Food & Wine (February 2015)
A few weeks ago, our oven died.
It wasn't totally unexpected. The thing was 15 years old. And the digital control panel had long been cracking and falling apart, perhaps hastened a couple months ago by a not-quite-not-our-fault melting situation involving redirected heat trapped under a cookie sheet on the stovetop.
Anyway, just before it broke, we'd decided the oven needed a good cleaning, so we turned on the self-cleaning cycle and hit "start" -- and that's when the incessant beeping began. And the flashing error message. And the locked door that wouldn't open no matter what we tried.
The oven, along with the stovetop, was kaput.
It took us almost a week to get a replacement delivered. Which really wasn't the end of the world, except for one thing: We'd invited our friend Carl over for dinner.
We had planned to make this Caraway Salmon with Rye Berry-and-Beet Salad from Food & Wine. But how to make it without either an oven or a stovetop?
Fortunately, we got by with a little help from our friends.
A few years ago, Zach's sister Cassidy gave us an electric induction burner as a gift. It has proven to be a lifesaver on a few occasions when our gas stovetop is full, such as when we're cooking for Fakesgiving.
The plug-in induction burner was our rescue here, too. But since it's just one burner, it took a little strategic planning.
Carl was coming over on Thursday night. So on Wednesday, we cooked the rye berries. (The recipe says you can make them 24 hours in advance.)
Roasting the beets was another issue. Yes, we could have boiled them on the induction burner, or microwaved them, or maybe even pan roasted them. But we feared that none of those methods would bring out as much flavor as oven-roasting. So we borrowed our downstairs neighbor Abby's oven for an hour on Wednesday night to roast the beets.
We also went ahead and made the dill sauce Wednesday night.
All we had to do on Thursday was blanch the beet greens and cook the salmon (which of course we had to do sequentially on the induction eye), and then build the rye berry salad.
Oh, a quick sidenote on the rye berries: We couldn't find any in our local grocery stores. We tried our standard Harris Teeter, as well as Whole Foods and a Yes! Organic Market. Nada. So we ordered them online, which was super easy.
So. How did the final result taste?
Great! We loved the rye and caraway flavors with the salmon. That's a flavor pairing we're definitely adding to our regular repertoire. And the dill yogurt sauce here is a wonderful accompaniment. Our guest Carl gave it a thumbs up as well.
The nice thing about this recipe is that it's a main dish and a side. The only other thing we served with it was some roasted carrots -- which we'd roasted along with the beats the night before we served them. Then we reheated the carrots in our microwave just prior to dinner.
All in all, this is a very nicely flavored salmon with a great side salad and a lovely sauce. It's restaurant quality without being overly fussy. We're big fans.
And just to put your mind at ease: Our new oven arrived the next Monday. It is beautiful and glorious and so clean and actually has five stove eyes instead of four. We're a little smitten with it.
But it was actually kind of fun having to improvise.
Caraway Salmon with Rye Berry-and-Beet Salad
Food & Wine (February 2015), recipe by Marco Canora
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(This image: Con Poulos/Food & Wine)
Active time: 40 min | Total time: 1 HR 40 min
Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE SAUCE
1/2 cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped dill
2 teaspoons drained prepared horseradish
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Fine sea salt
Pepper
FOR THE SALAD
1 bunch beets (1 1/2 pounds)—scrubbed, greens trimmed and reserved, beets sliced 1/2 inch thick
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt
Pepper
1 cup rye berries
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon drained prepared horseradish
FOR THE SALMON
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Four 6-ounce skin-on wild salmon fillets
Fine sea salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
METHOD
MAKE THE SAUCE Combine all of the ingredients and mix well.
MAKE THE SALAD Preheat the oven to 300°. On a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, toss the sliced beets with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Arrange the beets in a single layer and roast for about 1 hour, flipping the slices halfway through, until the beets are tender. Chop the beets and transfer to a large bowl.
Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the rye berries and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 1 hour.
Drain the rye berries and add them to the bowl with the beets. Add the vinegar, horseradish and the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat evenly. Keep warm.
In a small saucepan of boiling water, blanch the beet greens for 2 minutes. Drain and cool under cold water; pat dry. Chop the greens and toss with the beets and rye berries.
COOK THE SALMON In a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil. Season the salmon fillets with salt and cook skin side down over moderately high heat until golden and crisp, about 4 minutes. Flip the fish and cook for 2 minutes. Add the butter and caraway seeds to the skillet and cook, basting with the caraway butter, until the salmon is just cooked through, about 1 minute longer.
Mound the rye berry salad on plates and spoon the dill sauce alongside. Top with the salmon, skin side up. Serve, passing the remaining dill sauce at the table.
MAKE AHEAD The dill sauce and cooked rye berries can be refrigerated separately overnight.
