MAIN DISH / FISH
Kitchen sink sous-vide Salmon
with Mashed Potatoes
& Green Asparagus
Ingredients
X Pieces of Salmon (Wild has less fat, cultured a bit more)
Amount is limited by your Ziploc stash and Sink capacity.
Olive oil (Nice quality)
Sea salt
Fresh Dill if you can get it
Tools and general stuff:
Big pan or some kind of container if you don't want to use the whole
sink, plastic preferred for heat retention (lower half of a salad spinner)
Knife biggish, and most importantly very sharp
Unseparated chopsticks, 2 per Ziplock (not critical)
Mashed Potatoes (a decent amount, half yellow, half Russet if you are picky)
Butter, salted, about 1/2 a stick minimum
Green asparagus (a few per human)
Method
1. Mis en place:
Contributed by Joost Riphagen “the cook”
Visiting Researcher at the
Brain Aging and Dementia Lab and anesthesiologist
& Heidi Jacobs “taste-tester & quality assurance”
Assistant Professor of Radiology/Gordon Center
Anywhere from 2-10 servings requires same amount of effort
We love Boston, but you find that the thing you
miss most (other than driving at 120 mph) is
food. Therefore you just have to cook yourself.
This salmon idea is from the Modernist
cookbook which is hard to come by. Tried it and
it's very easy and can be done with minimal
tools in a Boston studio if you have running
water and a stove. And it’s really good.
If you miss going out to a fancy dinner every once in a
while, to celebrate the last small victory, this is a very
simple and bombproof recipe to get some fancy fine dining
into you quarantine environment with relatively little
effort.
1. Peel potatoes, rinse and leave in water, chop down into equal-size units. Add salt to water to equilibrate osmotic gradients a bit.
2. Prep asparagus: nobody wants woody stems. Break off ends. Generally, they will snap at the right point.
3. Wash salmon under the tap. put on board skin down (don't bother if it doesn't have skin). Use your freshly sharpened knife to carefully cut
down as close to the skin as possible (YouTube probably has a tutorial). One hand on top of the fillet, other hand wields knife: blade
horizontal, press down firmly towards skin to slightly bend the knife sideways, carefully cut skin off. Don't cut yourself. If the salmon looks
a little ragged it will taste exactly the same, call it artisanal. Rub some sea salt on the salmon, chop dill if you want green accents, if not just
putting in whole works fine as well and you can take it out whole. Stick in Ziploc and add a glug or two of nice olive oil so the entire filet
can be generously covered when air is evacuated. Each piece gets its own bag.
2. Cooking:
1. Leave a small bit of double Ziploc open to allow air to escape and immerse in water to push air out and seal fully. I use unseparated
chopsticks as clips to keep it positioned in the water container with the opening above water. Fill with hot tap water, if you have a
thermometer about 48-50 Celsius or higher will work, but basically uncomfortably hot for a finger is sufficiently accurate.
Use something under the container to add some isolation, and if the temperature drops just add hot tap water until finger complains again.
It's really uncritical. Leave for about 20-30 minutes while keeping the temp up intermittently. Amazon packaging air pillows make a good
floating lid to add some insulation.
2. Boil potatoes (just covered in water, lid cocked) until poking with a fork does not feel like raw potato. Drain, shake and let sit with lid on
for a bit. Mash and mix with cut pieces of butter (anything up to 50% butter is encouraged especially if you feel French) at least half a stick
for four persons. Vigorously mix with a fork to get a nice creamy structure. When in doubt add more butter.
3. Asparagus (I prefer skillet with some sea salt, lime and a coating of olive oil.) Shake and cook to your taste on a medium/high heat.
3. Serve:
The salmon will be pink and very soft and flaky so use a (suitably cleaned) hand to drain and plate it. Add generous dollop of mash and the
asparagus. White/Red wine optional.
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