Well after the fiasco with me forgetting to put the compact flash card in my camera, I made sure it was in this time. So having leftover mushrooms from the last risotto, I decided to do the risotto again. To serve with the risotto I pan seared a salmon fillet and finished it off in the oven.

The Risotto
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
Some Olive or Canola Oil
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
A few twigs of Thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cups Arborio rice
Assorted wild mushrooms, coarsely chopped,
1 ounce grated Parmesan, approximately 1/4 cup – use a Microplane
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions
In a medium saucepan with a lid, bring chicken broth to a simmer. Using hot broth is key here. Using room temperature broth will not the results you want.

In a 3 to 4-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the scallions and a pinch of salt and sweat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms and the leaves from your thyme. Cook the mushrooms until they get some color. Mushrooms soak up alot so you might need to add some olive or canola oil to it.

Once you’ve gotten some color on the mushrooms, add the rice and stir. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the grains are translucent around the edges. Be careful not to allow the grains or the onions to brown. It’s a bit taboo to brown the rice at this stage, but I bring it to the point just before it starts to get color. I like the flavor it puts into the rice. Stir.

Add the wine at this point. Make sure it is a wine that you drink yourself. Never use cooking wine! Give it some time for some of the alcohol to burn off, maybe 1 or 2 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low. Add enough of the chicken stock just to cover the top of the rice. Stir or move the pan often, until the liquid is completely absorbed into rice. Once absorbed, add another amount of liquid just to cover the rice and continue stirring or moving as before. There should be just enough liquid left to repeat 1 more time. It should take approximately 35 to 40 minutes for all of the liquid to be absorbed. After the last addition of liquid has been mostly absorbed, remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan. Sometimes I feel like nutmeg and sometime I don’t. If you do, this is the point to put it in. Add a small pat of butter at the end. Taste and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

 
Pan Seared Salmon
Salmon Fillet – with or without skin
Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
Canola Oil
Pre-Heat over to 325.

Strat with your salmon filet. You can leave the skin on. If you don’t want the skin, you can have your fishmonger skin it for you when you buy it at the store. Watch our for words like “color added” or “previously frozen”. Look for words like “farmed” and “fresh”.

Season both sides with salt and pepper.

In a saute pan, add some oil to the pan and bring to the point when the oil “shimmers”. When the oil is ready, place the “presentation” side down first. The presentation side is the side that will be up when put on the plate. Once you put the fish on the pan, do not touch it. Leave it alone! Look for some browness to show up on the edges. But be careful, tonight I wasn’t watching and it was a bit browner than I wanted. Once you see the color you want, flip the filet over. Turn off the heat and place the pan in the pre-heated oven. Leave in the oven for no longer than 3-5 minutes. Depending on the thickness of your filet, it may need to be in longer.

I like my salmon just before it is fully cooked. Take it out of the oven and let sit for 5 minutes.

I didn’t have a vegetable tonite. So my plate was missing some greens. I didn’t have anyting in the fridge except for carrots and I wasn’t in the mood for them! :)

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