Pistachio-Crusted Salmon

-By Scott

I’m nuts for nuts.  I love them.  Almonds, cashews, peanuts oh peanuts, pecans, pine, macadamia, I love them all.  My favorite, though, is easily the pistachio.  They were always a treat growing up, something that would find their way into the Golden Family pantry around the holidays or after a particularly impulsive trip to Cosco.  Pistachios lend themselves so well to many different and diverse cooking applications.  Crust it on a steak or a rack of lamb and you’re in nutty-savory-main-course heaven.  Pair them with chocolate and bake them into a cookie or infuse it into a crème anglaise for ice cream and your dessert-loving guests will give you hugs and high fives on your way out the door.  They are delicious and I love using and eating them at every opportunity – those maddeningly hard-to-open shells be damned.

The Pistachio in All of Its Glory

One of my “go to” pistachio-inspired dishes involves crusting them on a pan-seared salmon fillet.  Pair the pistachio-studded salmon with a lemon-tarragon brown butter sauce, some sort of starch like mashed Yukon gold potatoes and a something green like grilled asparagus (which I did in this case) and you are swimming in buttery, nutty, rich goodness with hints of lemon and licorice.  I find it to be a deeply satisfying dish and one that I fall back on when I’m out of ideas for dinner on a Sunday night.

The Ingriedients

First, organize your ingredients.  Lay out and season your salmon filets with a nice crust of salt and pepper.  You need one salmon filet per person, around 6 to 8 ounces per filet.  Your pistachios should be crushed.  I suggest using a food processor or if you’re in a particularly aggressive mood, place the nuts in a plastic bag and beat them into submission with the back of a frying pan.  Go easy on the little green guys though, as you’re looking for a course grind.  Dijon mustard serves the dual purpose of a adding a bit of flavor to the dish and also adhering the pistachios to the flesh of the salmon.  Set out one pot and one pan, the pan for the fish and the pot to cook the brown butter sauce.  Your oven should be preheated to 400 degrees.

Sear the Salmon Skin Side Down First

Then Sear the Opposite Side

 Once you have your mise en place in order, it’s time to start cooking.  Sear the fish on both sides on high heat.  You’re not looking to cook the salmon through – you’ll be finishing it in the oven – it’s the caramelization that’s important here.  Set the salmon aside on a small sheet pan. 

Spread a Thin Layer of Mustard on the Fish

Then Press the Ground Nuts into the Fish

 Spread a thin layer of mustard on one side of the salmon and press the fish into the ground nuts.  The fish then goes into the oven.  You may need to adjust the heat of the oven depending on the thickness of the salmon you’re working with.  The idea is you want to toast the nuts to enhance their flavor while also making sure to cook the salmon to the desired doneness (most recipes recommend between 125-135 degrees internal temperature).

While the Fish is Cooking Melt the Butter

 As the fish finishes in the oven its time to make the brown butter sauce.  Melt the butter over medium heat until the milk solids in the butter rise to the top of the pot and then fall to the bottom and start to brown.  It’s important to control your heat here because you can go from brown butter to burnt butter in a flash.  When the butter starts to brown and give off a sort of knee wobbling nutty aroma (trust me, you’ll know it when you smell it) turn off the heat, season it with a bit of salt and pepper, squeeze in some lemon, and throw in a bit of chopped tarragon. 

Spoon the Sauce over the Cooked Fish

 Give it a quick swirl with a large spoon and then dole the brown butter over and around the fish (you should plate the fish with your chosen accompaniments while the butter cooks) and you’re home free.  It’s a fast and easy crowd pleaser of a dish and I hope you give it a try!

Pistachio-Crusted Salmon w/Potatoes and Asparagus

 -Scott

INGREDIENTS:
Filets of salmon (one piece per person)
Pistachios, crushed (unsalted – enough to crust however many filets you have)
Dijon mustard (something close to a teaspoon per filet should be plenty)
Oil for pan searing
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Lemon
Tarragon