If you live in the Los Angeles/Orange County area and are a fan of jazz, you know Spaghettini, located in Seal Beach, California. Actually, if you know jazz at all, you should know Spaghettini! It has become, in its 35 years of business, one of the premiere venues in the country for great jazz and fine food. As a matter of fact, when speaking with Laurie Sisneros and Cary Hardwick, co-owners of Spaghettini, my ex-husband and his band, The Rippingtons have played there. (Evidently, not when we were married!)
Still, ex-Rippington Eric Marienthal is a regular there, as well as amazing acts like Jonathan Butler, Mindi Abair and Dave Koz. Spaghettini’s house band DW3 is pretty amazing, as well!
Recently, I was there, celebrating their newest cookbook “Spaghettini At Home.” On their longtime relationships with the world class jazz musicians that have graced spaghettini’s stage over the past three decades. Plus, this new cookbook showcases 11 of these artists. Each chapter starts with Carrie and Laurie’s ‘love” stories of those relationships, along with recipes of the artist’s favorite spaghettini dishes and cocktails.
After reading this lovely, high quality cookbook cover to cover, I chose a favorite of Rick Braun’s and Richard Elliot’s called Caramelized Sockeye Salmon. It comes with a lovely lemongrass beurre blanc sauce, which I’ve included here, as well. The Asian flavors are wonderful and the dish takes less than an hour to prepare….one of my caveats for cooking on a busy day! #spaghettinisb #melissas #jazz
#salmonrecipe
Spaghettini's Caramelized Sockeye Salmon
An easy, light weekday main course for the summer!
Ingredients
- Ingredients for Fish:
- 4 TBS olive oil
- 1 TBS fresh ginger, peeled and grated (I doubled this, as I love ginger!)
- 1 TBS fresh cilantro, chopped (OK, I doubled this, too.)
- 2 tsps salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- 4 6-oz portions of sockeye salmon
- Ingredients for Lemongrass Beurre Blanc Sauce:
- 3 TBS lemongrass, cut, peeled and minced (you can also buy a tube of prepared lemongrass)
- 1 large shallot, peeled and sliced thin.
- ¼ C rice wine vinegar
- ¼ C dry white wine
- ¼ C white wine vinegar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut in cubes
Directions
- Step 1 For fish:
- Step 2 1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
- Step 3 2. Mix the ginger., cilantro, salt and pepper together, and then rub over the salmon.
- Step 4 3. Place in pan, belly side down, and cook for four to five minutes or until golden brown. Turn over and cook for another two to three minutes.
- Step 5 4. Top each piece of salmon with Lemon Beurre Blanc sauce. (I spooned the sauce on the plate, first. You choose which one to do!)
- Step 6 For Sauce:
- Step 7 1. In a medium saucepan, add the lemongrass, shallot, rice wine vinegar, white wine and white wine vinegar.
- Step 8 2. Heat at medium high until sauce is reduced by half. About 5 minutes.
- Step 9 3. Add the butter a piece at a time, stirring slowly so the sauce won’t separate.
- Step 10 4. Put through a strainer and set aside.
This dish is light, flavorful and is perfect for a summer meal paired with a Sauvgnon Blanc or even a dry Prosecco.
