February 17, 2014 by Chef John Brand

Achiote Salmon with Quinoa, Watermelon and Arugula

Verlasso Salmon with Achiote

Quinoa, Watermelon and Arugula Salad

6 ounce block cut Verlasso salmon

Achiote Glaze

1 ounce achiote

1 oz curry powder

1 oz cumin

1 oz mustard

1 large clove garlic

1 ea whole shallot

1 ounce soy sauce

1 ounce olive oil blend

1 lime, juiced

blend all in vita prep

Arugula, 2 ounces

Lightly wilted in warm pan

Watermelon, 3 ounces

Diced into cubes

Quinoa, 2 ounces cooked per portion

Method:

Sear salmon in sauté pan over medium heat, flesh side down, preferably a heavy blue steel or carbon pan. When good color has been achieved, turn salmon over and cook for one minute more. Turn off heat and coat salmon with achiote glaze. Add 1 ounce of butter to pan and poele salmon with liquid for one minute. The residual heat of the pan will continue to cook the salmon. Remove from heat and rest before plating.

In mixing bowl add warm, lightly wilted arugula that has been seasoned with fresh lemon juice. Add quinoa and watermelon. Mix well, season with salt and pepper and serve with salmon.

Enjoy!

Verlasso Salmon — Fennel Cured with Horseradish Pickled Green Tomatoes, Goat Cheese, Radish and Deviled Egg

Fennel Cured Salmon with Horseradish Pickled Green Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Radish

Cured Salmon

2 pounds of Verlasso salmon, skin on

3 cups of kosher salt

3 cups of brown sugar

¼ cup black peppercorns, crushed

¼ c fennel seeds

6 sprigs of fresh dill, chopped

1 cup vodka

Method:

Mix salt, sugar and spices and put half on a sheet tray. Lay salmon on top of salt blend, skin side down. Cover salmon with remaining salt blend and pour vodka over. This will help start the cure. Place in cooler for 24 hours. On day two, drain off any liquid from pan and turn salmon over for one more day. Distribute the remaining salt blend which may have a wet-sand texture over the salmon evenly.

On day 2, remove salmon from cooler and rinse off. Allow to dry in the cooler uncovered for 6 hours. With a sharp, flat knife, shave off slices of cured salmon, starting from the tail end. Leave the skin on as this will help with shaving the salmon into very small slices.

Horseradish Pickled Green Tomatoes

3 large green tomatoes, sliced

½ cup of apple cider vinegar

½ cup of water

½ cup of sugar

3 Tablespoons of salt

3 Tablespoons of prepared horseradish

1 Tablespoon of mustard seed

1 Tablespoon of black peppercorn

Method:

Place all ingredients into sauce pan except the tomatoes. Heat liquid until slight boil and salt and sugar have dissolved. Turn off heat and add sliced green tomatoes, stir. Allow to sit for 20 minutes until slightly cooled down in the pan and place in jar and into cooler. Reserve for until cool and ready to use. Keep in covered jar in cooler, best after two weeks.

Garnish

1 radish shaved per person

1 boiled egg per person

1 ounce of goat cheese per person

½ of a shallot, shaved per person

Sprigs of parsley leaves

Preparation:

Shave salmon and toss with pickled green tomatoes and garnishes. Serve as an appetizer or composed salad.

Enjoy!

Everything Spice Crusted Salmon, Caponata, Ricotta Salata and Lemon Curd

This main course is all about summer; celebrate with local vegetables and the ever popular Meyer Lemon curd. Salmon continues to be a popular menu item and well spoken of. It is important to know as much about your salmon as possible. Enjoy this summer treat; the recipe may have extra caponata which is great for a lunch salad. A great garnish is shaved ricotta salata and fresh kale.

Salmon ~ 6 ounce portion per person

1 T Everything Spice

Wedge of fresh lemon

1 T of cold butter

Salt and pepper

Method:

Purchase center cut portion of salmon. Season top of fillet with everything spice on and sear in hot cast iron pan until golden brown forms on one side. Turn fish over, add squeeze of lemon and 1 T butter, turn down heat to low, tilt pan and poele with butter 4 minutes until medium. Let rest before service. Finish with more everything spice on salmon.

Caponata ~ 4ounces per person

2 eggplant, peeled and diced, season with salt and let rest 30 minutes, squeeze out water

1 red pepper, roasted, peeled, diced

1 yellow pepper, roasted, peeled, diced

1 green pepper, roasted, peeled, diced

1 zucchini, seeded, diced

4 ounces cauliflower, diced

4 shallots, fine dice

8 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and diced

1/2 cup gold raisins

½ c pinenuts

2 T capers, rinsed, use as a seasoning, like salt

2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

5 leaves of fresh basil

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

4 oz balsamic vinegar

extra virgin olive oil

Method:

In a smoking hot sauté pan with a little olive oil, add each vegetable, one at a time, allowing to brown on one side and shaking pan to turn over. Do not constantly stir; you need color on the vegetable. Deglaze the pan each time with a little of the balsamic vinegar and repeat with all of the vegetables, remembering to season as you cook. Combine all the vegetables and remainder ingredients together and adjust with olive oil, balsamic and salt and pepper if necessary. Let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes prior to eating, stirring frequently.

Lemon Curd ~ 2 ounces per person

½ cup of eggs yolks

½ sugar

4 oz butter

4 oz lemon juice

Method:

Melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar and lemon juice and bring to boil. Temper in egg yolks and cook until thickened over medium heat. Be careful to not allow for overcooking the eggs, the curd should be smooth. Chill until ready to use.

Everything Spice ~ 1 Tablespoon per salmon

1 T poppy seed

1 T sesame seed

1 T granulated garlic

1 T fresh shallot, diced fine

1 T fresh chives, diced fine

Mix all ingredients well.

March 29, 2013 by Chef John Brand

http://www.verlasso.com/conversation/article/why-verlasso-salmon-qa-with-chef-john-brand/

December 9, 2012 by Chef John Brand

A Few Notes on Salmon…

Salmon

I recently saw a menu that stated wild atlantic salmon and realized that the restaurant was embarrassing all other chefs. Atlantic salmon is a species and a completely farmed product, the largest of the aquaculture industry and grown all over the world. Pacific salmon includes five species with the majority of them wild caught and frozen at sea. The industry of farmed pacific salmon is growing, most recently the King or Chinook is farmed with the best product coming out of New Zealand. Atlantic salmon is the easiest and most affordable seafood to buy very similar to the chicken industry; it is speed grown for better yield. In fact, the poultry industry sells its feathers, carcasses and waste to be made into salmon feed known as ‘feather meal’. The other source of food for salmon is ‘fish meal’ which comes from the results of supertrawlers and fisherman exclusively catching seafood to support the farmed salmon industry. Even salmon farms use lights to trick the salmon into seasons and control their eating habits just like a chicken farm. Look at any industrial chicken farm and the windows are sealed for no natural light, the temperature controlled with the ease of an iphone app. Generally, salmon require a 4:1 ratio of four pounds of fish meal to produce a pound of salmon. In some cases the feed is a 3:1 ration of food to flesh. Progressive aquaculture farms have reduced this to a 1:1 ratio. One notably has developed a special yeast significant just for their salmon. Peru, is a large exporter of fish meal, the ground product of their fisherman who export 38% of this to Europe. The northern Europe countries of Scotland, Norway and Sweden have all been farming salmon, albeit highly industrial countries with heavily polluted waters that feed farmed salmon with fish meal from Peru. There is a product from Canada that touts its carbon footprint and will not fly any of their fish, it is only accessible to places that deliver by truck yet their fish meal and fish oil do come from South America. I would like to think that the salmon we buy comes from deep, dark waters, far away from pollution and contaminants yet provides a living to a community that has a long heritage of fisherman.

October 30, 2012 by Chef John Brand

Salmon with Proscuitto, Butternut Squash, Port Reduction and Walnut Pesto

Salmon with Proscuitto, Butternut Squash,

Arugula and Guajillo Port Reduction

6 oz salmon, block cut, proscuitto wrapped

3 oz roasted butternut squash

1 oz arugula

2 oz Guallijo Port Reduction

Roasted Butternut Squash

2 each butternut squash, peel and large dice.

Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and grainy mustard.

Roast in oven at 350 degrees for twenty minutes until done and ready to eat.

Guallijo Port Reduction

1 bottle of port

3 guallijo peppers

3 cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon of whole black pepper corns

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 sprigs of thyme

Reduce until syrup consistency.

Walnut and Basil Pesto

2 cups toasted walnuts

½ cup grated parmesan

3 cups fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Add olive oil till desired thickness.

1 oz quenelle

Garnish with pomeganate seeds

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