Seared Salmon With Shallot Creme Fraiche Sauce!
I love to cook, so when Jo Tracey from the BKD Cookbook Club asked us to share a French recipe, I knew who to go to: a brilliant Chef, Writer and friend!
That’s my wife Alex and I standing next to Patricia Wells at her house in Provence in 2010 – when we spent a week in her cooking class…and that is the three of us all touching the stove that Julia Child – yes, JULIA CHILD – gave her friend Patricia!
We recently spent the morning with her and her husband Walter when we were in the south of France as well! It was great to catch up with them and talk food!
So, Jo’s challenge to cook French was an easy one for me – except to decide which of Patricia’s cookbooks I would cook from this time!
Patricia Wells Knows How To Cook!
This pile of cookbooks proves it!
And second from the bottom is “Bistro Cooking”, which provided me with the recipe for this terrific roasted salmon recipe – with surprisingly few ingredients!
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, finely minced
4 medium tomatoes (peeled, cored, seeded and chopped)
½ c crème fraiche
4 salmon fillets, with skin attached
Salt
1 large bunch of fresh basil, minced
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet or solid saucepan. When the oil is hot, though not smoking, add the shallots and sauté until soft, but not browned; around 2 – 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking until much of the liquid has cooked away; about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the crème fraiche. Cook just long enough to heat the cream, and set aside.
Here is how easy it was to make:
I Didn’t “Stick The Landing!”
Now onto the beautiful salmon – and if you follow gymnastics, they have a phrase “didn’t stick the landing”: it’s when the athlete doesn’t land solidly and moves a foot…it is a costly mistake in gymnasics and as you will see, in my cooking too!
Brush the salmon and skin with the remaining oil. Heat an oven-proof pan over a medium-high heat.
Adding no oil, cook the salmon, skin down for 2 minutes. Season with salt. Turn the salmon over and cook for 2 more minutes, seasoning with salt again.
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 5 minutes or until opaque.
To serve, stir the basil into the sauce. Spoon several tablespoons of sauce in the middle of the plate and place the salmon on top of the sauce. A crack of pepper and serve with crusty bread.
Here is the video showing how it all came together – and how I didn’t stick the landing!
And you can see the result: the middle of the filet is torn…while not taking away from the flavor, which was very good, it was aesthetically off: I lost focus when grabbing the salmon with tongs – I should have used a spatula under the entire piece!
Using the basil leaves to help cover it up, I got a shot that doesn’t really show the tear…thanks to Patricia Wells for a delicious recipe that was easy to make!
As I said, we cooked with her for a week in the south of France in 2010:
Patricia Wells Brought Us Here!
I posted before about the cooking class that Alex and I took at the home of iconic food writer and cookbook Author Patricia Wells – we were celebrating our wedding anniversary, and we were inspired by Patricia’s longtime marriage to husband Walter, and the terrific memoir they wrote together:
Here’s a look at what we cooked that week – and how much fun we had!
I cook from Patricia’s cookbooks all the time, and as we are heading into winter soon I will be making this again:
Winter Pistou is my wife’s favorite – here is the recipe:
I also cooked this swordfish dish from one of Patricia’s cookbooks as well:
You can see the entire recipe here:
Thanks as always to Jo Tracey, who runs this cooking series at her terrific website “Brookford Kitchen Diaries”: se her entry in the series here!
If you enjoy these posts, why not subscribe and never miss out? It’s easy, and there are NO ads of any kind, just food adventures!
It’s your site for all things food – if you like what you see, please click on my link and follow this blog as well!
Let me know if you ever make this – if you like my story and recipe please share on social media!
Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Travel, Food Writing, Recipes, Travel, Wacky Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Looks divine!
Those long salmon filets are a bit fiddly. Doesn’t change the taste, though! Great looking meal. I have a lot of her books as well. I didn’t care for vegetable harvest but I can’t remember why! What a nice experience.
It looks so simple and tasty, tear or no tear!!
This looks so rich and delicious
I can taste the softness of the salmon right thru’ the screen . . . you ‘patched it up’ very neatly 🙂 ! Must admit to ignorance about Patricia Wells – have to look up the Winter Pistou – thanks !
I have you to thank for introducing me to Patricia Wells. Until you suggested Bistro Cooking, I’d never heard of her. This dish looks and sounds great and might just be on our menu for next week. (And basil covers a multitude of sins…). Thanks, as always, for your support.
Yes, I will share my mistakes and that was a real “self-inflicted wound” – it’s fun to share recipes with everyone!
The salmon looks delicious, I look forward to trying it out. Loved reading of how you met Patricia Wells.
Thanks for the comment, I really lost focus when I was plating the fish and broke it – but it did taste good!
I love salmon and we have it often. I bake it in the oven, wrapped in baking paper and alfoil. So tender and delicious.
sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/
Thank you for sharing this – I need to try this as a change of pace because we eat salmon regularly but not with this method…when I do I will share my results and link to your story as the inspiration!