Two Wine Reviews and a Salmon Recipe

Grocery Outlet wines again tonight. In case you're wondering why I was given this opportunity and why GO is ramping up their wine presence online, it's because they're going to be having a fantastic sale March 30-April 3. 20% off all wines! This is a great event and there will be some terrific bargains to be had so do not miss it!

Tonight's first wine was a 2007 Sylvester Vineyards & Winery Rosé.

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


I bought this with the gift card given to me by GO for $3.99. Their sign said elsewhere it was $8.99.

When I opened this and poured it in my glass the first thing I smelled was vinegar. This did not bode well. It's dry and Mr Mary Cooks claimed it tasted like "Kool-Aid rainwater." (Hey, I couldn't make that up by myself!) There's an unpleasant aftertaste with a sourness that's almost lemony. The text on the back label matches the flavor and character of the wine: vague and nondescript. I would have felt obligated to finish the bottle but since I didn't pay for it, I didn't.

However, we did figure out a good use for it: it'd be a decent sangria wine. It also makes a good wine spritzer if you add lemon-lime soda. Just sayin'...

We drank it with salmon that was still great after being in the freezer for a year and a half. This is salmon that we caught ourselves in Ketchikan, Alaska. I was overjoyed that not only was it still good but it was delicious! Are you ready for the food interlude?



Ingredients:
4 4 oz. salmon fillets
2 Tbsp. canola oil
4 Tbsp. rice vinegar
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. finely minced onion
2 Tbsp. sesame oil



Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.



Pour over the salmon fillets.



Let them marinade for 30 minutes.



Flip 'em over and let them go for another 30 minutes.



Put them in a pan and cook them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Then, broil them for about 5 minutes or so.



Ahhhh... I live a tough life, don't I?!


Okay, back to the wine. After the dismal performance of the rosé (and I truly was disappointed because I love a good rosé!) I decided to open a 2008 Le Baron Ranch Late Harvest Riesling.

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


What
A
Godsend!

Apple and apricot on the nose. It was only lightly syrupy but very, very sweet. It would make an excellent dessert wine. It was such a treat, literally candy for adults! There were pear and apricot notes with a peach aftertaste. It was almost effervescent on the tongue when it touched. It finished clean on the palate. I knew it might yield a nasty hangover in the morning (due to the sugar content) but I didn't care! The bottle was completely consumed, mostly by me. There was a bit of a starfruit note as it warmed. I loved, loved, loved this wine. If I could drink it every day I would do it.

It was $10.99 at Grocery Outlet, elsewhere $44.99. Honestly, for a Late Harvest that might be a wee bit inflated (I'd believe it more for an ice wine) but no matter. It was definitely worth the eleven bucks. I am going to head back to GO for more! You should, too, if you know what's good for you.

Roasted Salmon Steaks With Pinot Noir Sauce

This is my first Mark Bittman recipe and, let me tell you, I was excited to try it. I got the recipe from Bittman's blog on the New York Times website.

Ingredients:
Salmon fillets (recipe calls for 4 steaks but this is what was gotten out from the freezer)
Pinot Noir
Sugar
Rosemary
Balsamic Vinegar
Butter
Salt and Pepper



Put 1/2 cup sugar in a pan. Heat the oven to 450 degrees so it's ready to go.



Bittman says not to worry too much about stirring; just shake it up every now and then. Look, it's halfway there!



Now it's ready.



Pour 2 cups of Pinot Noir into the pan verrrrrry carefully and very slowly. Then heat the sauce up so the sugar dissolves again.



After the sugar has dissolved, add the rosemary sprig.



Boil the sauce over high heat until it reduces to about 1/2 cup.



Meanwhile, put a little olive oil in a pan and heat it up. After it's hot, place the salmon in the pan and immediately put it in the oven.



After three minutes, take it out of the oven and turn it over. Then put it back in the oven for three more minutes, or until it is done to your liking (Bittman says he likes his medium rare).



After the sauce has reduced, place the butter and balsamic vinegar in the pot. Stir until the butter has melted.





Put the salmon on the plate and spoon the sauce over the fish. I served it with green beans and pappardelle that was tossed with a tablespoon of butter and some freshly grated parmesan.



This
was
delicious!

Seriously, it was candy for adults (and kids, too). We all loved it! The preschooler even ate a bit (but not much because she's not a big dinner eater). I will definitely make this again and I think it'd be delicious over pork. Mr. Mary Cooks thinks it would be good on lamb as well!

Thai Green Curry Salmon

Tonight for dinner I was inspired and decided to make salmon in a Thai style. I had a can of pre-made green curry in my pantry. After opening it, I tossed it in favor of making my own.



Start with some nice salmon. I used salmon steaks but fillets would have been better. It's still beautiful, even after two months in the freezer.



You need green curry paste, coconut milk (light is okay), bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, fish sauce, brown sugar, and chicken broth.



Pour the coconut milk into a pan. I swirled it around as I poured so it would look beautiful.



Add the green curry paste. How much you add depends upon how spicy you like your food. I added about 1 teaspoon but if the kids weren't going to eat this I would have added about 1 tablespoon!



Bring it to a boil then turn it down and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.



Add 3 tablespoons of beautiful fish sauce. Sure, it looks great but it smells awful. Try not to contemplate how they make it.



Add two tablespoons of brown sugar. Stir to incorporate.



Add 1/3 cup of chicken broth. I used homemade.



Lay the salmon down into the pan. You can also use chicken that has been cut up into bite-sized pieces (in fact, that's how I usually make this).



After the salmon has cooked on one side for 10 minutes, carefully flip it over and let it cook for 5 minutes.



Add bamboo shoots - strips are best - to the pan.



Add some drained straw mushrooms. I use the pieces (broken) because they're way cheaper than the whole mushrooms. Heat the mixture for about another 5 minutes or until the salmon is cooked.



Serve!

This was very tasty. I am missing the Thai basil leaves which would have made the flavor better but I didn't have any on hand (I had everything else). You want to serve it over calrose (sticky) rice.

Fettuccine with Salmon and Vegetables

Ingredients:

Salmon (about 2 cups, cooked and flaked)
16 oz. fettuccine
1 jar alfredo sauce
1 zucchini, sliced
2 red bell peppers, sliced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
(not pictured: butter, olive oil, fresh ground pepper)



Put some water on to boil for your fettuccine. Then, melt about 2 tablespoons of butter and 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a big pan.



Once it has melted, add your vegetables.









Stir these around and let them soften a bit.



Now, add the sauce and stir it together.



*Add the salmon.



Stir gently.



Put your fettuccine in boiling water and cook until it's al dente.



Drain the fettuccine and mix with the sauce.



Now, plate your dinner!





*Next time I make this I am going to do something else about the salmon. Serving it on top of the pasta-vegetable mixture would be better. Due to stirring, it ended up too incorporated and too spread out.

I have to admit I only ate about half of my fettuccine. The flavor was good but I was just so disgusted by this failure that I couldn't finish it. It did give me a good idea, though. I should try to make salmon puttanesca (in lieu of using tuna).

Salt Dome Salmon

This past Saturday my husband, coworker, and I were up in Ketchikan, Alaska fishing for coho salmon. We caught some!



We brought it home and the first thing I thought of was to use Alton Brown's Salt Dome fish recipe (I think he originally used a striped bass).

Ingredients:
3 - 3 lb. boxes kosher salt
6 egg whites
1 cup (or more) water
One whole fish, preferably with tail and head on, gills removed (but mine was just fine)
Herbs of your choice
Lemon, cut into thin slices




Easy peasy, right? Pour half of the salt into a very large bowl.



Separate the whites from the yolks.



Pour the egg whites into the bowl.



Now, pour the water into the bowl.



Finally, finish with the second half of the salt.



Mix thoroughly. You want the mixture to be mortar-like. Very thick and wet (but not too wet!).



Slice your lemon fairly thinly.



Take a second to admire that beautiful fish.



Stuff it with some herbs and the lemon slices. I used dill and some thyme grown in my parents' garden.



Lay down a bed of salt on your pan. Then put the fish on the salt.



Pack the salt around the fish very well.





Bake in a 450 degree oven until the fish is done. We baked this one for about an hour (it was approximately 10 pounds of fish) and, arguably, it could have been in there for less time. You want the fish temperature to read 130 degrees. Ours was higher which resulted in having some dry spots but it was still a superior flavor to anything you'd get from the market.



Here is where I will defer to Alton Brown and his wisdom:

Open the fish at the table by hitting the dome several times with a small hammer and lifting off the slabs of salt. Brush away any stray salt. Gently pull out dorsal (back) fin. Using a fish knife or serrated pie server, make a single incision all the way down the back of the fish and around the gill plate. Then lift the skin off working from the head to the tail. Remove meat from top side of fish, going down one side of the spine then the other. Grasp the tail and remove the skeleton, (it should come up intact). The meat revealed below will slide right off the skin.



We ended up with quite a plateful of tasty fish! I served rolls and vegetables with this but all I ended up eating was salmon!!