Salmon Tower

Discovered this on a cruise a few years back. A really clever and appetizing way to serve salmon. This has become a "signature" dish at Chez B and I have played with different variations. The following is my favorite.

Oct 12, 2019 - updated Oct 2023

INGREDIENTS Serves 2.

  • 2 salmon fillets cut to portion with skin on
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 6 tbs olive oil
  • 4 or 5 small grape tomatoes, cut into quarters.
  • 3 or 4 olives, cut into quarters.
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic (from jar OK)
  • 1/4 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 large baking potato
  • 1 bunch of fresh spinach.

METHOD

1 Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

2 Peal the potato and cut into about 8 small pieces and boil for 15 minutes, or until tender. Smash them just a bit adding a tbsp of butter and a splash of milk if you like. Leave in pan for now to stay warm.

3 While the potatoes are bpoiling, cook the lemon juice over med heat in a small sauce pan for 4 minutes to reduce/thicken. Add the butter, tomato/olive quarters and garlic and slowly cook for another few minutes, remove from heat and set aside.

4 I like to cook the salmon in 4 tbsp olive oil over med-high heat. Start skin side down for 2 minutes, then flip and skin side up for 2 minutes. If these are thicker, thats not enough to cook them fully, but we don't want to keep it over the burner too long for fear of burning the skin, so I remove the pan and place it in the oven for 5-10 minutes to continue cooking. If you have a meat thermometer, 130 degrees is magic.

5 While the salmon is cooking, heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a large fry pan over med heat. When the oil is hot, add the spinach. Toss for just 1 minute then turn off the heat. I like to add a tbsp or two of water at this point and a splash of lemon juice.

6 Add a tbsp of water to the pan with the lemon-butter-tomato mixture, reheat for 1 minute, then strain the contents. The remaining "Lemon-butter" liquid is your "base and the remaining tomato/olive mixture is your "toping"

7 Form a "smashed" potato mold comforming to the size of the salmon in the center of each serving plate then divide the lemon-butter around the perimeter of the smashed pototoes, add a layer of spinach on top followed ny the salmon, skin side up, topped with the cooked tomato/olives.

CHEF's NOTES:

  • Instead of the mashed potato base, you can use about 1/2 cup pre-cooked rice per plate as the bed. I prefer the potato base :)
  • You can substitue the crushed garlic with the same amount of onions or shallots.
  • If you don't have un-salted butter, the regular kind will work fine.
  • To simplify this dish you can skip the top garnish (see top photo). Simply heat 1 tsp butter, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp of water per serving and use that as the base for the dish.
  • Although not necessary, I like to hold the plate under hot tap water just prior to adding the food. Quickly dry the plates with a paper towel and build the tower. Now your serving on a hot plate!
 
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