Salmon with sorrel defined an era — roughly the late 1980s — and a trend: nouvelle cuisine. The “new cooking” called for fresher ingredients, simpler sauces, quicker techniques. Producing wisdom (crisp!) and folly (minuscule!).
Once I took an old friend out for nouvelle. When her dish arrived, she blasted the dining room with a long and loud guffaw. She was right: Three marbles of puree make a meager meal.
Some innovations — like lighter fare — now count as commonsense. Others — like wide, white plates dotted with pale, precious portions — faded away. Salmon with sorrel still clings to many a menu.
I read that old recipe: It’s a slip of fish, barely seared, wriggling in buttery cream sauce. Delicious, no doubt, but dated. I tried a bolder version, punctuated with lemon, pepper and garlic; it’s crisp outside, flaky within. Not nouvelle. But, for our time, new.
Salmon and creamed greens
Prep: 20 minutes
More Top Picks Best Water Heater For Bathroom
Cook: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings
1 garlic clove
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 portions salmon fillet, 6 ounces each, bones and skin removed
3 ounces fresh sorrel (or substitute tatsoi or additional spinach)
10 ounces fresh spinach (baby or grown-up)
Black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Whole nutmeg
1 Marinate: Chop garlic and 1 teaspoon salt into a grainy paste. Whisk in lemon juice. Pour into a glass or ceramic dish. Add salmon and turn each chunk once or twice to coat. Let rest at room temperature.
2. Wash: Pull sorrel (or tatsoi) leaves off their stems. Discard stems. Do the same with grown-up spinach; baby spinach can hang onto its baby stems. Wash and spin dry all leaves, letting some water cling.
3. Steam: Heap leaves in a big pot. Cover. Set over high heat. When steam begins to snort from the lid rim, pull pot off heat. Tip wilted leaves into a colander. Rinse under cool water. Squeeze down to a dense puck. Roughly chop.
4. Crisp: Pull salmon out of its marinade. Pat dry. Crack on plenty of pepper. Heat oil in a wide cast-iron skillet over medium. When hot, add salmon. Cook until crisp outside and cooked through inside, 4-5 minutes per side.
5. Thicken: Meanwhile, make the creamed greens. In a medium saucepan (large enough to accommodate cream bubble-up), heat cream over medium-high heat. When cream comes to a boil, cook, stirring, until thickened and reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in chopped greens. Season with salt, pepper, lemon zest and a few grates of nutmeg.
6. Serve: Divide creamed greens among 4 plates. Top with salmon. Dig in.
.galleries:after {
content: ”;
display: block;
background-color: #144A7C;
margin: 16px auto 0;
height: 5px;
width: 100px;
}
.galleries:before {
content: “Food & Dining Photos and Video”;
display: block;
font: 700 23px/25px Georgia,serif;
text-align: center;
color: #1e1e1e;
var tid; function dosearch() {
if (tid) { window.clearTimeout(tid); }
tid = window.setTimeout(function(){console.log(“Search”);
postMessage(“search#”+document.getElementById(‘searchbox’).value,”*”);},800);
}
div.video_header {
width:100%;
clear:both;
border-top:3px solid black;
}
div.video_header h3 {
font-size: 24px;
margin: 10px;
color: #000;
font-family: Georgia,’Droid Serif’,serif;
}
div.video_header div.vuemix_video {
width:50%;
float:left;
}
div.vuemix_search {
float:right;
width:40%;
}
div.video_header input {
text-align: right;
font-size: 20px;
border: 0;
font-weight: 200;
outline: none;
letter-spacing: 1px;
margin: 10px;
padding:0px 25px 0px 0px;
clear:left;
float:right;
background-image: url(/2017/10/10/salmon-with-creamed-greens-updates-an-80s-icon/&);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
}
.embed-container {
position: relative;
padding-bottom: 19.56%;
height: 0;
overflow: hidden;
max-width: 100%;
border-top:1px solid #bbbbbb;
clear: both;
}
.embed-container iframe,
.embed-container object,
.embed-container embed {
position: absolute;
top: -10;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
@media screen and (max-width: 480px) {
.embed-container {
padding-bottom: 180%;
}
}
//d3ik2vfsvyg6fu.cloudfront.net/js/vuemix.all.tca.js
window.onload = function() { vxconfig(“vuemix”,{market:”www.chicagotribune.com”,playlist:”ct-dailymeal”,layout:”autoblurb”,linkenable:false,clickexp:true,oneclick:true}); }