Who's hungry?

It's been a minute since I've posted any recipes, so allow me this opportunity over the next couple of days to share with you a couple of my original favorites from the past month.


Citrus and cayenne glazed Coho salmon with roasted asparagus and red pepper risotto.  We had some cedar grilling planks from William-Sonoma since last summer, so I got them soaking the night prior.  I bought all of the goodies at Walt Churchill's Market--more to be said about Churchill's later.  My plan was to try to make some beurre blanc for the asparagus, but I chucked that for something even less tedious.  I understand that beurre blanc is very easy to make, so I will try it another day.  Arborio rice is always in our cupboard because I have a love affair with risotto.

For the 2 Coho salmon fillets:
1/3 cup orange marmelade
1 t cayenne pepper
2 t brown sugar
1 dash garlic powder

Then the asparagus:
8 stalks asparagus, ends snapped off
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T unsalted butter
1 t sea salt
1 t freshly-ground black pepper

And finally, the queen mother of sides--the risotto:
1 cup arborio rice
1 small shallot, chopped
1/3 cup Chardonnay
1 T unsalted butter
1 T extra virgin olive oil
3 cups chicken stock, heated and kept at a simmer
1/3 cup fire-roasted, peeled, and diced red bell pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
freshly-ground black pepper

Heat your gas grill to medium and throw the cedar plank onto it.  Let it hang out in there for a little while.  Throw the asparagus stalks into some tinfoil with the white wine vinegar, butter and so forth.  That's right--I didn't even melt the butter, let alone combine/emulsify it with the vinegar.  Close up the foil and set it aside for when you put the fillets onto the plank.

Over medium heat in a medium saute pan, heat 1 T butter with the olive oil.  Let it warm up just a tad before adding the arborio rice.  Get it all coated really nicely.  When things start to make a little noise, add the shallot.  Combine everything and let it cook until the shallot is slightly translucent.  The pan should be nice and hot by this point.  Pour in the white wine, combine everything, and let the wine cook down on its own--save your stirring muscles for the chicken stock.  Once the rice absorbs the wine, add one ladle of chicken stock.  Stir constantly with a wooden spatula until the stock is absorbed, then add another ladle and repeat.  With such a small batch of risotto, you'll only be doing this for about 20 minutes.  After your last ladle of stock is absorbed, turn off the heat.  Throw in the red peppers, stir in the parmesan, and finish it off with some black pepper.  When it comes to black pepper, I like a lot more than less.

Heat the orange marmelade in a small glass bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds at about medium power.  It hurts me to use the microwave, but I could not justify dirtying another pan for such a small amount of glaze.  Throw in the cayenne, brown sugar, and garlic powder and combine it well.  Now is the time to put the salmon fillets onto that plank on the grill.  Put the fillets scale-side down.  Oh, did I forget to mention that I like to keep the scales on my salmon?  We have a phenomenal knife to fillet off those scales with ease, and the great folks behind the seafood counter at Churchill's, or any quality grocer, with remove them for you if you request it.  However, I like to keep the scales on to avoid any of that delicious meat from sticking to the cooking surface.  Anywho, scale-side down onto the plank.  Put the asparagus, in its foil, on the top rack of your grill or over a low burner.  Close the lid and let everything hang out for about 8 minutes.  At that point, you are going to brush that orange glaze onto each salmon fillet.  Close the lid again and let everything cook for another few minutes.  Take it all off of the grill and you've got dinner.

The asparagus is rather sour with that white wine vinegar, but I liked it.  The was initially a turn-off for me, since we usually roast our asparagus in the oven just with extra virgin olive oil, with which it maintains a beautiful bright green hue.  I will definitely make this asparagus again, though.  I feel like you can't go wrong with risotto--the key is to using enough stock AND making sure the rice fully absorbs it all.  And the salmon?  Well, I thought it was the bomb.  Try it and let me know what you think.  And if you have any fun risotto recipes, please share!


Next time: a picture of my chicken parmesan.  Sorry--no sharing that recipe.