Salmon Meuniere with Artichokes and Olives

Artichokes and olives served over flour-dredged, pan-fried salmon.

I was planning on pork chops or chicken, but didn't plan well enough to have those items thawed out. So, I looked for a salmon recipe on Tastespotting. After all, I buy Costco packs of salmon specifically for pinch-hitting on days like today. I found a recipe that called for marinated artichoke hearts (hooray! I get to use some from the vats I purchased from Costco) and kalamata olives, a favorite of Rodney's. While the recipe also called for capers, I made a conscious decision to avoid those.

The only changes below are the omission of the capers and black peppercorns in place of grains of paradise. Click the link below to see for yourself at Kitchen M.

Salmon Meuniere with Artichokes and Olives

2 tbsp pine nuts
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 c marinated artichoke hearts, drained, cut in chunks
8-10 kalamata olives
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
Several black peppercorns
A pinch of salt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 c dry white wine or Noilly Prat
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 fresh salmon filets
Flour (for dusting)
Butter (for cooking the fish)

Coat the salmon filets with flour. Set aside.

In a medium-large skillet, toast pine nuts over medium high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium and 1 tbsp butter, artichoke hearts, olives, garlic. Stir well and after cooking for a few minutes, add peppercorns and salt.

Add lemon juice and white wine and simmer until the liquid is almost completely gone. Reduce the heat to very low and whisk in butter -- crap, I forgot that butter part!

Heat about 1 tbsp of butter in another large skillet, saute floured salmon filets for a few minutes on both sides or until it creates crispy surfaces.

Serve warm with artichokes and olive sauce.

While I thought this was way too salty, Rodney LOVED it. I mean loved it. He ate his portion and than continued to eat the other half of salmon I couldn't choke down as well as all remaining "sauce". Meanwhile I drank a gallon of water so my shoes would fit on my feet tomorrow.

Cost:

• salmon: $5.28
• everything else: let's generously estimate $4 for the sake of simplicity (for me)

Total: $9.28 or $4.64 per serving. Considering it's salmon all fancied up with artichokes and fancy olives, not too surprising.

What I'd do different:

• whisk in the butter I forgot
• skip the addition of salt
• add course-ground pepper instead of whole peppercorns, which Rodney tends to pick out anyway
• stop reducing while the sauce is still a sauce

Will I do it again? Sure, I'll give it another whirl since Rodney enjoyed it so much, though I'll be sure to consider my above comments.