The Soaves welcomed a new kitchen gadget to their house this week: a new mandolin slicer! I put off buying one for a while, but all those beautiful paper-thin radishes, beets, and sweet potatoes showing up in my Pinterest feed made it hard to resist. Chip-shaped everything!
I’ve loved incorporating delicate wafers of produce into almost every meal and couldn’t wait to try these homemade chips from Home Cooking Adventure. The trick with these chips is to parboil them before baking and they turn out perfectly crispy. When my mom wanted to hang out last Friday, I knew it would be the ideal time to try them. My mom is a big potato chip devotee and is even known as ‘Tater Chip’ in small circles of our family.
I consider myself pretty lucky that Jay and I have salmon in our freezer at any given time so I thawed out a couple fillets of Coho we caught last spring to enjoy with the chips. Along with this, I wanted to do a salad with some arugula, pear and zucchini, mostly as an excuse to use the mandolin more. We had fajitas the night before, so we had a surplus of roasted red peppers and onions that would make a great Romesco sauce.
Romesco is a Spanish sauce made with red peppers and some kind of nut, usually almonds. It’s incredibly versatile and adds some robust flavor to the salmon. I can eat it on just about anything including crusty bread or eggs. In addition to the peppers and onions, I made mine with some walnuts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, paprika, salt and pepper.
My favorite way to enjoy a Friday night meal is with a really good beer. Michigan is arguably the best state when it comes to finding tasty brews. There are so many great micro breweries and new ones opening all the time. A tried and true favorite in our house is Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. I won’t pretend to be any kind of authority on beer, but I do know I like this crisp pale ale and it goes great with salmon, chips, and family.
The best, fail-proof, way to cook salmon is also the easiest. I heat the oven to 400, throw the thawed salmon on a sheet pan covered with aluminum foil, season with salt and pepper and pop the fillets in the oven for about 10-12 minutes depending on how thick the salmon is cut.
If you do choose to incorporate a mandolin into your cooking routine please, please, please for the love, be careful. Seriously, I have a gnarly cut on my index finger from trying to clean it so be smart. If you enjoy a couple Two Hearted Ales, maybe wait until the morning to wash it out. Or have your mom help you like I did. Enjoy!
Salmon with Romesco Sauce, Arugula Salad, and Baked Chips
For the Salmon
- 2 Salmon Fillets
- Salt
- Pepper
For the Romesco Sauce
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1/2 White Onion
- 1/4 Cup Walnuts
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Tsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 Tsp Paprika
- Salt
- Pepper
For the Salad
- Arugula
- 1 Pear
- 1 Zucchini
- Parmesan
- Balsamic Dressing
For the Chips
- Check out Home Cooking Adventure for the recipe*
Follow the instructions in the link above for the chips.
Set the oven to 400. Slice your bell pepper and onion and place on a sheet pan with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the peppers are soft and the onions are slightly transparent. Remove from the oven and let cool (this can be done a day in advanced).
Next, cover a pan with aluminum foil and place the salmon fillets on the pan. If the skin is still on the fillet, place the skin side down. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
While the salmon is in the oven, place the peppers, onions, walnuts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, paprika, salt and pepper in a blender and pulse to chop and mix everything. Run the blender for just a couple second to incorporate everything but leave the Romesco a little chunky.
Use a mandolin slicer to slice the pear and zucchini into this ribbons and toss with the arugula and balsamic dressing. Grate some Parmesan on top.
Serve with the Romesco on the salmon and a hunk of bread for dipping.
* I baked my chips at 400 since that’s the temperature I had set for the Salmon. I was able to leave them in just a tad longer and they turned out great.
