I opened the freezer a few days ago. Yes, yes, snigger all you like, of course I often do this. But these
days it’s more often to put something in than take something out. My freezer is
a graveyard of half-packets of bacon (‘I was going away for a few days and it
seemed such a waste...’); odd ends of bread; chicken Kievs I’ve forgotten about;
tubs of ice cream; and (my personal favourite) five brace of Whitfield grouse
brought down from home in a fit of nostalgia a few months back. Which I will
definitely eat any day now. Honestly.
The problem is, I’m moving house in a few weeks, and most of the stuff
in the freezer is going to have to go. Oops. Better start eating it.
The first thing that caught my eye as I thought this was a single
lonely salmon fillet. Much easier to deal with than five brace of grouse! It also
reminded me of a few different crème fraiche dips and general concoctions I’ve
recently. They’ve always seemed to go down well. So I thought I’d defrost,
marinade and pan-fry this salmon, tell you all about it, and then give you a
few other ideas for how you can use crème fraiche to generally jazz up your
culinary life.
So here goes:
For the Salmon recipe:
Ingredients
(per person)
1 good quality piece of salmon fillet, wild if possible
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Several sprigs of dill and parsley
Salt and pepper
1-2 tbsp crème fraiche, depending on how greedy you’re feeling
2 tsp finely chopped parsley
2 tsp finely chopped dill
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
½ small shallot, finely chopped
Couple of drops of Tabasco if you like it hot
Salt and plenty of ground black pepper
Method
- Let’s face it; this isn’t a particularly tricky one. Marinade the salmon (I actually did this in a sealable freezer bag, which is great because you can throw it out afterwards instead of washing it up!) by pouring over a good slosh of olive oil and squeezing in plenty of lemon juice. Squidge up the sprigs of herb in your hands to bruise them (helps release their flavour) and add them to the marinade, making sure they get covered in oil.
- Season the whole lot with salt and pepper, make sure everything is covering the salmon and they’re all getting pretty close and personal, then leave it all to marinade for at least half an hour.
You probably don’t want to leave it much longer than this because the
lemon juice in there will start to ‘cook’ the salmon, making it turn opaque.
Out of interest, this is actually a legitimate cooking method (chemical
cooking) and if you leave small pieces of salmon for long enough (say, over
half an hour) in a marinade with plenty of lemon juice, you can eat it just as
it is. I’m going to cook this piece, though, because I like the caramelised
flavour you get when you sear salmon.
- While the salmon’s in the marinade, you can get on with the crème fraiche mixture, which is easy peasy. Chop everything that needs chopping, zest and juice the lemon, mix the whole lot together and season it well with salt and plenty of pepper (less pepper if you’re using Tabasco). Taste and adjust to suit you. Done.
If that didn’t take you half an hour, I’m not surprised. Have a glass
of wine while you wait for the salmon to marinade. Yes, that is part of the
recipe.
- Get some olive oil in a frying pan nice and hot. When you’re ready for the salmon and it’s ready for you, take it out of the marinade and pick off any herbs that stick. Pop it in the frying pan skin side up to start with. It should sizzle straight away, and if the pan’s hot enough it shouldn’t stick.
- Cook on that side until the outside is turning golden brown, and then turn it over onto the skin side for most of the rest of the cooking time. When it’s perfectly cooked, it should still be moist inside, and just turning opaque in the centre. Just cook it how you like it, though. Obviously.
I shoved some halved baby plum tomatoes in the frying pan with the
salmon after I turned it, just because they were hanging around and I like
fried tomatoes. You can do this too if you like. Don't forget to season them.
- Once the salmon’s cooked, whack the lot on a plate and spoon over the crème fraiche mixture. Eat with some salad and those tomatoes, and marvel at the power of the quick, healthy(ish) supper.
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| Yes, a food styling course is indeed top of my Christmas list... |
A few other things you can do
with crème fraiche
Dip for crisps: Mix it with
grated parmesan, plenty of finely chopped fresh herbs (including chives,
parsley, and whatever you fancy), lemon juice, Tabasco, salt and pepper.
Canapés: Mix with lots of
lemon juice and season well, then heap it on warm blinis or oatcakes and top
with smoked salmon and maybe some onuga caviar (not the crazy expensive stuff -
you can get this kind in little jars from the supermarket).
With rare beef: Mix with a
spoonful of your favourite mustard, finely chopped shallot, Tabasco, a dash of
Worcestershire sauce, dash of lemon juice, finely chopped tarragon, parsley and
chives, and salt and pepper.
With lamb: Wrap a whole blub
of garlic in tinfoil with a bit of oil, salt and pepper and roast it in a hot
oven for half an hour. Squeeze out the cloves and put the resulting mush
through a sieve. Mix this with the crème fraiche and add a tiny bit of chopped
shallot and the chopped herbs of your choice (don’t use rosemary or thyme
though, they’re too hard). Season. Nice with roast lamb instead of gravy on a
hot day.
With chicken, beef or fish: Mix
with chopped chilli, lime zest and juice, chopped shallot, Thai fish sauce and
chopped coriander.
As pudding: Mix in a bit of
icing sugar to sweeten and eat with ripe berries or slices of mango. Marginally
healthier than cream...
Those of us who have seen that
South Park episode (no link, because it’s not for the fainthearted...Google it
yourself, ‘South Park crème fraiche’ should do it) might have been a little put
off this best of dairy products. I think this is a shame. Ok, it’s not very
‘fine dining’, but crème fraiche can be a great friend to the home cook. Let it
into your life, and it’ll work for you. You won’t regret it.
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