Olive Brined Salmon + Crispy Smashed New Potatoes and Green Beans
If 2021 has taught me anything thus far, it’s that 5 months goes by insanely fast.
I remember writing my last post, which was posted Christmas Day for reference, and thinking “I’m excited to have a few days off before all of my New Years and January posts.” Well, those few days turned into a few months and now here we are, with my January posts calendar still staring me in the face every time I open up my notes app.
I guess my excuse is school… and work… and the whole living in a sorority house with no kitchen for the past 9 months thing could possibly be factored in, as well. As bitterweet as it was to leave this last year and last semester in the past, the good news is that I now have all summer (and a real kitchen) to get back into the groove of things. Maybe some ideas on that lengthy list titled “Post-NYE Recipes” will finally get tested.
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I have always been—and probably will always be—a winter person. I love the winter. I love the snow and the cold and winter fashion and the feeling of always craving hot coffee rather than iced. In fact, I used to really dread the summer. Besides school being over and the occasional vacation, there wasn’t really anything else I looked forward to in the months of May-August. Maybe it was the scorching hot, humid heat of the Mississippi Delta that ruined it for me, but I can confidently say I’ve spent more summers in my life wishing it were December than not.
Over the past couple years, however, my outlook on summer has changed a lot. I have a newfound love for the warmer months, still not as much as the winter ones, but I definitely have a greater appreciation for sunny days.
Despite my former animosity, one thing in particular I’ve always loved about the summer is the farmer’s market and the summer’s seasonal produce. Some of my best memories involve picking out fresh produce with my parents at my town’s humble farmer’s market which would later turn into our dinner after grilling out that evening. Or biting into the absolute best, juciest Arkansas peach I’ve ever had at my grandparent’s house before my grandmother turned the rest into peach dumplings. Or the summer when my mom and I were the only ones home for 4th of July and spent the entire day tesing recipes and hanging by the pool.
Okay, so this recipe has nothing to do with the farmer’s market. I’m pretty sure ours hasn’t even opened yet, but one can dream. This recipe IS very summery, though. I took inspiration from one of my very favorite salads - niçoise salad - and deconstructed it into a non-salad bowl-type meal.
An olive brined pan seared wild Alaskan salmon with salty-golden-brown skin, crispy-on-the-outside-pillowy-on-the-inside oven-roasted new potatoes, charred green beans and shallots, and perfectly cooked soft-boiled eggs, all drizzled with a spicy-Dijon vinaigrette.
Cooking meat and fish can be intimidating (at least it has been and still is to me) because there’s so much pressure to cook it just right—and if it’s overcooked, there’s really no going back. There are honestly few things worse to me than ordering salmon at a restaurant and getting a nearly white and dry piece of fish back. I recently discovered the best way to cook salmon. This technique ensures the crispiest skin and most tender flesh, and it’s actually so easy:
Step 1: The Brine.
Brining salmon, or any fish for that matter, doesn’t seem necessary compared to other meats, and while it’s not necessary, it makes the biggest difference in taste and mositure. Even just 30 minutes in a quick brine is enough for salmon because of how delicate it is.
Step 2: The Seasoning.
After the brining process, lightly rinse the fish off with cold water and pat dry. Once dry, it’s time to season. I did a mixture of freshly ground mustard and fennel seeds, garlic, oregano, salt, black pepper, dill, and paprika for this recipe. I seasoned the skin side lightly with salt and pepper, and used the dry rub for the flesh side.
Step 3: The Heat.
Now this is when the real technique kicks in. The trick to perfectly cooked salmon when pan-searing it is to cook it around 80% on the skin side before even flipping it over to the flesh side. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat for about 5-8 minutes to ensure it gets really hot. Add oil of choice in (my go-to is always olive oil) and place the fish skin-side down. Then turn down the heat, cook it low and slow to render off the natural salmon fat and create the most crispy skin. Once completely crispy, flip over to kiss the flesh side for just a few seconds, and set aside to let rest.
So now that you have all of the secrets to the best salmon, let’s get into the recipe.
Olive Brined Salmon with Crispy Smashed New Potatoes and Green Beans
Serves 3
For the Salmon:
1 lb filet fresh Alaskan salmon
4 cups cold water
1/4 cup Kalamata olive brine from the jar
2 tbs. kosher salt
1 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tbs. each fennel seeds, mustard seeds, and dried garlic
1/2 tsp. each kosher salt and ground paprika
1 tsp. each dried dill, dried oregano, and ground black pepper
2 tbs. olive oil
For the Potatoes and Green Beans:
1 lb. bag new potatoes
1 lb. fresh green beans
1 shallot
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground paprika
4 tbs. olive oil
For the Spicy Dijon Dressing:
1 tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. maple syrup
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbs. white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. each ground cayenne pepper and ground paprika
1 tbs. Kalamata olive brine from the jar
1 tbs. jarred Calabrian chile pepper oil (optional)*
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. water**
Additional ingredients:
1 lemon, halved
fresh parsely, roughly chopped
3 soft-boiled eggs (see below recipe for how to do this)*
pitted Kalamata olives
*Calabrian chili peppers in oil can be found at most grocery stores and offer a salty-spicy bite to any dish.
**Adding a splash of water to any dressing is the key to diluting overly strong flavors and binding all of the ingredients together.
Let’s get cookin’.
Begin by brining the salmon. Mix together the cold water, olive brine, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of salt together in a small saucepan over mediium-high heat until the salt/sugar are completely dissolved. Let cool completey and pour over the salmon in a dish deep enough for the salmon to be covered completely by the brine. Let sit for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
While the salmon is brining, preheat the oven to 425º F.
Wash and scrub the new potatoes and place in a pot of cold water with 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, immediately turn down to a simmer, and let cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Do not let thm boil continuously. Drain the potatoes and let cool for at least 5 minutes.
Wash and trim the ends of the green beans. Thinly slice the shallot and smash and peel the garlic cloves, but leave whole. On a sheet pan, toss the green beans, shallots, and garlic cloves with 2 tbs. olive oil, and half of the salt, pepper, and paprika used for the green beans and potatoes. Move the green beans to one end of the sheet pan, and on the other begin lining the boiled potatoes up. Make sure the bottom of the pan is lightly oiled from the green beans, if not, add a drizzle of oil before adding the potatoes. Using a fork, smash down each potato until it’s about 1/2-3/4 inch thick. The thinner the potato, the crispier the potato. Drizzle each with the remaining 2 tbs. olive oil and the other half of the salt, pepper, and paprika. Move to the oven and cook for 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden brown and crispy on the outside. Halfway through, toss the green beans. Remove from oven and remove garlic cloves from sheet tray. Once cool, mince them and set aside.
Once the salmon is done brining, rinse the filet with cold water and pat dry. Cut into thirds. Generously season each flesh with the mixture of ground mustard seed, fennel seed, dill, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. Flip the filets over and season the skin with a simple sea salt and ground black pepper.
Heat a cast-iron or stainless steal pan large enough to fit the 3 filets with space in between over high heat for 5 minutes, or until the surface is extremely hot. Add in 2 tbs. olive oil and wait to see a sizzle before placing the fish skin-side down. Immediately turn down the heat to low and let the salmon skin render off as much fat as possible, turn golden brown, and become very crispy. This will take around 10-12 minutes. Check the skin after 8 minutes and see if it needs much longer. It will nearly cook all the way on this side, turning opaque/lighter in color up the sides of the fish as the skin renders. Once crispy, turn up the heat to high and flip the fish to cook the other side for just 30 seconds to quickly sear the other side. Remove from the pan. With the reminaing heat of the skillet, place half a lemon flesh down in the oil and dscorch it over high heat until charred. This adds a nice smoky flavor.
Let the salmon rest for 5 minutes while preparing the dressing and plating the rest of the dish:
In a jar or container, shake all of the dressing ingredients + the minced roasted garlic cloves together. Place some potaotes, and green beans and shallots on a plate. Place a piece of fish over the potaotes/green beans. Add a halved jammy soft-boiled egg, a few Kalamata olives, fresh parsley, and drizzle the dish lightly with the dressing to finish. Squeeze the charred lemon over everything to top it off.
Perfectly “Jammy” Soft-Boiled Eggs
To get the perfect soft-boiled egg (to me, this means the outside of the yolk is fairly done and the center is “jammy” but the entire yolk isn’t runny), follow these easy steps:
Bring a pot of water to a boil
Once the water reaches a boil, gently drop in the eggs using a slotted spoon
Boil for 6 minutes exactly
Immediately remove the eggs from the water and move into an ice bath.
After about 3 minutes, crack the eggs gently to give them a small crack and place back in the ice bath.
After another 3ish minutes, proceed to remove all the shells.
