Dishing Up Oregon with 145 Inspired Farm-to-Table Recipes
There's nothing I like better than a good cookbook on Pacific Northwest cuisine. Heck, I've written several of them myself including Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining: The People, Places, Food, and Drink of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia.
And happy to report that Portland-based author Ashley Gartland has made a very valuable contribution to the Northwest-cuisine repertoire with her new book, Dishing Up Oregon: 145 Recipes That Celebrate Farm-to-Table Flavors.
Gartland solicited recipes from her state's leading chefs, farmers, fishers, winegrowers, cheese makers, brewers, and just about anybody else of import on the Oregon food-and-beverage scene.
In addition to recipes, the book includes heartfelt profiles and photos (by John Valls) of many of these dedicated people (not to mention enticing plate shots), to create a complete portrait of farm-to-table dining Oregon-style.
I'll be trying my hand at recipes including Oregon Shrimp Napoleons, artistic towers of cucumber, bay shrimp, avocado, and microgreens that hail from The Painted Lady Restaurant in the Willlamette Valley.
Or Abacela Paella from my friends Hilda and Earl Jones, owners of Abacela Vineyard & Winery in southern Oregon.
Vin Glacé Cake from chef Tobi Sobak of King Estate Winery incorporates both butter and olive-oil, along with the sweet white dessert wine Vin Glacé, to produce a tender, satisfying cake that would be perfect served with Northwest berries or stone fruits in season, plus a dollop of crème fraîche.
But perhaps no other recipe featured in "Dishing Up Oregon" typifies the elegant simplicity of Northwest cuisine as perfectly as Hazelnut-Crusted Salmon with Brown Butter and Balsamic Vinegar, a recipe from chef Aaron Bedard of The Stephanie Inn & Dining Room in Cannon Beach.
Even the balsamic vinegar called for in the recipe--Apicio--is Oregon-made. It comes from Cooper Mountain Vineyards, a biodynamic winery in the Willamette Valley. This time of year when fresh-caught wild salmon is scarce, try the recipe using flash-frozen-at-sea fish.
Hazelnut-Crusted Salmon with Brown Butter and Balsamic Vinegar
Serves 4
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, skinned
One 1-pound wild salmon fillet
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar, preferably Cooper Mountain Vineyards Apicio
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Pulse the hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade attachment until finely ground. Spread the ground hazelnuts on a large plate.
3. Lightly season the salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Roll the top of the fillet in the ground hazelnuts to form a crust. Transfer the fillet to the prepared baking sheet and patch up any holes in the crust. Bake the salmon until the fish is pale pink and just cooked through and the hazelnut crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes.
4. While the salmon cooks, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until it becomes golden brown and has a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
5. Remove the salmon from the oven and transfer it to a serving plate. Drizzle the brown butter and balsamic vinegar over the top of the fillet and serve immediately.
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