Welcome to Maine!
July 27th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Posted in dinner, Sustainability
Alaskan sockeye salmon with bearnaise sauce
As is our custom this time of year, we got in a rental car last week and drove from the District of Columbia to our favorite vacation spot on the shores of Casco Bay in South Freeport, Maine.
We had a special passenger this time: a five-pound sockeye salmon flown in fresh from Alaska. Our friend Sam Fromartz, author of the Chews Wise blog, recently spent time on a fishing boat in Alaska and made arrangements to start a “buyers club.” We were only too happy to climb aboard. The fish is gutted and cleaned, head removed, on the boat, then packed on ice for the flight to National Airport, where Sam retrieves it. I was a bit concerned about how well our salmon would make the next leg of the voyage–by automobile to Maine inside our cooler. But it survived just fine.
We arrived here early Saturday morning after encountering some horrendous Friday evening traffic, first in Baltimore, then in Delaware, then on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. Note to self: avoid any long-distance travel on the weekend. Saturday afternoon I filleted the fish and cut it into 10 portions for a house full of guests. I treated it catering style, seasoning the fillets simply with salt and pepper, then “marking” them hard on both sides in olive oil in a very hot iron skillet. I was trying to achieve a crispy skin. The browned salmon went onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then into the fridge until dinner time.
Actually, it was a couple of hours before we put out hors d’oeuvres that I removed the fish from the fridge to come up to room temperature. As my wife whisked up a bearnaise sauce with fresh tarragon from a planter on the deck, I placed the baking sheet in a 350-degree oven. The fish was cooked through within five minutes.
I cannot legally repeat the expressions of delight we heard at the table as people dug into their salmon. The farmed stuff you see at the supermarket hardly rates as even a pale cousin to this intensely flavored fish. People were still talking about it the next day. And we are anxious for the next shipment. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding friends to help us eat it.
Note: I am unable to upload photos at this time. But I will as soon as I get back to D.C.
I’m trying to fathom what legal language-censoring restrictions you could possibly be bound by as an independent (maybe not?) blogger.. I’m hoping it’s a joke that I just am too sleep deprived to appreciate but if it isn’t do please clarify!
Yes, Tatiana, it’s a joke.