My first "tres bon"

grilled salmon, emulsified butter sauce with chives, and byron potatoes on a bed of spinach

I was particularly inspired when making this dish because this would be my husband's favorite meal. He loves salmon and potatoes, and is a bit of a Popeye when it comes to spinach.


The chef closed his eyes when he took the first bite of my salmon. This could go either way, I thought. He could be closing them because it's so bad, that he can't bring himself to swallow. Then again, he could be closing them because it's good and he wants to enjoy it. When he opened them again, he said "tres bon." The sauce was tasty and had the right amount of acidity and my potatoes were good. He told me I could have used a bit more butter for my spinach, but that it, too, was nice. Yay! Oh, happy day. I have to say this salmon is the best I've made. It was almost buttery and I didn't do anything to it except grill it and add salt and pepper once it was done. This is actually the trick, you know...The trick to avoid dry grilled fish is to hold off on the seasoning until the end.


Tip: *Never season salmon until the last minute -once it's cooked*


I need to share this recipe for Byron Potatoes with you because it's oh so easy and oh so good. See below.


Byron Potatoes
500 g large potatoes
50 g butter
salt, nutmeg
2 egg yolks
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50 ml cream
150 milk
30 beurre manie (15 g butter, 15 g butter)
salt
50 g gruyere, grated


Peel and dice potatoes and wash thoroughly. Add to a pot, and bring to a boil.
*Tip* Do not salt water until vegetables are cooked because the water will take longer to boil.* 
Check to ensure potatoes are cooked, add coarse salt, and drain well.
In a separate sauce pan, mix milk, cream, salt, and nutmeg and cook over medium heat. In a separate bowl, mix 15g of butter and 15g of flour to create beurre manie (used as a thickening agent for sauces). Incorporate beurre manie into milk mixture and whisk over low heat.
Use a food mill to mash potatoes and use a rubber spatula to mix butter and egg yolks. Once mixed, put potatoes in a pastry bag and pipe round mounds (about 4-5cm in diameter) of potatoes on a baking sheet. Have a bowl with cool water and a small, round ladle ready. Wet the bottom of the ladle with the cold water and use it to make cup shapes on the potato mounds. Ladle the white sauce into the potato mounds and top with grated gruyere cheese. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Enjoy these beautiful little side dishes and tell me how it goes!