Valentine's Day, not unlike New Year's Eve, can be fraught with so much expectation, so much unfulfilled hope. If you're single and don't want to be, it can be a reminder of just that. If you're paired up and don't want to be, Feb. 14 can have similar results. Whether you're happily coupled, or not and looking to celebrate, dining out doesn't have to be your first option.
It doesn't mean, though, that we have to find ourselves bereft of a wonderful meal or overburdened with making something fussy and that necessarily includes oysters or chili pepper and other endorphin-raising ingredients. They have their place, but to take pressure off the cook and the recipient, why not think of Valentine's Day as another day to spend either in indulging in solitary bliss or in the company of those we love? And what better way to show love than to take care to cook something?
Food writer M.F.K. Fisher said it best: "It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it … and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied … and it is all one."
To me, satisfying hunger (via food) can be as simple as Alaska salmon + potato + butter. Chef Frank Eagle of Lavelle's Bistro in Fairbanks takes this threesome and elevates it, crusting our gorgeous local salmon with swirls of crisp potato and adding a voluptuous white butter sauce called beurre blanc. Traditionally, beurre blanc doesn't include cream, but it's sometimes added to make the sauce stable and less likely to break. Breaking happens when the sauce separates when whisking in the butter at too high a temperature. If you do notice your sauce separating and becoming oily, immediately remove the pan from the heat and whisk in more chilled butter. Once finished, the sauce can be kept warm (not hot) on the back of the stovetop while finishing the rest of your dish.
The end result is a dish that's both naughty and nice. Whether you just eat the crisp potato crust and the salmon sans sauce or add the richness of the beurre blanc, you'll either be happy you shared or wish you had it all to yourself.
Kim Sunée is the best-selling author of "Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home" and "A Mouthful of Stars." She worked as a food editor for Time Inc. and has appeared several times as a guest judge on "Iron Chef America." For more food and travel, visit kimsunee.com or instagram.com/kimsunee.
Potato-crusted Alaska salmon with beurre blanc
Recipe slightly adapted from Chef Frank Eagle of Lavelle's Bistro in Fairbanks, courtesy of Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Photo by Ash Adams.
Makes 4 servings, but the potato and salmon portions can be halved.
Beurre blanc sauce:
8 ounces unsalted butter, chilled
2 1/2 tablespoons finely minced shallot
5 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup heavy cream
Potato-crusted salmon:
2 russet potatoes, peeled
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (about one lemon)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
4 wild Alaska salmon fillets (6 ounces each), about 3/4 inch thick overall
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
1. For the sauce: Cut butter into small (about 1/2-inch) cubes and place in a bowl back in refrigerator to stay chilled. In a medium saucepan, combine shallots, peppercorns, bay leaf, lemon juice and wine. Cook over medium-high heat until reduced to about 1/3 cup.
2. While wine is reducing, prep the potato: Using a mandolin slicer on the thinnest setting or a good grater, run potatoes lengthwise creating long julienne (strips) pieces. Place in a colander and rinse potatoes under warm running water for 2 to 3 minutes; drain. Add (2 to 3 tablespoons) lemon juice, the 4 tablespoons melted butter, salt and pepper to potatoes and mix well. Let stand 5 minutes and drain excess liquid, pressing down on potatoes to remove any remaining liquid.
3. Remove cubed and chilled butter from refrigerator. Whisk cream into the reduced wine-shallot mixture and boil for about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low, and rapidly whisk in butter, 1 to 2 cubes at a time, only adding more when the previous cube/s have been fully incorporated. Remove from heat if butter is melting too fast. (See note above about if sauce "breaks.") When all the butter is incorporated, you should have a smooth sauce. Strain the mixture into a small pot through a fine sieve. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice, as needed. Keep warm until ready to serve.
4. Lightly season salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Divide potato mixture evenly and spread, pressing potato on top of each fillet, about 1/8-inch thick across the whole piece.
5. Add butter and oil to a large pan and melt over medium-high heat. Add salmon, potato side down, into the hot pan, and cook until crust is golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Gently flip fillets over and cook about 1 to 2 minutes more, or until just cooked through. Place a large spoonful of beurre blanc sauce onto 4 plates and top each with salmon; serve at once.