Centerpiece Salmon with Basil and Browned Butter | Ottolenghi

The dish is called centerpiece salmon with basil and browned butter because it’s intended to be a main course for a special celebratory meal. Yotam Ottolenghi even suggests that it could be a festive centerpiece suitable for a holiday spread. Although the salmon does not take long to prepare or cook, but the side does. A basil infused browned butter may almost sound everyday, especially in the summer, with ordinary ingredients. However, the side dish, a sunchoke and potato salad with seaweed and radishes, is far from an ordinary fare. There is something to be said about them.

You expect surprises in most Ottolenghi’s dishes; there are more so here with the diverse ingredients and methods. Let’s start with the list of ingredients other than the obvious ones (salmon, basil, and butter). The list consists of: dried wakame seaweed, garlic, lime, ginger, radishes, sunchokes, potatoes and green onions. Believe it or not, I have most of them, including the dried wakeame seaweed. What I don’t have on hand are the radishes and sunchokes.

Make Crispy Wakame Seaweed

For quite a while, dried wakame seaweed has become a staple item in my pantry. The reason is simple: you can get individually wrapped single-serve in a family-size bag from Costco at wholesale prices. For sure, it may look like a lot. Then I started using it as a snack to munch on, as a component to a furikake mix, or sprinkling it on rice or salad for a touch of umami. Not too long after that, we’ve found ourselves having to stock it again to meet the growing demand for this delicious savory treat. Anytime anyone raiding my pantry will be happy finding the dried wakame seaweed. An oddly extraordinary ingredient!

In this recipe, Ottolenghi shows me a new way to gin up the dried wakame seaweed. Dunk pieces of them in brown butter, then strain. Lay them out on sheets of paper towel to dry. Now they become crispy wakame seaweed with a deep buttery flavor. I can munch on a whole bowl of the crispy feathery browned butter seaweed. Extraordinary and oddly good!

Make Pickled Radishes

For the radishes, one ingredient I hardly use, I’m starting to take a second look at them. In the month of August, you see a bounty of radishes in the farmers’ market, mostly the regular variety. When you come across the fresh smaller ones, the breakfast radishes, get them since they readily add a bright beautiful punch to a salad. I worry about buying a bundle of radishes. But worry no more: fresh radishes can turn into an equally attractive jar of pickled radishes. Here, Ottolenghi pickles the radishes to add a touch of acidity to the potato salad. It works well.

Roast the Sunchokes

Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, have a mild, sweet and crunchy, with a nutty taste similar to water chestnuts, hazelnuts, and jicama. There is nothing else quite like them. I like making a sunchoke soup. But the expense and the tedious process of peeling small sunchokes lessen its appeal.

Now I learn from the recipe that roasting sunchokes is another way to go. It brings out the flavor and sweetness of sunchokes. Find the bigger ones because they are easier to peel. Cut them into about 1-inch chunks. Toss together with salt and olive oil. Then roast the sunchokes for 20-22 minutes in a 450°F oven until golden brown. Ottolenghi says you can substitute sunchokes with potatoes. But I find sunchokes to be a superb ingredient — for a special occasion, and hard to be replaced.

The centerpiece salmon with basil and browned butter has enough intriguing flavors and versatility to anchor a festive spread, whenever you feel like celebrating. According to Ottolenghi:

You can add plain or fried rice, steamed greens and roasted carrots or pumpkin to the sunchoke and potato salad, which is served alongside, to create a generous holiday spread.

Print Recipe

Centerpiece Salmon with Basil and Browned Butter

By Yotam Ottolenghi – Serves: 6-8

There are two parts to the dish: the basil infused browned butter salmon and a sunchoke and potato salad with crispy wakame and pickled radishes. They are equal partners and taste delicious together.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons/90 grams unsalted butter
• ¼ cup/10 grams dried wakame seaweed, roughly broken up into 1-inch/2-centimeter pieces if large
• 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 5 limes (finely grate the zest to get 2 tablespoons, squeeze to get 1/4 cup/60 milliliters juice, and cut the rest into wedges for serving)
• 2 heaping tablespoons/20 grams peeled, roughly chopped ginger
• Flaky or fine sea salt
• ¼ cup/10 grams roughly chopped Thai basil, plus 12 whole leaves (or use a combination of normal basil and cilantro instead)
• 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large salmon fillet (a side of salmon), skin on and patted dry (about 2 3/4 pounds/1.2 kilograms)
• 3 ounces/80 grams breakfast radishes or regular radishes, thinly sliced on a mandolin (about 2/3 cup sliced)
• 1 pound/500 grams sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes)
• 1 ⅓ pounds/600 grams small-medium white or yellow potatoes
• Scant 1/4 cup/15 grams thinly sliced green onions (from 3 or 4 green onions, green parts only)

Instructions

1

MAKE THE BROWN BUTTER: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, swirling from time to time until it begins to foam, turn light brown, and smell nutty and caramelized. Remove from heat, stir in wakame and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

2

MAKE THE GARLIC PASTE: In a spice grinder, mini food process or mortar, blitz or pound the garlic, lime zest, ginger and 1 1/2 teaspoons flaky salt (or 3/4 teaspoon fine salt) to a paste, scraping the sides down as you go. Add the chopped basil leaves, and blitz or pound until broken down into a bright green paste.

3

PREPARE THE CRISPY WAKAME: Strain the browned butter into a small bowl and set the now-crisp wakame aside on a plate lined with paper towels.

4

COMBINE GARLIC PASTE AND BROWN BUTTER: Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of the garlic paste to the bowl with the butter and stir well. Add the remaining paste to a separate small bowl, stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, and set aside.

5

PREPARE THE SALMON: Place the salmon skin side down on a very large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment, arranging it diagonally so it fits. Rub with 1 1/2 teaspoons flaky salt (or 3/4 teaspoon fine salt), then spoon the butter mixture evenly over to cover. Set aside at room temperature for about an hour. (Alternatively, you can prepare the salmon up to this point and refrigerate, covered, up to 4 hours.)

6

PICKLE THE RADISHES: Toss the radishes together with 1/4 teaspoon flaky salt (or 1/8 teaspoon fine salt) and 1 tablespoon lime juice and set aside.

7

Heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius and position a rack in the top third of the oven.

8

PREP THE SUNCHOKE: Fill a large bowl with water. Peel the sunchokes, adding them to the water as you go to prevent discoloration. Cut them into 1 1/4-inch/3-centimeter chunks, then dry very well with a kitchen towel. Toss together with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon flaky salt (or 1/4 teaspoon fine salt) and spread out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

9

ROAST THE SUNCHOKES: Roast sunchokes for 20 to 22 minutes, tossing the vegetables and rotating the pans halfway through, until golden brown and cooked through. Set aside to cool. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.

10

COOK THE POTATOES: While the sunchokes are roasting, peel the potatoes, add to a medium saucepan, cover with cold, well-salted water, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Once simmering, cook for 12 to 15 minutes (or longer, if larger), until a knife goes all the way through, but they still hold their shape. Drain and let cool for 5 minutes. Cut potatoes into 1 1/2-inch chunks. Add the cooled potatoes and sunchokes to a large bowl and set aside.

11

BAKE-BROIL THE SALMON: Bake the salmon for 15 minutes, then remove and baste well; it should be firm at the edges but still tender in the center. (Depending on the thickness and type of salmon you use, it may take as little as 10 minutes or as long as 20; adjust accordingly.) Turn the oven to the broil (grill) setting on the highest temperature and tear away any exposed parchment so it doesn’t burn. Return the salmon to the oven and broil about 4 inches from the heat for 4 minutes, or until browned on top and cooked through but still a little pink inside. Let cool for 5 minutes. Carefully transfer the salmon to a very long, large platter, skin side down, using a wide fish spatula, and spoon the butter evenly over it.

12

PLATE THE SALMON: Add the remaining 3 tablespoons lime juice to the garlic paste and stir well. Add this to the potatoes and sunchokes and gently toss together. Toss in the crispy wakame, pickled radishes, Thai basil leaves and green onions and arrange the salad next to the salmon. Serve with lime wedges alongside.

Notes

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019753-centerpiece-salmon-with-thai-basil-and-browned-butter?