Pan Seared Salmon (from America's Test Kitchen, The New Best Recipe)

Olive Oil, Salt, and Peppa! Whodathunkit?!!!

It's been almost a year since I broke up with butter and any other such foods  so decadently delicious. Long gone are the reduction sauces laced with vermouth or sherry, with the obligatory 1/2 stick of butter making any forkful of food melt in your mouth.  Gone too, are the luscious mounds of handmade, triple creme artisanal cheeses I used to slather all over great big chunks of freshly baked bread. They have been replaced with their more staid cousins like ghee (think butter, without its gooey, romantic side) and gluten free bread (a pitiful, ersatz version that tastes nothing like the lusty french loaves I used to devour.)

I don't think I will ever really stop grieving over lost loves, but I have learned to live without them for the time being. Olive oil, salt and pepper, believe it or not, can make alot of foods taste amazingly good.  Below is a dish I found in America's Test Kitchen, The New Best Recipe - my go to cookbook.

P.S. Don't let the instructions scare you. Just read them through and then go for it. Every time you make this dish you will get better and better at judging when the fish is done to your liking. :0)

Cooks Illustrated Pan Seared Salmon

 

Serves 4

 

Note: With the addition of the fish fillets, the pan temperature drops. Compensate for the heat loss by keeping the heat on high for 30 seconds after adding the fillets to the pan. If cooking 2 or 3 fillets instead of the full recipe of 4, use a 10 inch skillet and medium-high heat for both preheating the pan and cooking the salmon. A splatter screen helps reduce the mess of pan-searing. Serve salmon with a fresh salsa or lemon or lime wedges.

 

 

4 center-cut salmon fillets, 1 1/4 inches thick (about 6 ounces each) pinbones removed

Salt and ground black pepper

1 tsp canola or vegetable oil

 

1. Heat a 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat for 3 minutes. Sprinkle the salmon with salt and pepper to taste.

 

2. Add the oil to the pan and swirl to coat the bottom. When the oil shimmers (but does not smoke), add the fillets skin-side down and cook, without moving, until the pan regains lost heat, about 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium-high; continue to cook until the skin side is well browned and the bottom half of the fillets turn opaque, 4 1/2  minutes. Turn the fillets and cook, without moving them, until they are no longer translucent on the exterior and are firm, but not hard, when gently squeezed: 3 minutes for medium-rare and 3 1/2 minutes for medium. Remove the fillets from the pan to a platter and let stand for 1 minute. Pat the fillets with paper towels to absorb excess fat, if desired. Serve immediately.