Notes: We add and change the vegetables to this base as we go through the summer, substituting little turnips, radishes, green beans … the list is actually endless. We always cook the vegetables ahead of time, so when we add them to the sauce they are just being heated through. If you want to serve this even when corn is out of season, find a good frozen corn; we find that it holds the flavor much better than canned corn.
Ingredients: 4 salmon fillets, 5-6 ounces each
Salt, to taste
1 cup dry white wine or vermouth
2 cups fish stock or clam juice
1 tablespoon good-quality unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped bacon
1/4 cup chopped leeks
Olive oil
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 leaves fresh tarragon
Pepper, to taste
1 lemon
Instructions:
1. About 1 hour before serving, season fish on both sides
with salt.
2. Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add
wine or vermouth. Boil until reduced by three-fourths. Add fish stock or clam
juice and reduce again by half. Set aside.
3. In another sauté pan over a medium heat, melt butter and
add bacon and leeks; sweat for about 10 minutes, until soft (do not brown).
Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
4. Heat a frying pan on medium-high. Add about 3 tablespoons
olive oil. Place fish in pan, skin-side up. Cook for about 3 minutes; you are
looking for a beautiful golden crust. Flip fish and finish cooking on the other
side, about 2 minutes more.
5. To make the sauce, bring wine-stock mixture back to a
boil; add bacon-leek mixture and corn. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add cream and
tarragon. Check seasoning; adjust with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon
to brighten it up a little. Serve sauce with fish on top; squeeze a little
lemon and drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil over all just before serving.
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