7 Aralık 2012 Cuma

Bronzed Salmon Skewers with Mango Chutney and Cilantro Dill Potato Croquette

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Floribbean cuisine!
     This plate of bronzed salmon skewers can be served as a light lunch or as an appetizer.  There is no end to the great flavors on this plate!  A bronzing spice mixture is made out of light colored Indian spices.  Indian spices are popular in Floribbean and caribbean cuisine.       Commercial bronzing spice mixes were first marketed by a famous Louisiana chef named Paul Prudhomme during the peak of the Cajun blackening craze.  The commercial bronzing spice mixture was nationally marketed and advertised, but it never really became popular.  I do not know whether brand name bronzing spice mixes are still stocked at grocery stores, because I make my own spice mixtures.     While I was getting ready to go to work one day, about 20 years ago, Chef Paul Prudhomme was on some television show talking about his new bronze spice mix.  The TV show host asked what was in the bronze spice mixture and the chef's spoken response was ginger, cumin ... CLICK!  I turned off the television and said to myself "Good idea!"  I did not have to hear the full list of bronze spice mix ingredients, because I was working at a French caribbean restaurant at that time.  I figured out the bronzing spice mixture on the way to work.  I made the bronzing spice mixture at the restaurant and sold bronzed sea scallops as a dinner special that evening with great success.  Customers at the French caribbean restaurant liked the bronzing spice flavor!     Bronzing is the same cooking method as blackening.  Butter must be heated till it just starts to smoke, before the spiced meat is added to the pan.  A well ventilated kitchen with a good exhaust fan is required for bronzing or blackening.     The main reason that the popularity of blackened food in restaurants declined, is because lazy second rate cooks and chefs did not use the traditional blackening cooking method and they cooked blackened food at too low of a temperature.  At too low of a temperature, blackening spices fall off of the meat and the entree turns into a greasy mess!  Many customers gave up on ordering blackened food at restaurants outside of Louisiana.  In Louisiana, blackening is still done the right way!  Outside of Louisiana, finding good blackened food can be a hit or miss proposition.     Chutney is the perfect accompaniment for spicy food.  In caribbean and Floribbean restaurants, I nearly always served blackened or bronzed food with a chutney of some kind.  Mango chutney is a great choice for bronzed fish.  Even if the fish is salmon!       In restaurants, cutting fish is usually one of the saute cook's duties.  Recently at the Le Cordon Bleu campus Technique Restaurant, I watched a student filet a whole large salmon.  The student threw the scraps and belly meat in the garbage.  Wasting scraps is a sin in a French restaurant!  Even salmon scraps can be turned into an appealing entree of some kind.       I made sure that I filleted the next whole salmon.  I have many years of fish cutting experience, so there were no bits of scrap after I filleted the salmon, however, the belly meat is traditionally trimmed off.  I cut off the belly meat and then cut it into long strips.  I wove the belly meat strips onto skewers and bronzed them.  The finished bronzed salmon skewers that I cooked that day are pictured above.      After taking the photographs, I showed the bronzed salmon belly meat skewers to the executive chef and said "This is a better use for salmon belly meat than throwing it in the trash!"  The executive chef looked and then he said "Who in the hell has been throwing salmon belly meat in the trash?  Never mind!  I know who it was and I will straighten this problem out!"  That is how I get things done in a restaurant kitchen, when I am not the lead chef!  Ha Ha Ha!  It takes savvy!    
     Mango Chutney Recipe:      This recipe makes about 3 cups of chutney!     Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pot over high heat.     Add 3/4 cup of cider vinegar.     Add about 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar.      Taste the liquid.  The mixture should taste like a balanced sweet and sour flavor.  Adjust the amount of sugar or vinegar as necessary.      Reduce the liquid over medium high heat, till it just starts to become a very thin syrup consistency.     Reduce the temperature to low heat.      Add 1 chopped peeled apple.       Add 2/3 cup of chopped onion.  (The apple and onion will help to create pectin to gel chutney.)     Simmer till the apple and onion become very tender.  Add water as necessary to keep the syrup base a very thin consistency at this point.      Add 1/3 cup of minced dried fruit.  (Dried cherries, cranberries, prunes, white raisons or dark raisons are best for making chutney.  The dried fruit adds extra depth and flavor.  This is not a dark fruit chutney, so so don't add too much dried fruit.  I used a few dried cranberry and raisons to make this batch of chutney.)          Add 3 tablespoons of minced fresh ginger.      Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.      Add 1 tablespoon of thin chiffonade strips of fresh lemon zest.     Add 2 finely chopped green onions.  (Only use the white sections of the green onions.)     Add 4 minced cloves of garlic.     Add 1/4 cup of chopped green bell pepper.     Add 1/4 cup of chopped red bell pepper.     Add 2 finely minced seeded jalapeno chile peppers.       Add 2 cups of small diced peeled mango.     Add 1/3 cup of mango puree or mango juice.     Add sea salt and white pepper.     Add 1/2 teaspoon of allspice.      Add 1 pinch of turmeric.     Add 1 pinch of Indian yellow curry powder.     Bring the ingredients to a gentle boil over medium heat.     Reduce the temperature to very low heat.     Simmer the chutney, till it reduces and thickens to a rich jellied fruit preserve consistency.      Place the hot chutney into an uncovered storage container.      Cool the chutney in a refrigerator.      When the chutney becomes cold, cover the container.      Allow the chutney to sit undisturbed in the refrigerator for at least 3 days to 2 weeks.  It takes time for the flavors of a chutney to mellow and meld!     The chutney can be kept in a refrigerator for nearly 6 months!
     Bronzing Spice Mixture:     Place 3 tablespoons of garam masala into a mixing bowl.  (Garam Masala is known as North Indian warm spice mix.)     Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of turmeric.     Add sea salt.     Add 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper.     Add 1 teaspoon of cumin.     Add 2 teaspoons of ginger powder.     Add 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.     Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.     Add 1/2 teaspoon of flour.  (The sugar helps the bronzing spices to lightly caramelize the highlights of food and the tiny amount of flour helps the spice mixture to stick to the meat.)     Mix the ingredients together.
     Cilantro Dill Potato Croquette:     This recipe makes a few croquettes!  Potato croquettes are very popular in the caribbean.  Many potato croquette recipes call for cheese, but cheese is not needed for caribbean potato croquettes.     Place 1 peeled russet potato in sauce pot and cover it with water.     Boil the potato till it becomes soft.     Drain the water off of the potato and place it in a mixing bowl.     Add sea salt and white pepper.     Add 2 pinches of chopped fresh dill weed.     Add 2 pinches of chopped cilantro.     Add 1/2 tablespoon of flour.     Add 1 teaspoon of cream.     Thoroughly mash the ingredients together.     Shape the croquettes into round thick mini patty shapes or short thick cylinder shapes.  (Both of these croquette shapes are popular in the caribbean.)     Place each croquette into a container of plain bread crumbs and gently press the bread crumbs onto the surface of each croquette.     Chill the croquettes in a refrigerator, till they become firm.     Heat 4" of vegetable frying oil to 360 degrees in a high sided pot.     Fry a few croquettes at a time, till they become a light golden color.     Place the fried croquettes on a wire screen roasting rack to drain off any excess oil.     Keep the cilantro dill potato croquettes warm on a stove top.
     Bronzed Salmon Skewers:     Salmon belly meat is perfect for this recipe.  Many times, fresh fish markets give the belly meat away or charge a very low price.  If you filet your own salmon, then save the belly meat.  If no salmon belly meat is available, then use salmon filet meat.     Salmon belly meat is loaded with essential omega 3 fatty acids, so it is actually the healthiest part of a salmon to eat!     Because part of the woven salmon meat on the skewers will not make contact with the hot pan, the salmon skewers must be finished cooking in an oven for 2 to 3 minutes!     Soak 2 bamboo skewers in water.  The skewers should be 8" to 10" long.      Cut long strips of salmon that are about 3/4" to 1" wide and about 3/8" thick.  About 4 to 5 ounces of salmon strips will be needed for each skewer.     Weave the salmon on the skewers.  A zig zag snake pattern weave looks nice!     Lightly dredge the salmon skewers in the bronzing spice mixture.     Heat a cast iron skillet or saute pan over medium/medium high heat.     Add 1 1/2 ounces of unsalted butter.     When the butter begins to smoke.     Place the skewers in the pan.     Turn the skewers after the spice mixture becomes lightly browned.     Remove the skewers from the pan after all sides of the salmon skewers become caramelized to a golden brown color.     Place the salmon skewers on a baking pan.     Bake in a 300 degree oven, till the salmon becomes fully cooked. 
     Bronzed Salmon Skewers with Mango Chutney and Cilantro Dill Potato Croquette:     Place some leaf lettuce on a plate as a bed for the skewers.     Place the bronzed salmon skewers on the plate.     Place a ramekin of the mango chutney on the plate.     Place a potato croquette on the plate.     Serve with lemon or lime wedges on the side.  
     Flavor!  That is what both Floribbean and caribbean cooking is all about.  Yum, Mon! ...  Shawna  

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