I love pink grapefuit. And I love salmon. And I love wine (who doesn't?). When I saw the name of this recipe it was a must-try. The salmon is pan-seared giving it a wonderful slightly sweet coating to the fleshy side and enhancing it's flavors. The sauce is subtle but gives a great enhancement to both the salmon and sauteed baby spinach. We don't typically have Pinot Noir in our house, but thanks to my childhood friend, now one of the sommeliers at a nearby seafood restaurant, my house is stocked! Thats a whole other story.... I make her lunch, she brings me a case of wines.... Talk about a good friend!
The end result of this recipe is something worthy of a fancy schmancy restaurant menu. Give it a try, but make sure you read through the entire recipe once or twice before starting to avoid any hiccups!
Simmering the Pinot Noir Sauce.
Searing the salmon, skin side first.
After straining the sauce and adding butter and small grapefruit segments.
The spinach is sauteed in the same pan that cooks the salmon. There aren't too many dirty dishes resulting from this recipe.
The finished product. I served with long grain, wild rice and a variety of mild fruits on the side.
And yes, even my children loved this dish - including the spinach!
Pan-Seared Salmon with Sauteed Baby Spinach and a Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse
5 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets, skin on, scaled and scored
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (10-ounce) packages baby spinach, washed and spun dry
Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce, recipe follows
Preheat an oven to 200 degrees F.
Preheat a large saute pan with 3 teaspoons of the olive oil. Season the fillets on both sides with 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper. Sprinkle the skin sides evenly with the sugar.
Place the salmon in the pan, skin side down, and cook until it is nicely browned and caramelized, about 3 minutes. Flip over and cook on the other side for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from the pan, place on a small ovenproof dish or platter, and place in the oven to keep warm, skin side up.
Add the remaining olive oil and butter to the pan and once the butter is melted, add the spinach and remaining salt and pepper. Cook the spinach until wilted, 3 to 4 minutes.
Serve the salmon by dividing the spinach among 4 warmed entree plates, place a piece of salmon on top of the spinach, and drizzle the sauce around the plate.
Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce:
1 cup fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice
1/2 cup Pinot Noir
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1 garlic clove, smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup chicken stock
3 to 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
4 teaspoons chiffonade fresh basil leaves, optional
Grapefruit segments
Place all the ingredients except the butter, basil and grapefruit segments in a 1-quart saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce until the liquid is slightly thickened. Reduce the heat to low, remove pan from the heat, add a few cubes of the butter and use a whisk to stir constantly until the butter is melted. Return to the heat and add a few more pieces. Continue to place the pan on and off the heat, adding a few cubes of butter at a time, and whisking until all the butter is used. Remove the sauce from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh strainer. Stir in the grapefruit segments and chiffonade of basil and keep warm until ready to serve - do not allow the sauce to boil or it will separate.
