Recipe #3: Baked fresh Tasmanian salmon on pasta topped with onions, mushrooms & a delicate home-made sauce

Today, I made something quite extraordinary. Yes, I am still in my fish phase, so salmon it is except that it comes with a twist. The sauce, I must say, is inspired by Hollandaise sauce with a very personal touch. I still had mushrooms and asparagus so made good use of them. The result: something quite interesting indeed...

Ingredients

• Fresh skinless and boneless Tasmanian fillet
• Fresh mushrooms
• Asparagus
• Red Onions
• Creamy butter
• Eggs
• Chili flakes
• Black pepper powder
• Muscat or tawny port
• Chermoula sauce (I bought this from a local Oxfam shop)
• Salt

Baked Salmon Fillets
Line baking tray with aluminium foil. Spread a layer of chili flakes where fillets of salmon are to be placed. Gently rub olive oil and salt onto salmon, then allow chili flakes to soak in excess oil underneath the fillets. Then place tray into heated oven and allow salmon to bake.

Sauce
We won't need much of this, so just an egg, or two, will suffice. Vigorously whisk eggs while pouring hot melted butter. The longer you whisk, the better. Splash a dash of muscat or port while whisking the mixture. Then pour mixture into warm (not hot) saucepan which was used to melt butter. Keep stirring continuously while adding salt and black pepper to taste. Then pour some Chermoula sauce (this gives it a tangy complexity with garlic overtones). Stir mixture with pot over a very low heat then allow to settle. Do *not* allow to come close to boiling.

Pasta
Boil water in a pot, add pasta, olive oil, and salt. Turn down heat and allow pasta to simmer until cooked.

Vegetables
Toss chopped red onions and fresh mushrooms into fry-pan with olive oil. (Chopped garlic would also be good.) Stir-fry until mushrooms brown, then add asparagus and cook gently over a low heat. Sprinkle salt to taste.

To Serve
Drain pasta and put into serving dish. Then gently place baked salmon on top. Decorate with mushrooms and onions, then pour sauce over them, allowing it to soak into pasta beneath. Be careful *not* to add *too much* sauce. Finally, serve with asparagus.

I found a 2006 bottle of Rully, which absolutely made this meal sublime. Highly recommended!

<Previous
Next> Recipe #4: Butter-fried chicken breast fillet on creamy garlic mushroom pasta with Pinot Noir