Sautéed Atlantic Salmon in Red Wine Butter Sauce
Crispy-seared salmon steaks rest on a bed of fennel and onions, garnished with tomato baskets filled with broccoli florets. The flavors of the fennel, onions, and curry powder are wonderful with the rich salmon. A red wine sauce enriched with butter dresses the fish.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter - 1 tablespoon
- Fennel Bulbs - 3, cleaned, cored, and sliced thin crosswise
- Onion - 1 medium, halved and sliced thin crosswise
- Garlic Clove - 1, minced
- Curry powder - 1 teaspoon
- Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
- Broccoli - 1 pound, broken into small florets
- Unsalted Butter - 1 tablespoon
- Tomatoes - 3
- Red Wine Butter Sauce
- Shallots - 2, minced
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper
- Red Wine - 2 cups
- Cold Unsalted butter - 10 ounces, cut into pieces
- Salmon steaks - six, 7- to 8-ounce
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
- Olive Oil - 1 to 2 tablespoons
- Dill sprigs - 6
Instructions
To prepare the vegetables: Melt the butter in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add the fennel and onion julienne. Toss to coat. Add the garlic, curry powder, and olive oil, tossing to coat again. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the vegetables are tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
Place the broccoli florets on a rack in a steamer or large pot with boiling water under the rack; do not let the water touch the broccoli. Bring back to a boil and steam 3 to 5 minutes, until just tender. Plunge the florets into ice water to stop the cooking. Remove and drain. Put the butter in a shallow dish and rub the broccoli in the butter to coat. Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally. Hollow out the halves. Place the tomato halves on a rack in a steamer or large pot with boiling water under the rack; do not let the water touch the tomatoes. Cover and steam until tender, about 2 minutes. Open the steamer off the heat and let cool slightly. Remove and set aside.
To make the sauce: In a medium sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat, combine the shallots, salt and pepper to taste, and the wine. Cook until the liquid is reduced to a syrup. Reduce the heat to low. Add the butter, a few pieces at a time, swirling the pan to incorporate each addition before adding more. Work with the pan on and off the heat to regulate the temperature so that it does not become too hot. Keep warm. The sauce can be finished with the butter while the fish is cooking.
To prepare the fish: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof medium sauté pan or skillet over high heat.Add the fish, skin-side down, and sear until crispy on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Turn over and sear the top for 15 seconds, then turn back on the skin side. If necessary, sear half the fish at a time, then combine the seared fish in the pan for the trip to the oven; do not crowd the pan during the searing process. Place in the oven and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.
To serve: Create a bed of the fennel-onion mixture on each serving plate. Lay a salmon steak, skin-side up, across each. Fill the tomato baskets with broccoli florets and garnish each plate with a filled tomato basket. Spoon the sauce over half of each plate. Garnish the top with a sprig of dill.
