Bravo Jenny's Salmon Nicoise
It’s nearing dinner time. As the day comes to a close, sharing a meal with those we’re with, savoring the flavors prepared before us, and nourishing ourselves feels more important than ever. While so much of our world is uncertain, we have found a sense of peace in this daily ritual.
We saw the Salmon Nicoise recipe for the first time last summer when Jennifer Bravo shared it to her feed. We’ve been fans of her work for a while — not only does she craft delicious recipes of all kinds, her intuitive eating messaging is refreshing and an important reminder to us all. This salad, traditionally made with canned tuna is not our favorite, but we love the fresh spin on a Nicoise Jenn took with this, and have enjoyed it many times. It’s easy to whip up for two people, but scales nicely if you’re having a party.
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These days can feel somewhat stripped of spontaneity (we never realized how much freedom an after work trip to the grocery store allowed!). For many reasons it has been hard to adjust to our new normal, but we’re feeling grateful for the dynamic businesses around town that have made adjustments to their operations to nurture the community. Local food suppliers here in Portland have worked hard to make it easy for us and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Harbor Fish’s phone ordering system offers fresh catches and a contactless pickup. You may have to wait on hold for a bit before getting through, but we found the wait worthwhile and happy for them that they’re staying busy. We called in an order for a salmon fillet and the rest of the ingredients came from Rosemont Market. Rosemont, our neighborhood market, has migrated to a fully online ordering platform, which features their entire store inventory and includes a comment section in case you need your coffee ground, bread sliced, or whatever. They had heaps of new potatoes, green beans, and Olivia’s Garden bib lettuce, which was the perfect base for our salad.
After two swift and successful curbside pickups, we headed home to get cooking. Jenn’s recipe is fun to read through and easy to follow. Our potatoes were larger than the small summer fingerlings so we cut them up before giving them a roast.
While the potatoes browned and the rest of the salad came together, we cracked open one of Allagash’s new releases! Nowaday is a blonde ale—very bright with a nice, malty body. We’re always excited to try their new offerings, but especially eager to get our hands on this beer, whose proceeds all go to Good Shepherd Food Bank. Hunger and food insecurity are glaring issues during this uncertain time and it’s the dedication from brands like this that can make all the difference—as if you need a reason to give this beer a try.
With the rest of the ingredients assembled, the last step of the salmon nicoise salad is getting the perfect sear. Jenn has a full writeup on her page on how to nail a crispy, buttery, juicy filet. We followed her instructions exactly and couldn’t be more impressed with the results. We assembled the lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, jammy eggs, cheese, and finally the salmon into our bowls and dressed them up for a delicious dinner. You might notice the cut-outs on the bowls as these were originally designed as ramen bowls by Campfire Pottery, but we love the deep shape and eat almost every meal out of them. Sure, they’re great for brothy dishes, but we love tossing a hearty salad or some pasta in them too!
The only thing missing from our dinner were some castelvetrano olives (a favorite of mine), which, in the grand scheme of things, is really nothing. It is a treat to be among many great food systems of Maine and we are proud to support our farmers and fishermen & women. This meal and so much more would not be possible without essential workers. Thank you to all those on the front line or behind the scenes working to keep our communities afloat.
Here’s a moment to celebrate a handful of small businesses around us doing great things. Consider giving this recipe a try — or others — on bravojenny.com.