Spoon sauce around and serve immediately. The green from the leeks, the pink of the salmon and the red of the wine creates a harmoniously festive dish.

Enjoy!