Salmon Au Poivre Food

SALMON AU POIVRE

Steps:

• Combine soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice and sugar.
• Add salmon steaks and turn to coat.
• Let marinate at least 30 minutes.
• Remove salmon from marinade and pat dry.
• Coat each side of the salmon steaks with one teaspoon of the pepper, pressing in well.
• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet (not a grill pan).
• Add salmon steaks and saute 2-3 minutes on each side, until done to your liking.

SALMON AU POIVRE (OR: THE DISAPPEARING FISH TRICK)

Steps:

• drop one and only one piece of fish in a tupperware box that would just barely fit both pieces of salmon if you stacked them. (this is foreshadowing.).
• pour two capfuls of soysauce (2 T or so) on top of fish. peel garlic, and mash the hell out if it. smear on top of fish like you're polishing brass. pour one capful (1 T or so) of rice vinegar or lemon juice on top of fish. put two teaspoons of sugar on top of fish, smear around like you're trying to cleanse the fish of its sins.
• put other piece of fish on top of the first piece of fish, so you've made a raw-fish-and-marinade sandwich, and seal box. shake a few times, stick in refrigerator. go do something else for twenty-five minutes.
• come back twenty-five minutes later, heat skillet on just less than high. add one swirl around the pan of olive oil. while oil heats, pull the fish out of the box, and gently wipe excess marinade and pat dry. cover both sides of your fish with pepper--about a teaspoon on each side, enough that the flesh is covered.
• put fish in pan when the oil is almost ready to smoke. flip after two minutes, wait two minutes, remove from pan and place on papertowel. (the fish is done when it feels slightly firm to the touch, and is just barely opaque on the inside. if it's not done at this point, stick it in the microwave for thirty seconds at a time.) wait a minute or so for the heat to move completely through the fish.
• served with a mache (lamb's lettuce, or feldsalat) salad with a hollandaise-ish dressing, some crusty bread, and a couple bottles of beer.

SALMON STEAK AU POIVRE

Steps:

• Crack the pepper by pressing down on it with a heavy cast-iron skillet, 1 tablespoon at a time. Put the pepper in a bowl large enough to accommodate 1 steak.
• Using the pointed end of a vegetable peeler, hull the blackberries. Tear each berry into a few sections and gently mix with the pepper. Avoid mashing.
• Press a salmon steak into the pepper mixture, flip and repeat. Repeat with 2 more steaks. Spread a teaspoon of the salt in a large, dry skillet, preheated over medium heat. Add the 3 steaks and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning with a heavy square metal spatula to better keep the crust intact. Repeat with the remaining salt and remaining steaks.
• Garnish each steak with the chervil and serve immediately.