Napa in a day

 

My husband is two days older than me, and I love to remind him he is my older man. Every year for our birthdays we run away to the greater San Jose area. We are huge hockey fans and every year as a birthday treat the San Jose Sharks play back to back home games around our birthdays. This year we went to a game on Thursday and Saturday which left Friday open to escape to Napa for the day.

 

Our day started the best way possible with a Parisian breakfast at Bouchon Bakery. Every rich and savory treat you could wish for was ordered and paired with a heavenly salted caramel latte. The ivy covered building and seating area outside provided the perfect backdrop to allow for my fantasy of sitting in Paris somewhere.

 

 

From there we stared our day of wine tasting. My favorite by far was taking the tour and tasting at amazing Domaine Carneros. Every girl should have a little bubbly on her birthday.

 

 

We ventured downtown Napa and stumbled into the coolest place, The Oxbow Market.  This market place had several restaurants with communal seating so we got some treats from a few places. Our favorite was Hogs Island Oysters.  We then did some light shopping through the market at Whole Spice and Napa Valley Distillery where we got some unique bitters for cocktails. If you go to downtown Napa, I highly recommend this place.  

 

 

After some more wine tasting, a dream came true, we had dinner at Ad Hoc. For anyone who knows me, I am obsessed with Thomas Keller, and specifically this cookbook created after this restaurant. The cover of the pig was painted on our dining room wall...that's obsession.

Ad Hoc's menu changes every day, you will never experience the same meal there twice. They do a 4 course family style menu with one optional supplement; if you go, get the supplement.
 

 

Our meal was amazing and lived up to all of our expectations. My husband, being the smooth talker he is even got us a tour of the kitchen and we got to talk to the head chef. Words cannot express enough the high level of service and amount that extra attention and we got after they learned it was not only our birthdays, but how utterly food-geeky we were for being there!  Dreams do come true for these foodies.

Atlantic Salmon with Leeks

I decided to dive into another cookbook to change things up a little...what housewife doesn't enjoy a good challenge here and again? Thomas Keller's book, Bouchon, is french cooking simplified. The art of true cooking is taking the simplest and purest ingredients and elevating them to excellence. Have I sold you yet??? Lets begin.

What You'll Need

1 1/2 pounds of leeks

Sauce (Beurre Blance)

1/4 Cup thinly sliced shallots
1 large thyme sprig
1 large parsley sprig
1 bay leaf
6 black peppercorns
2/3 cup dry white wine (sauvignon blanc)
1/3 cup champagne vinger
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small chunks and chilled
2-3 tablespoon chicken stock
1 teaspoon minced chives
1 teaspoon tarragon

Salmon

Four 6-ounce piece of salmon fillet, pin bones removed
Kosher salt
Canola Oil
1/2 cup chicken stock

The beauty of this dish is the variety of textures. By searing the salmon on only one side, you will pair a crispy side with the near raw texture of the other side. If you prefer your fish cooked a little more, preheat your oven to 325.

For the leeks:

This recipe only calls for the light green section of the leeks; the darker green parts can be reserved for another use. Cut off the dark green leaves and remove and discard the outer tough layer. Cut the light green sections crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. (you should have approximately 4 cups)

Place the rounds in  a large bowl of warm water and swish them around gently to remove any dirt, careful do not break up the rounds.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Prepare an ice bath. Add half the leeks to boil for about 5 minutes, again careful to not break the rounds. Once leeks are tender, with a slotted spoon, remove from pot and add to ice bath to stop the cooking...this is quick, no more than 15 secs. Set aside and drain on paper towels. Repeat for the other half of your leeks.  If the centers have fallen out you can use these leeks for another use later, for example a salad or soup.

For the Beurre Blanc Sauce: 

Put the shallots, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a medium sauce pan and add white wine and vinegar. Bring to boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes to reduce. 

To finish sauce, add the heavy cream to the reduction, place pan over medium heat, and summer to reduce the liquid by half. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Begin adding butter one piece at a time, whisking constantly to keep sauce emulsified; add each new piece of butter before the previous one has completely melted. The sauce should remain warm to the touch but never simmering. 

For the Salmon:

For crispy skin, you want to remove all the moisture from the skin. Take a knife and rub it back and forth against the skin drawing up liquid. Be sure to only apply light pressure as you don't want to flatten the fillet. Repeat till you knife doesn't draw any more moisture. 

Season the skin side down of the fillets with salt and pepper. Season the other side with salt only. Heat 1/8inch of canola oil in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, place the fillet skin side down in hot oil and cook one side only for about 5 minutes. The fish is done when the bottom is crisp and the fillet is cooked about half way up the flesh; the top should be rare. If you liked your fish cooked a little more, this is where you can place in heated oven..I wouldn't recommend it though. 

To finish:

Put leeks in a medium sauce pan, add 1/2 cup chicken stock, salt and pepper, and cooked till heated through. 

Gently warm beurre blanc and stir in tarragon and chives.

Divide the sauce among four plates, spoon a band around the center of each plate and then rotating the plate to spread the sauce. Using a slotted spoon, mound the leeks in the center. Top each with a salmon fillet. 

Bon Appetit