Salmon Risotto A la Cooks Illustrated

This recipe is a hybrid and a variation of two of my favorite recipes from cooks illustrated. It’s a tribute in a way to one the greatest aids I’ve ever had to my cooking. A magazine who’s incredibly thorough process of finding the perfect recipe for each dish manages to be, more often than not, a lesson in cooking technique as well as a set of directions for a perfect meal

Enough of this gushing.

This weeks recipe is quite long and involved so I’d like to get to the recipe as soon as possible.

A few notes first though:

First: The two recipes I took this from are Spring Vegetable Risotto and Poached Salmon with Herb Caper Vinaigrette. I definitely changed them a bit but the cooks illustrated originals are pretty bad ass. You usually need a password to get these recipes on their website but I think they’re both free right now.

Second: I had tons to do the day I cooked this one so naturally I made it as complicated as possible to aid me in my procrastination. There’s no need to put to caramelized onions in per se’ or use so many different veggies but you know… that’s the way I roll. Plus this makes tons of really good food that you can eat for a week.

Third: This is really based mostly on what I had in the fridge that day. The risotto part of the recipe is actually a pretty good way to get rid of all the stuff in your crisper. Most of the stuff in step three of the Risotto section can be replaced by any moderately firm and hardy vegetable.

Four: When your cutting the vegetables remember to put aside all the best scraps (the woody ends of the asparagus, the green parts of the leeks, the carrot tops, the basil stems, the onion skins and such) as you’ll need them later.

So before further ado…

Ingredients

For the Salmon
2 Salmon Filets weighing about 1 ½ pounds.
2 Lemons cut into ½ inch think rounds
½ Basil Leaves, Chopped
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 cup Dry White Wine
Salt & Pepper

For the Risotto
2 cups Water
4 cups Vegetable Broth (or Chicken if there’s no vegetarians eating)
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion halved and sliced thin
1 Tsp. Brown Sugar
4 Tbs Butter
½ Pound Asparagus chopped
1 small bulb Fennel trimmed and chopped
1 Carrot chopped
1 Leek (white part only) halved length wise and chopped thing
4 Cloves Garlic minced
1 ½ cup Arborio Rice
1 cup Basil Leaves, chopped
½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese


Poaching the Salmon

1. Arrange the lemon slices evenly in single layer across the bottom of a medium size pan. Sprinkle with garlic and basil. Pour on the wine until it just covers the top of the lemon slices. Salt and pepper the salmon filets and place them on the lemon slices skin side down.

2. Bring wine to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook until salmon is just done, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove Salmon to a plate and set aside.

3. Strain the poaching liquid into a bowl through a mesh strainer pressing on the lemons to extract as much flavor as possible. This should produce about a cup of liquid, if it doesn’t add a little more wine to it until it does. Set aside for later.

Making the Risotto

1. Place all the scraps you’ve set aside from the vegetables in a dutch oven with all the water and broth. Bring to a very low simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes. Strain liquid through mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing on the veggies to release flavor. Cover liquid and set it aside.

2. Wipe dutch over clean. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, sugar a pinch of slat and pepper. Cook stirring often until onions are dark and almost caramelized. Remove to a plate and set aside.

3. Wipe dutch oven clean with a wet paper towel. Add 1 tbs. butter heat over medium heat until foaming subsides. Add asparagus, carrots, fennel and a pinch of a salt. Cook stirring regularly until asparagus is bright green and slightly tender and fennel is just beginning to brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.

4. Wipe the dutch oven clean one last time. Melt remaining butter over medium heat until foaming subsides. Add leeks and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Add rice and gook until edges of the rice are translucent.

5. Add wine/lemon mixture from salmon poaching. Cook stirring frequently until all the liquid is absorbed.

6. Add 3 cups of the broth/water mixture you’ve set aside from step one. Lower to a simmer and cook stirring fairly regularly until all the water is gone about 12 minutes.

7. Now comes the time of repeatedly adding water and stirring. Add ½ cup liquid at a time and stir constantly until it’s absorbed. Repeat this as needed until the rice has the right consistency. Creamy but still slightly al dente. Usually this will mean using all the liquid.

8. Finally add the onions, veggies you’ve set aside along with the cheese and chopped basil stir to combine. Remove from heat. Crumble in the salmon and continue stirring. Stir in juice from half a lemon.

Serves many and keeps well.