You may have noticed, if you live anywhere in the continental United States, recently it’s been quite hot—unnaturally so here in the Mid-Atlantic. It’s the kind of weather that doesn’t just discourage cooking in your apartment kitchen, it practically forbids it.
Still, when you’re strolling through your neighborhood grocery and you spot some gorgeous, deep red-pink fillets of wild-caught Sockeye Salmon, you think “I could rationalize turning on my broiler for that.”
Add a cold bottle of Willowcroft Winery’s fine Albariño, and 45 minutes sweating over the stove seems a small price to pay for such a fine meal.
Albariño
The 2009 vintage comes from Loudoun County, VA’s, oldest functioning winery, and is one of the most exciting white wine releases I’ve tried in recent memory. It’s named for the grape used to grow it, commonly found in northwest Spain and Portugal—maybe why it’s such good pals with fish and shellfish. Albariño is aged in stainless steel and then transferred to oak barrels toward the end of its maturation.
The oak lends an interesting depth of flavor—it’s reminiscent of light summertime fruits—peach, nectarine, pear—but it’s also capable of standing up to pairings with strong flavors. It’s a bit slippery on the palate like a chardonnay, but with a sharp, tart kick.
Believe me, this wine is tasty enough to brave a 100-degree kitchen for. When you find the right food pairing for a certain wine, all sorts of wonderfully tasty things happen. The combination of the silky-sweet flesh of the salmon with the tart and mineral-y Albariño is a match made in heaven.
On the side we served spinach and cheese ravioli tossed with fresh tomatoes from our garden (and also a great friend to salmon), olives, feta cheese, fresh basil, salt and pepper.
Here’s a description of how the salmon was prepared, along with the rough recipe for the citrus/honey glaze we used.
- Clean your salmon fillets (we made two good-sized ones), rinsing with water and patting dry with a paper towel. Make sure to feel carefully for leftover pin bones and remove any that are found.
- Season with salt, black pepper and a little olive oil and stash in your fridge until about half an hour before you’re ready to cook.
- Make the glaze- combine in a small food processor:
1-2 Tbsp. fresh lemon zest
1-2 cloves garlic
fresh thyme
3 or more Tbsp honey- we used raw Virginia honey and some thyme-infused honey our friends brought us from Greece. Regular honey will do fine, though.
salt and pepper
- Buzz all this around until thoroughly combined. Stash in the fridge or let rest at room temperature until ready to use!
- When you’re about half an hour out from broiling the fish, remove it from the fridge and brush the glaze equally and thoroughly on each fillet. Cover with plastic and set aside to let the fish come up to room temperature.
- After the glaze has penetrated the fish, stick it under your broiler for 7-10 minutes. You’re shooting for an internal temperature of 130 degrees.
Meanwhile, you’ve put your pasta water on to boil, prepared a fresh sauce of chopped tomatoes, assorted olives, fresh herbs (basil, sage, thyme—whatever you like) and onions. Sautee the onions separately if you like a milder flavor, which I do, then combine that with the tomato mixture and cooked pasta and set aside until ready to serve. It doesn’t need to be piping hot, just sort of warm and wilted, maybe with a little crumbled feta cheese on top.
By now your salmon has rested, and viola! Place a pile of your pasta next to the salmon fillet, serve with crusty bread and, of course the Albariño.
You’ll find the wine is a fine companion both to the hot, starchy pasta and to the sweet salmon. It was refreshing without overwhelming the palate, yet cleansing enough that between sips the salmon tasted fresh all over again, and you were able to detect the many layers of flavors in the glaze—the sweet honey, tart lemon and herbaceous thyme.
Albariño runs $20 direct from the winery, maybe a little more expensive online or at the grocer.
