mustard-crusted salmon with pressed beet vinaigrette

Well, if there is a way to catch my attention on a salmon dish, it's to add pressed beets to it.

I'll eat beets any way you put them in front of me. Some people say they hate beets because they used to have to eat the nasty ones out of the can. I love the nasty ones out of the can. They're just fine! They're beets! It's like candy vegetable. I don't understand how anyone doesn't love beets.

So let's talk about the beets. First you roast them. Then you run half through the processor and the other half through a juicer. Then you mix the results of those two processes with some sherry vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper.

I have to say, I think the juicing step was unnecessary. The beets I put through the processor were pretty well bleeding, so adding juice to them seem a little redundant. Maybe I processed them too long? Maybe I roasted them too long? Dunno. All it really did was give me an excellent opportunity to freshly wash the juicer.

But it was awesome. The recipe made about 10 times more than I needed, but I'll find a use for my leftover pressed beet vinaigrette. Don't you worry.

Let's see, what else was there … oh yeah, salmon. It was fine. Good even. The trick was to firmly press the fillets into a boatload of mustard seeds. Here's a closeup:

 

I was wary. I figured that would be strong. Wasn't. The seeds were really all about texture. It looked cool, and was crunchy. And I kept the salmon minimally cooked, so I liked it too.

Up next: steamed cockles