San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Vinegary, Chile Oil Salmon With Garlic and Tomatoes
Friends constantly remind me of the struggles of cooking in the summer. I get messages and sometimes even live-cooking FaceTimes with questions like, “Hi, what’s the best way to cook this whole fish?” “How do I avoid all this smoke when I sear a steak next time?” or “Why did I even turn on the oven, Christian?! My apartment is so hot right now.” I get it. Sometimes I wonder why, too. Why did I ignore my own advice and set my oven to 450 degrees, turning my better half into a too hot, sweaty and enraged better half — all for that “perfect” sear, the crispiest skin?
Cooking proteins like meat and fish can be a pain in the summer, especially if you’re living in a small apartment with no backyard or grill, and a hood that’s a motorized noise maker rather than an actual fan.
The thing is that heat matters — it will create a caramelized crust on your protein that is delicious. But, if you’re over sacrificing your comfort this summer, there is another way to cook that’s very tasty and laid-back enough that you might just forget about it on the stove top — but, of course, you don’t want to do that.
It’s called the olive oil poach, and it’s one of my favorite ways to cook local king salmon, which is in season right now. The technique entails plunging seasoned fillets in just enough warm (not hot) oil so that they slowly cook until spoon tender, sweet and meaty. Along the way they pick up all the aromatics that you add to the oil, too. It’s incredibly delicious and avoids annoying activities like turning on the oven or heating a pan over high heat. It is a particularly gentle way to cook this special item that sadly seems to be less available each year.
I start by making a chileand garlic-infused oil with dried peppers, pepper flakes and many cloves of garlic. Once that oil is perfumed, I then slip in my seasoned salmon. The key here is that the oil is not even simmering. We’re not frying, so there should only be the faintest of
This low and slowish method of poaching salmon in a chileand garlic-infused oil cooks it until tender and delicious. A big splash of vinegar brightens everything. Important: The dried chiles should be used as a garnish and not eaten (unless you want to, but they will be very spicy!). I suggest a big crusty bread like a baguette for making little sandwiches and soaking up the sauce. But, rice or white beans are great accompaniments, too. This recipe makes extra chile oil. Use it to make this recipe again, drizzle it on pizza or make a spicy mayo.
Serves 4
1¼ to 1½ pounds skinless salmon, deboned and cut into 4 fillets Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups olive oil (more mild and buttery tasting oil than pungent and peppery)
5 small dried chiles such as arbol or cayenne
2 teaspoons chile flakes or 1 teaspoon ground dried chile flakes 10 to 12 cloves garlic, peeled
1 quart cherry, Sungold or grape tomatoes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar plus more for the salad
3 Persian cucumbers, sliced into ¼-inch bias pieces
2 cups arugula, chopped
Flake salt
1 fresh or warmed baguette, torn into large chunks
Season the salmon with salt and pepper and set aside. Pour the oil into a 2-quart pot (if you use a larger pot, you’ll need more oil). Break the chile peppers in half and add to the pot. Add the chile flakes and the garlic. Heat the olive oil over medium. Once you see the oil rapidly bubbling, about 5 minutes, turn off the heat. Let bubbling subside for a couple minutes and then add the salmon fillets so they are snug and just covered by the oil. Turn heat to low (only very small bubbles should be rising so set the pot off-center if needed) and cook until the salmon has firmed up, flakes easily on the outside and is about medium doneness inside, about 6-8 minutes. Turn off the heat and carefully transfer salmon with a slotted spoon or fish spatula to a platter along with the garlic cloves. You can discard the chile peppers or leave them as a garnish (I wouldn’t eat them). Strain the oil through a mesh strainer.
Heat 4 tablespoons of the strained chile oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and simmer until softened with some busting open and juicing out, about 8 minutes. Turn off heat, season with salt and stir in the vinegar. Spoon the tomatoes and the chile vinegar sauce over the fish. Transfer the extra chile oil in an airtight container in your fridge for up to two weeks.
Toss cucumber and arugula together in a small bowl and season with vinegar, salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Season salmon with freshly ground black pepper and flake salt. Place the baguette on the side plate and the cucumber salad nearby.
Instructions:
bubbles rising.
As the fillets sit snugly next to each other, the garlic and chile oil slowly cook and impart their flavors. Now I say slowly, but it’s not that slow. Depending on the strength of your stove, it will take 10-15 minutes.
When the salmon is done cooking, I then make a sauce by simmering some of that chile garlic oil with cherry tomatoes until they become soft and jam-like before adding a lot of vinegar so the sauce is as punchy and bright as it is rich
and spicy. Perfect for dunking hunks of crusty baguette. A salad of peppery arugula and cucumbers dressed simply with vinegar, salt and pepper completes the meal.
Cheers, babe! We didn’t turn on the oven: at least tonight.
This recipe, adapted from Beth Lee’s “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook: 50 Traditional Recipes for Every Occasion” (Rockridge Press, $16.99), is intended for Rosh Hashanah but is versatile enough for year-round baking. You could switch up the flavor by trying different dried fruit, creating a new savory filling or skipping the filling entirely. Alternatively, you can make one large loaf by braiding the filled ropes and baking it 5 to 10 minutes longer. These rolls are dairy-free, nut-free and pareve.
Serves 8 Dough
2¼ teaspoons (7 grams/1 packet) active dry yeast or instant yeast 3½ cups (438 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading ¼ cup (47 grams) granulated sugar
1 cup (235 grams) warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 large egg
¼ cup (56 grams) vegetable oil
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
Filling
1 cup (118 grams) finely chopped and peeled sweet firm apple 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup (36 grams) currants or raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Egg wash
1 large egg
1 teaspoon water
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the yeast, flour and sugar. Add the warm water, egg, oil and salt.
Using the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, knead on medium-low speed for 3 to 4 minutes, making sure the dough is thoroughly combined and scraping down the sides as necessary. Once kneaded, the dough should be smooth and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is overly sticky, add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, as necessary.
Remove the dough from the bowl, form it into a round, and place it on a sheet of parchment paper. Use your finger to poke a 1-inch hole through the center of the dough. (Lee learned this technique in a cooking class and swears by it, though she’s not exactly sure why it helps with the dough.) Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, in a medium bowl, combine the chopped apple, lemon juice, currants, cinnamon and sugar for the filling. Set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces on a lightly floured work surface. Flatten a piece into a roughly 6-by-4-inch rectangle and spread a heaping tablespoon of filling down the center. Close the dough up around the filling and gently roll it out with your hands to a roughly 9-inch rope. Loosely coil the rope, tuck the end under and pinch to seal. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough to create 8 rolls. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
Loosely cover the challah rolls with a kitchen towel, set in a warm location and let rise for about 30 minutes, or until the dough slowly springs back when poked with your finger.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk together the egg and water for the egg wash. Use a pastry brush to coat each roll with the egg wash, getting into all the nooks and crannies.
Bake the rolls for 5 minutes at 375 degrees, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and cook for about 22 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack and cool at least 30 minutes before serving.
These sweet challah rolls with apple currant filling are a perfect Rosh Hashanah baking project.