Wednesday, Mar. 04, 2009

Chef's Corner: A tutorial in barbecue salmon

Jamie Keating, owner and executive chef at the RiverMill Café in Columbus demonstrates how to make barbecue salmon. Here is the recipe:

Barbecue Salmon over a black-eyed pea ragout and wilted spinach and onions

4 6-ounce salmon filets

Kosher salt to taste

Paprika to taste

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/4 cup carrot, diced small

1/4 cup onion, diced small

1/4 cup celery, diced small

1 cup chicken stock

3 cups of black-eyed peas, cooked and drained

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/2 cup BBQ sauce (recipe is below)

1/4 cup onion, julienned

1 pound fresh spinach, stems removed

2 ounces white wine

Season the salmon filets with kosher salt and paprika. Pan-sear the salmon filets with the skin side up using canola oil. Set aside.

Sauté the carrots in a medium-sized sauce pot until they are caramelized. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft.

Deglaze the pot with chicken stock. Add the black-eyed peas and reduce the liquid by half. Season the resulting ragout with salt, pepper and fresh thyme.

Sauté the julienned onion and spinach. Season to taste. Add the wine. Glaze the salmon with barbecue sauce. Place the salmon in a 350-degree oven for eight minutes or until cooked to desired doneness.

Barbecue Sauce

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 large onion, minced

1/2 cup Jack Daniels

1 quart ketchup

1/2 lemon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons chili powder

Kosher salt to taste

1/6 cup molasses

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon Tabasco

In a sauce pot, sweat the garlic and onion. Add the Jack Daniels and reduce the liquid by half.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on the stove over low flame. Constantly stir with a wooden spoon. Cook the sauce for an hour and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Serves four. Preparation time is 20 minutes; the cooking time is 20 minutes.