PORCINI DUST CRUSTED SALMON

It's getting cold my friends, and we need some heart warming food. So based on my obsession with the German, Austrian, Alsatian cuisines I came up with this recipe around Oktoberfest.


One of my favorite ingredients that I choose to cook this time of the year are porcini mushroom, so for my recent dinner I used some.

You can find porcini in gourmet stores or supermarkets, mostly dried, the fresh or frozen are difficult to find on retail shops.

For this dish I've got 2 oz of dry porcini, which I did grind then mix together with a teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon of medium hot chili powder.

This dry rub is fantastic on : salmon, pork tenderloin, monk fish loin, even chicken breast bone in. I did buy 3 salmon fillets of 8oz each, which I've generously coated with my rub, then I refrigerate them, wrapped in plastic, for 1/2 an hour . In a saute pan I heated up 3 tbs of canola oil, then I added 3 chopped garlic cloves, one chopped shallot, 1/2 chopped green cabbage (medium size) and 1 glass of Riesling, stirring continuously until the cabbage softens up. And, as a compliment to the cabbage, I added a handful of crozettes (chestnut flour square noodles), which I cooked them along with the cabbage for about 35 minutes. Once the cabbage was done, I took the salmon out of the refrigerator, and I seared them in a hot pan 30 seconds on each side.

After cooking the salmon fillets, I left them to rest on the side for about 10 minutes, then I plated them cut in half, as pictured. We had a beautiful wine with the meal : Chateau Bela Riesling, from Slovakia. This wine is vinified by the famous enolog Egon Muller, and it has similar character like any Auslese Riesling.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Cheers!

PORK, MAIALE, CERDO, SCHWEIN

Pork, hmmm, that's amore.

I love pork tenderloin, it is a great cut of meat to play with, in the kitchen. For many years I was shy of eating pork undercooked, but lately everyone seems to enjoy it more on the medium rare side, so do I.

I prepared mixture of dry herbs de Provence, sea salt, coriander powder and garlic powder, then I coated 2 pieces pork tenderloin with the rub, wrapped them in plastic and refrigerted for 2 hours.

While the tenderloin is marinating, I was preparing the side dish: roasted paprika potatoes.

Usualy I cook a potato per person, so you decide how many you need, depends how many souls you have to feed.

Heat up the oven just about 450 degrees.

Dice the potato in large cubes, heat up some oil in a nonstick pan add a large spoon of paprika

and stir it up for 15 seconds, then add the potatoes and roast them for 15-20 minutes.

On a sepparate pan, heat up oil and add the tenderloins, cooking them on each side until become crisp and golden brown, then put the pan in the oven.

Now we are waiting for the meat to cook, give it about 10 -15 minutes.

While everything was in process to be done, I made little salsa verde to decorate the plate, and compliment the meat as well.

In a robocoupe I processed, dill, parsley, cilantro, the I added sea salt and olive oil.

The tenderloins are almost ready, remove them from the oven, pour 1/2 cup of white wine over them, cover the pan with a lid and let them rest for few minutes.

Now your dinner is ready, cut the meat as pictured and serve.

A nice bottle of Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese 2005, came up as the right company for the dish.

The wine is minerraly, fresh, with notes of grapefruit, pomegrante.