Ginger & Lemon-Peppered Salmon on Colcannon and Spinach
Friday night in Frankfurt and the fish is in the pan, sizzling in clarified butter, with lemon and ginger-infused crushed pepper... mmm! Whoever would have thought that possible? It still comes as a surprise to me that I am making these fish dishes for myself, as fish will seldom land at the top of my list of favorites. Still, I have always prepared it happily for friends and wouldn't want to keep it from you- and this is how I went about preparing a nice piece of wild salmon in a way that I enjoyed for myself as well...
The creamy mashed potato you are lookingat at is based on a traditional Irish Colcannon, which is a mix of mash, cabbage greens and spring onions. I used kohlrabi and kohlrabi leaves to make mine- it just happened to be what I had in the fridge- and it worked just fine. Chop the greens up relatively finely and boil them, together with some chopped potatoes for 15 minutes. After this time, mash them together, add some sliced spring onions, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and a little finely chopped garlic, add enough milk to bring them to a nice, creamy consistency. Add a little butter and keep the on a lowheat until we are ready.
The spinach was very finely chopped and then sautéed in butter, with some finely diced shallots and a little garlic. Season with salt, pepper and again a little nutmeg, add a little milk and allow to simmer at a low temperature... we are getting there- don't worry! There is only that nice salmon steak left to take care of now...
For the salmon, I prepared a little seasoned salt again- this time using black and Szechwan pepper corns, chili flakes, rock salt, lemon zest, coriander seed and a hint of brown sugar. Grind these ingredients together with a mortar and pestle and keep them ready- it's time to make that fish really delicious now... but first we need to prepare our last flavoring, which is a little very finely chopped fresh ginger. I didn't mix it into the seasoning, as it would have added too much moisture and turned the dry spices into a paste- but we will sprinkle this onto the fish as soon as it is frying. So heat up the pan with a little oil and fry the salmon from the reverse side for maybe 1 minute. Sprinkle generously with the seasoning mix and the ginger, turn it over and season the other side, add another little pat of butter and turn up the heat. Fry for a further 1-3 minutes at this high temperature and then turn off the heat. The fish will be perfect, continuing to cook in the remaining heat, in the time it takes you to lay out the potatoes and spinach. It will also have slightly caramelized all of those flavors into a light crust by then... be prepared to smile once you turn that fish over- it is going to look divine... and taste just as good as it looks!
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