How to Make Chef John's Roasted Rhubarb Salmon

All Recipes

Sweet, tangy, and perfectly savory—Chef John’s Roasted Rhubarb Salmon is a bold twist on a weeknight favorite. In this video, Chef John shows you how to pair rich, flaky salmon with roasted rhubarb and a flavorful glaze for a dish that’s both elegant and easy.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with roasted rhubarb salmon.

00:08That's right, we usually use it to make desserts.

00:11But here we're using it to make one of the best salmon dishes I've had in a long time.

00:15And not only did this tangy, citrusy stalk pair perfectly with the fish,

00:19the cooking method we used to marry the two produced an amazingly moist texture as well.

00:24So with that, let's go ahead and get started by dicing a couple cups of rhubarb.

00:29And for that, once we trim the ends off the stalk, we will cut it in half,

00:34just to make it easier to work with.

00:36And then we'll cut each of those pieces into three strips.

00:39Or if your stalks are thinner, you could just cut it down the middle.

00:42And then as the classic dicing method dictates, we will turn those and slice across,

00:48making each cut the same distance apart as those strips are thick.

00:52And like I said, we're going to want about two cups total,

00:55which is probably going to be about three large stalks.

00:58And what we'll do is transfer that into a saucepan.

01:01And I will also toss in some sliced green onions,

01:04mostly the white and light parts.

01:06And we'll save the dark green parts for the top.

01:08We're also going to want a couple tablespoons of butter,

01:11plus the freshly squeezed juice of one lime.

01:14And by the way, I decided not to add the zest,

01:17since the lime here is mostly for acidity.

01:20And I was afraid adding the zest would make the lime flavor too pronounced.

01:24And then speaking of acidity, we'll also add some rice vinegar.

01:27And then last but not least, we will balance things with a nice big spoon of honey.

01:32Right besides the lime juice and vinegar, fresh rhubarb is also quite tart.

01:36So I think we need at least a tablespoon here.

01:39Although if you wanted a little sweeter, you could add more.

01:41I mean, you guys are after all the Tony Hawks.

01:44A flavor in your dice stalks.

01:47Oh, and speaking of bird, man,

01:48I think I want to test this recipe with chicken next.

01:51But anyway, first things first.

01:53And once we have everything in the pan, we'll head to the stove.

01:56And we'll place this on medium-high heat

01:58and wait for things to start to simmer.

02:01And while we do,

02:02we can season this up with a little bit of salt,

02:04as well as a few shakes of cayenne,

02:06since that always makes everything a little bit better.

02:09And we will give that a stir.

02:11And then we're simply going to let it cook for three or four minutes,

02:15stirring occasionally,

02:16until that rhubarb softens up

02:18and starts to break down a little bit.

02:21And we end up with a relatively chunky-looking sauce.

02:25So I did exactly that.

02:26And about four minutes later, my mixture looked like this.

02:30And that's it.

02:30We'll simply turn off the heat

02:32and reserve that until needed.

02:34And that's it.

02:35Once our rhubarb component's done,

02:37we can move on to prep our salmon.

02:39And what we want to use here

02:40is a very thick center-cut piece.

02:43All right, the thicker, the better.

02:44And we want to make sure the skin is off

02:46and those pin bones have been pulled out,

02:49which the fishmonger will be more than happy to do for you.

02:52And then since this is a pound,

02:53I want to cut this in half so we get eight-ounce portions,

02:56which we could do the long way.

02:58But I think it's going to cook better

03:00and look better

03:01if we slice the cross into two squares,

03:04which I think in culinary school,

03:05we used to call a pave.

03:06And then once we have our salmon portioned,

03:09we will transfer that into a lightly oiled baking dish

03:12and we'll season the top generously with kosher salt.

03:16Oh, and a quick production note,

03:18this recipe actually makes four portions,

03:20but I'm only going to roast two pieces of salmon

03:22since it's just Michelle and I.

03:25And that's it.

03:26Once seasoned,

03:27we'll go ahead and transfer over our rhubarb mixture,

03:29going for complete coverage on the top

03:32with a little bit spilling down the sides here and there.

03:36And of course,

03:36if you wanted to grill your salmon

03:38or pan sear your salmon,

03:40you could just sauce it with this rhubarb mixture once it's done.

03:43But I do think the roasting is going to improve the flavor.

03:46Plus, the texture of the salmon

03:47is going to be so incredibly perfect

03:49since it's basically going to poach in this sauce

03:52while it roasts.

03:52And that's it.

03:54Once our salmon has been rhubarbed,

03:56we will transfer it into the center

03:58of a 450 degree oven

04:00for about 15 to 20 minutes,

04:02depending on the size,

04:03or until we reach an internal top of about 125 to 130.

04:07And it hopefully looks like this.

04:10Oh yeah, that is a pretty pink,

04:12I think.

04:14But to make it even more beautiful,

04:16we'll scatter over some freshly sliced green onions.

04:19And that's it.

04:20Our rhubarb roasted salmon is ready to enjoy.

04:24So I'm going to grab a spatula and serve one up

04:26and maybe spoon over a little bit of sauce

04:28from the bottom of the baking dish,

04:30which is going to be beautiful and buttery.

04:33And that's it.

04:34I'm going to grab a fork and knife

04:35so I can cut this in half.

04:38And I'll show you

04:39what a perfectly cooked piece of salmon should look like.

04:42All right, if you go to about 125, 130 internal temp,

04:45the inside is going to be moist and glistening

04:47and almost, but not quite translucent,

04:50and as you take a bite,

04:52it's going to almost literally melt in your mouth.

04:55And it's going to be nothing like that dry,

04:57chalky, overcooked salmon

04:58that lots of people get stuck eating.

05:01And the key to achieving this,

05:03besides roasting it covered in a sauce,

05:05is to use a thermometer to nail that temp.

05:08Since it's really hard to tell just by poking at it,

05:10and it's tremendously good as that texture was,

05:13the flavors here are just as impressive.

05:17Right, rhubarb has such a beautiful, tangy, citrusy flavor,

05:20and it really does marry perfectly with this rich, fatty fish.

05:24And if you're wondering about side dishes, don't.

05:27This will be good with anything.

05:29And I mean anything.

05:31Right, this is so perfectly textured and delicious,

05:34no one's even going to care about the side dishes.

05:37Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.

05:41So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,

05:44a printable written recipe,

05:45and much more info as usual.

05:47And as always, enjoy.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended