Dig into Chef Jack Shoop's recipe for salmon with pressed beet vinaigrette

October 20, 9:42 PMOrganic Food ExaminerNatalie Rotunda

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Organic Food Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Today’s recipe comes from the kitchen of CTCA Philadelphia Executive Chef Jack Shoop. Talk about good eats! While most of us are looking for healthy, delicious salmon recipes, Chef Shoop delivers one of the most mouth-watering entries we could ever hope to find. To complete the meal, consider adding sides such as steamed broccoli florets, or grilled hearts of Romaine drizzled with olive oil, and a pinch of Himalayan salt. What's for dessert? How about whipping up a batch of Doodles Cookies? They're organic, gluten-free, very tasty, and they come in your favorites---chocolate chip, sugar, or nut butter.   

While not all of us look upon beets as a favorite go-to veggie, we can’t deny its importance in a healthy eating plan. Perhaps the Chef won’t mind that some of us will re-purpose the beet portion of his recipe as a dressing for other main dishes!

Mustard-Crusted Salmon with Roasted Scallions
and Pressed Beet Vinaigrette

Number of Servings
4

Ingredients
4 beets, trimmed
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 scallions, trimmed to 10-inch length, roots removed
4 tablespoons sherry vinegar, or more to taste
½ cup mustard seeds
¼ cup coarse sea salt
4 wild king or North Atlantic salmon fillets, about 8 ounces each

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. On a large sheet of aluminum foil, drizzle the beets with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap the beets tightly in the foil and roast until very tender, about 45 minutes. While the beets roast, drizzle the scallions with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and roast until very soft and fragrant, about 25 minutes. Set aside, keeping them warm.
3. When the beets are cooked and cool enough to handle, peel them and cut 2 of them into 4 or 5 pieces. Place the beet pieces in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to form a very coarse puree. Run the remaining beets through a juicer to extract as much liquid as possible. In a small bowl, combine the beet puree, beet juice, sherry vinegar, ½ cup of the olive oil, and salt and pepper, adding more vinegar if necessary to create the desired acidity. Set aside.
4. In a shallow bowl or high-sided plate, combine the mustard seeds and coarse sea salt and stir well to combine. Season the salmon fillets with black pepper and press the skin side of each fillet into the mustard and salt mixture to coat it completely. In a 14- to 16-inch non stick pan, heat the remaining ¼ cup of olive oil until smoking. Carefully place the fillets in the pan, skin side down, and cook without disturbing for at least 7 minutes, allowing the seeds and salt to form a crust. When you’ve tested the crust by shaking the pan slightly and are confident that you will not disturb the crush by turning the fish, turn each fillet with a broad spatula and cook on the flesh side for 3 or 4 minutes. Place a few of the scallions on each of the four warmed dinner plates, top with a cooked fillet, crust side up, and some of the beet vinaigrette, and serve immediately.

Jack Shoop, CMC, is executive chef at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Philadelphia. CTCA provides a comprehensive, patient-centered treatment model that fully integrates traditional, state-of-the-art medical treatments with scientifically supported complementary therapies such as nutrition, naturopathic medicine, psychological counseling, physical therapy and spiritual support to meet the special, whole-person needs of patients with advanced and complex cancer.