Salmon with Manchego Sauce

I know its been a while since I’ve shared delicious recipes, and for that I apologize. It has been quite an exciting past few months. My backyard is undergoing a transformation from blah to relaxing moon garden (pictures to come upon completion). There has also been two trips – Puerto Rico and Tulum, Mexico!

The first trip was to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was just Rick and I. We stayed in an Air BnB condo in the Ocean Park neighborhood. We spent time on the magnificent beach that was across the street from the condo…seriously across the street! A day was spent exploring the El Yunque rain forest and in the evening kayaking the Laguna Grande in Fajardo which has a bio luminescent bay. Simply amazing! We ventured through Old San Juan, with its cobblestone streets and beautiful Spanish architecture. For our dinner in Old San Juan, we went to Triana Tapas & Flamenco. The food was delicious and there was a flamenco performance. It is at this restaurant that I drew inspiration for the recipe I’ll be sharing. That night I enjoyed two tapas dishes, salmon with manchego sauce and patatas bravas.

 

Top Left: View from the Air BnB; Bottom Left: El Yunque Rain Forest.
Right: Architecture in Old San Juan.

If you have never had manchego cheese, it is a firm sheep’s milk cheese, from the machega breed, and is made in the La Mancha region of Spain. In the last four or five years, it has become one of my favorites. So I was excited to see it as a sauce for the salmon. The dish was fabulous. And the memory of the dish has stayed with me, so I had to set about recreating it!

In Puerto Rico, my dishes were tapas, so it came with no sides. In my version I served the salmon along with pan roasted green beans and garlic bread, as well as a glass of rioja wine (from the La Rioja province in Spain)…notice a theme? I also incorporated minced garlic and onion in the sauce.

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Salmon with Manchego Sauce

Ingredients:

Salmon:
4 Salmon Fillets
4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder

Sauce:
1/3 Cup Onion, minced
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Cups of Manchego Cheese, shredded
3 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
2 Cups Heavy Cream
Pepper, to taste

Directions:

 

Mince the garlic and onion, and set aside. Grate the manchego cheese, and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Use 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to grease the bottom of a baking dish. Pat the 4 salmon fillets dry, drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the fillets, you can make sure the oil is evenly distributed by using a marinade brush. Season with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Once the oven is preheated, place the fillets in the oven, bake for 15 – 20 minutes, depending on the size of your fillets. The salmon should be opaque and when using a fork it should flake.

While the salmon is baking, make the manchego cheese sauce. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan. Sauté the onion and garlic, until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted, add in the 2 tablespoons of flour. Using a whisk, make sure that the flour is completely incorporated and there are no white flour lumps. Add in the heavy cream and whisk frequently, as to not have the cream burn, until it comes to a simmer and begins to thicken. To check the thickness of the cream sauce, dip a spoon into the sauce, if when you remove the spoon and the cream coats the back of the spoon with slow drips you should be good to go. Add in the shredded manchego cheese. Whisk until the cheese is fully melted and incorporated into the sauce. Season with pepper to taste.

At this point the salmon should be done. To plate, I put the pan roasted green beans, salmon on top and ladled the velvety manchego sauce over the salmon fillet. And on the side a piece of garlic bread.

If you would like to serve the same side dishes, below are the recipes for both.

 

Pan Roasted Green Beans

Ingredients:

3 – 4 Cups Green Beans
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil or Butter
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
1 Teaspoon Pepper

Directions:

Place the olive oil or butter in a skillet, heat over medium heat. Place the green beans in the skillet, along with the garlic powder, onion powder and pepper. Toss to coat the green beans in the seasoning. Roast in the skillet until the desired firmness. Some people like their beans crispier and others soft. If you start the green beans when you start the manchego sauce, they will be slightly still crisp by the time the sauce is complete.

 

Garlic Bread:

Ingredients:

1 Baguette
4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1/4 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

 

Directions:

Mince the garlic and mash the salt into the minced garlic. Slice the baguette in half, length-wise. Drizzle the olive oil over the bread and then spread the garlic mixture over the bread. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the bread. Bake the baguette in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes.

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