Go to meals - Pan Roasted Salmon and Rosti

I love exploring new dishes and recipes but on weekdays when you are working or on a Friday night, after a long week, I prefer to go to my tried, tested and true meals.  Its meals that are simple to make, without fuss and where each bite brings us a sense of relief and comfort.  K and I have a few of these dishes and over time, I'm hopeful I can share all of them with you.

So first up is K's favorite, Pan Roasted Salmon and Rosti.  This is very simple to make, quick and requires minimal prep.  I'll try and focus on timing and sequence of things and help you understand when and how long to do tasks so everything is ready at the same time.  The key to being successful anytime you cook is the mise en place, means 'everything in place'.  This refers to all the prep involved before you actually do the cooking.  So washing, cutting and prep meats and vegetables and getting everything together in one place before you cook. If you are well prepared it makes cooking much easier and allows you to time things more effectively.

Having said that, let's start with the ingredients.  There are 4 components to this meal - the salmon, the rosti, a green, and a dill sour cream.  For the green, I typically just use arugula because I like it and simple to make but you can substitute that with any veg or green salad.

The mise en place

Recipe for 4 people
Ingredients:
Component 1 - Salmon
4 Fillets Salmon
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Component 2 - Rosti
2 Yukon Gold Potatoes
Knob of butter (don't use margarine, if you want to make this lower fat, use olive oil)

Component 3 - Salad
1 lb Arugula
Lemon
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

1 small container Sour Cream
Fresh Dill
Lemon Zest
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco
Salt and Pepper



Follow this in sequence:
Preheat oven to 350
Wash and dry arugula in strainer
Peel potatoes and shred potatoes in cheese grater
Zest one lemon in a bowl and reserve lemon for later use
Finely chop up a small hand full of fresh dill (should come up to about 3 tablespoons after chopping)
Mix chopped dill, lemon zest, sour cream 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce, 2 dash of Tabasco together and season with salt and pepper to taste - set aside
Drizzle salmon with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper

Heat cast iron skillet to medium heat (if you don't have a cast iron skillet, use a heavy bottomed fry-pan)
Add knob of better to skillet and put shredded potato in.  Spread out the potato in the skillet evenly.  Let this fry as you move to next step.

In the mean time, heat up a second oven-safe fry pan to medium high heat.  Add olive oil to the pan and lay the salmon down skin side up. Fry for about 1-2 minutes or until golden brown.
Flip the salmon and then immediately put the fry pan into the oven - bake for 6 - 8 minutes depending on the size of the fillets. I like my salmon medium - so if you like it cooked more a couple of minutes longer.
Next, using a flat cutting board, lay it on top of the skillet with potato rosti, flip the skillet over and leave the potato on the cutting board.  Add another knob of butter (or olive oil) and carefully slide the uncooked side of the rosti back onto the skillet. Cook for another 8 -10 minutes until cooked through and golden brown.

Take the salmon out of the oven once its ready and leave it in the pan to rest for a second.
Mix the arugula with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper.
Remove rosti from the pan and cut into 4.
Plate arugula, salmon and rosti and serve with dill sour cream (good for both salmon and potatoes.)
If you do try this out, be sure to let me know how it turned out.  Enjoy!