Pairing: Roasted Salmon with French Beans, Bacon & Pine Nuts with Pinot Noir
by Robyn • August 18, 2009 • All Posts, Pairings • 3 Comments
Dinner the other evening started out to be a Jamie Oliver baked cod dish, but ended up being this roasted salmon version — mostly because cod steaks were not available, but also because I absolutely adore this combination of flavors. This is a one dish meal, if ever there was one — making clean-up a breeze, not to mention all the good juices in the bottom of the pan for sopping!
If the bones involved with steaks do not appeal to you – fillets will work just fine, though you might want to cut down the cooking time by about 5 minutes.
Recipe: Fish: Roasted Salmon with French Beans, Bacon & Pine Nuts
Serves 4
1 1/2 pounds French green beans, trimmed and sliced in half, crosswise, at an angle
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
4 8-oz. salmon steaks, on the bone
6 strips bacon
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 lemon, washed and quartered
Preheat the oven to 425F. Put the beans in a roasting pan large enough to hold all 4 steaks without overlapping. Add the garlic, then season with salt, pepper and olive oil — toss to combine. Add the salmon steaks on top of the beans. Drape each steak with a piece of bacon, then quarter the remaining two slices and add on top of the beans. Sprinkle the pine nuts over all, tuck in the lemon quarters here and there, and drizzle a bit more olive oil over the whole thing.
Cook for 20 minutes, then switch the oven to broil to finish cooking the bacon. (I even flipped the bacon slices after a few minutes to get them nice and browned on both sides — which also helped avoid over-toasting the pine nuts on top.)
Wine Pairing: I’ve been in Pinot Noir heaven lately, what with trips to Alto Adige, Anderson Valley, and a swing through the Russian River Valley (talk about three very different versions of Pinot… and I will talk about them all — very soon!) But here’s the bottle from Monterey that I enjoyed with this dish Sunday evening:
Carmel Road 2006 Pinot Noir Arroyo Seco Clark Ranch ($35). Rich, smooth, aromatic black cherry and plum flavors are accented with clove and forest floor, with a focused, long finish. Ready to drink now and over the next two or three years. Locate this wine online or in your area.
Three cheers for the “bacon makes everything better” school. This dish sounds great and I’d be willing risk the fat content and give it a try. Sometimes, you just have to step outside your food pairing and fat content comfort zones to live a little.
Cheers!
Hi Carol — well, when you put it like that…
But the dish was truly delish. You must not be an alum of the “bacon makes everything better” school of thought — I’ve heard of people like you, I’ve just never actually corresponded with one.
Seriously, though, feel free to leave out the bacon. (Doesn’t sound like you need persuading on that point!) In fact, feel free to leave out the salmon. My favorite thing this summer has turned out to be these roasted haricots verts with garlic, pine nuts and lemon. Cannot seem to get enough!
I am dismayed at anyone using bacon on salmon. I don’t think anyone who has fresh wild caught salmon would ever think of putting such a dominate flavor over fish – unless you actually want to disguise the fact that you have fish! Then there is the fat content. Olive oil as well as six slices of bacon?! Don’t you think you’d get enough grease from six slices of bacon to more than coat the beans? Yikes!