Herbed Salmon with Potato Gratin and Beans

One of my favourite dishes that I've been cooking up for a while has been salmon. Steph and I visited the Sirromet Winery a few years ago and had dinner at the adjoining restaurant - Restaurant Lurleens. It's an excellent place to enjoy some fine dining. Anyway, on our first trip I tried the salmon which, whilst being slightly small in portion sizing, was the best fish I had ever tasted.

So, in my usual way, I have tried to emulate that experience.

What you need (to serve 2):
For the Salmon
- 2 Salmon steaks (it's preferable to get the steak fillet rather than the cross section as pictured - but the cross section will do) preferably with the skin on
- 2Tbsp Fresh parsley and rosemary
- 2Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- White wine (I used a Sauvignon Blanc - see below)
- salt and pepper

Sides - Potato Gratin and Green Beans
- 4-5 medium sized white potatoes
- half cup cream
- half cup of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella because we had that in the fridge, but I'd recommend a blend of parmesan and mozzarella)
- 1 minced garlic cloves
- salt and pepper to taste

Here's what you do:
Work the parsley, rosemary, olive oil in a mortar and pestle. The idea is to bruise the herbs and help release their own flavours and oils to mix with the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the Salmon with the herb and oil mix. Place in a shallow dish and pour some white wine into the dish until the steaks are half covered. Refrigerate for an hour.

Whilst you're waiting for the Salmon to marinate, peel the potatoes and then put them in boiling water for about 10 minutes. This will help to soften them slightly. Rinse them out in cool water and slice into then chips about 5mm thick. Layer them in an oven proof dish and with each layer spread some garlic, add some cream, cheese and salt and pepper. Keep doing this until the spuds are used up. Then add a final layer of cream and cheese on top. Place into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes can be pierced easily with a sharp knife.

With the green beans remove their ends and pop them into salted boiling water for 5 minutes.

In a very hot non-stick pan fry the salmon steaks skin side down first. This will give your salmon a crispy skin. I think Salmon should be best served medium rare - the middle slightly under done and still fleshy, not flaky. Note: you will not need to add oil to the pan as the Salmon is already quite fatty and will produce a fair amount of oil.

Serve together with some more white wine!