www.merryedwards.com
Merry Edwards Wines 888-388-9050
Wine and Food: Recipes
 
back to web version
 

Potato Crusted Salmon for 4
By Chefs Duskie Estes and John Stewart

Ingredients: For Goat Cheese Cakes
1 russet potato, peeled and grated
4 6 1/2 ounce wild salmon fillets, pin bones removed and skin off **
2 tbsp tablespoons olive oil
pinch kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

** There is a significant difference in quality between farm raised and wild salmon. Make sure to ask your fish butcher for the wild!
  

Preparation:
In a small bowl, mix the grated potatoes with some salt and pepper. Pack a 1/8 of an inch layer of the potato on the inside side of each fillet. Heat a large pan with the olive oil on medium high heat. When hot, add the salmon fillets potato side down. Cook until the potatoes are golden brown and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Flip and finish cooking to desired doneness, about 3 minutes for medium rare.

We serve this salmon with blue lake beans, slow roasted beets, a spoonful of caviar on top, and horseradish creme fraiche on the plate. You can buy or make creme fraiche. Locally Bellwether Farms in Petaluma makes a nice creme fraiche. Or you can make it by mixing equal parts of buttermilk and cream and letting it thicken at room temperature a few days. Then we mix prepared horseradish, fresh lemon juice, and salt and pepper into the creme fraiche.

Duskie Estes and John Stewart are the chef proprietors of Zazu, located in our own Russian River Valley on the western edge of Santa Rosa. They share an extensive background of experience with fine restaurants in the Bay area, Seattle and Washington DC. Duskie contributes dishes with a playful Americana theme, while John's cooking is inspired by rustic northern Italian cuisine. Together they declare Sonoma County to be "The Culinary Mecca" and make delicious use of our locally grown seasonal ingredients.