BROWN BUTTER SOUSVIDE SALMON WITH PEA RISOTTO

This is my take on a recipe developed by one of my favourite chefs, Marcus Wareing.  His recipe calls for the salmon to be pan fried, which of course you can do as well.  However, I had to feed 13 guests and pan-frying salmon to perfection and serving it warm with only one person cooking is a bit of a challenge.

I decided to sousvide the salmon with a brown butter sauce.  To add texture to the dish, I garnished it with crisps of salsify but you can easily substitute it with parsnip or even thin slices of deep-fried scallops.  It is important to think of textures when you make a dish, you do not want everything to be mushy!  Either way, the combination is a match made in heaven!

You’ll need

  •  For the lemon butter
  • 125g butter, softened
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • Half a bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
  • ---
  • For the main dish
  • 60g butter (for the risotto)
  • 150g frozen peas
  • ½ bunch of mint
  • 1 large shallot, finely chopped
  • 200g risotto rice
  • 80ml white wine
  • 1 liter of good chicken stock 
  • 100g Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 4 x 150-200g salmon fillets with or without the skin on, depending on your technique.  
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
  • 100g butter (for the sousvide)
  • lemon butter to serve
  • pea shoots (for garnish)

Method

  1. For the lemon butter, place the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley in a food processor and combine. Wrap in greaseproof paper or cling-film, shape into a cylinder and chill or freeze until needed.
  2. For the brown butter sauce, melt 100g butter in a saucepan until nice and golden; the butter should have caramelized into a nutty brown butter.  Pour into a bowl but try to leave the solids behind (that would be the white parts in the melted butter)
  3. Heat your sousvide to 46°C.
  4. Place your fillets of salmon in the zip lock or sousvide bags and pour in the melted brown butter.  
  5. Seal and cook for 30 minutes to an hour depending on the thickness of the fillets.  (30 minutes for 2,5cm thick or less and 45 minutes to 1 hour for fillets between 2,5-5cm thick)
  6. Melt 20g of the butter and add the frozen peas. 
  7. Cook for 2 minutes until defrosted, then remove half the peas and add a ladle of stock to the remaining peas.
  8. Put on the lid and bring to the boil. Add the mint, place in a blender and purée. Season with salt and pepper.
  9. Melt the remaining butter in a pan. Add the shallot and cook for 1 minute but don’t let it brown. Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Add the white wine and cook until it has almost fully evaporated.
  10. Now start adding ladles of the stock, one at a time, allowing the stock to be fully absorbed before adding the next. Stir continuously until the rice is cooked (about 20 minutes). 
  11. Finish by adding the whole peas you removed earlier, the Parmesan and pea purée, and season again.
  12. Carefully remove the salmon from the bag as it will be very delicate and place on paper towel to drain off the excess butter and season with seasalt.
  13. Serve on top of the risotto, with a slice of lemon butter on top. Garnish with pea shoots. 

Should you decide to panfry your salmon, season your fillets on both sides with salt.  Heat 2 Tbs oil in a frying pan.  Once it is hot, add the salmon fillets skin-side down and cook for 4 minutes, then flip over and cook for another one minute.

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