Salmon with Creamy Cucumber Sauce

A few years back during a trip to the Oregon coast with my mom and my kids, we all went out for a seafood dinner overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean where I had, to date, the best salmon dish I have ever ordered in a restaurant. It was perfectly pan-seared, topped with a light, cool & creamy, just ever so slightly tangy sauce with very thinly sliced cucumbers garnishing throughout.  Ever since that dinner, I have always wanted to re-create that dish. And here's what I came up with.

 For the sauce, I used a base of sour cream to which I judiciously added lemon juice, fresh chopped dill and whole grain mustard, then to finish I folded in very thinly sliced cucumber. I love the flavor of cucumber and salmon together, the two have similar flavor profiles that play very well off each other. The creamy sauce, paired with the crust of the pan seared salmon is a match made in heaven.

Salmon with Creamy Cucumber Sauces

~serves 4~

Ingredients:

1/2 c. sour cream

1 T. fresh lemon juice

1 t. whole grain mustard

1 t. minced fresh dill

1/3 cup quartered & very thinly sliced english cucumber

salt & pepper

2 t. canola oil

4 skin on salmon portions

lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions:

1. Make the sauce - In a small bowl combine sour cream, lemon juice, mustard, dill and cucumber. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside while searing the salmon.

2. Sear the salmon - Pat salmon dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a 12 inch nonstick skillet over medium-high - high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Add the salmon to the pan, presentation side down. Sear on each side. (If your salmon is less than an inch thick allow about 2 1/2 minutes per side, if they are on the thinker side 3 - 3 1/2 minutes per side.)

3. Serve the salmon topped with the sauce and lemon wedges.

Clams Steamed in White Wine with Tarragon and Tomato

Recently my husband and I celebrated our 12th anniversary with a weekend trip to Seattle. On the night of our anniversary we dined on steamed clams in white wine (complete with a spectacular view of the Seattle skyline).  The clams were great, but we were all about the broth in the bottom of the serving bowl. So briny, so buttery and delicious! What was odd though is that they didn't serve us the dish with any bread to soak it all up with. Well that didn't dissuade us, we just picked up the empty clam shells and spooned up all that yummy wine-spiked clam broth (until we could flag down our waitress for some bread, which she happily obliged us).

I couldn't wait to get home and make my own version of white wine-steamed clams. And this time I made sure there was plenty of bread to soak up all the broth.

Clam Steamed in White Wine with Tarragon and Tomato

~serves 4 generously as a main course, serves 6-8 as an appetizer~

Ingredients:

4 lb. clams (I use Manila clams here), scrubbed well, discarding any with broken shells as well as clams that          

     are open and won't close again after tapping them on the shell (dead clams)

2c. white wine

1 large shallot, minced (about 1/2 c.)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

4 T. unsalted butter

1 T. minced fresh tarragon

1 Roma tomato, cored, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch dice

the juice of 1 lemon (or to taste)

generous grinding of black pepper

Directions:

1. In a large dutch oven or stockpot, combine wine, shallot, garlic and bay leaf. Simmer together over medium heat for 3-4 min. to bring out the flavors. 

2. Increase heat to high, add the clams. Cover the pot and steam, 5-8 min.,until all the clams open, stirring twice while they cook.

3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the clams to a serving bowl, discarding any unopened clams.

4. Reduce heat to low, add the butter & swirl it around in the liquid to make and emulsified sauce. Stir in tarragon, tomato, lemon juice and black pepper. Ladle the broth over the clams. Serve immediately. Don't forget the bread!