Test Kitchen: Spring Sautée and Seared Salmon

Appreciating fennel, root to leaf, in a seasonal recipe.

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I’m not immune to the power of suggestion. Once I drove home with elaborate care from the theater because the lead character I’d just watched for two hours had been a stiff-armed, persnickety motorist. (The movie was Nancy Drew [2007], starring Emma Roberts.) As a kid, I self-diagnosed telekinesis when my mother’s car malfunctioned in the parking lot after Matilda (1996). And at the home of Carlee and Chef Tanner Purdum—find our conversation here—four vegetarian courses convinced me to thoroughly rewire my meal planning. Each dish from Tanner, the executive chef at Magpie, was a distinct, varicolored champion for the root-to-leaf cooking movement, the greatest threat to food waste since the rise of the five-second rule.

Thus a recent Sunday found me venerating fennel: the fronds married pistachio in a bright pesto, and the stalks and bulbs danced alongside leeks and the more verdant asparagus in a delicate, quick sautée. Those hues of green made a bed for my salmon, treated first with a champagne mustard glaze, seared, and then slathered with the pesto. Lemon zest and juice sparkled throughout. 

Apologies to my trashcan, but its neglect won’t end soon.

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Sautéed Spring and Seared Salmon

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients: 

For the vegetables:

  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 1 medium leek, end trimmed and dark green outer leaves and top removed
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 fennel plant (fronds reserved for Fennel Pistachio Pesto)
  • 1 bunch asparagus, woody ends snapped off
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon

For the fennel pistachio pesto:

  • 1 + 3/4 cups fennel frond
  • 2 oz. pistachios, freshly ground
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper (to taste)

For the salmon:

  • 4, 6-oz salmon filets
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 tsp. champagne mustard (may substitute Dijon, though flavor will change)
  • 2 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. lemon zest

Method:

For the vegetables:

  1. Thinly slice the white and pale green section of the leek. Dice the stalks and bulb of the fennel plant. Chop asparagus into two-inch pieces
  2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and leek, then raise heat to medium-high. Cook for five minutes, stirring often.
  3. Add fennel and asparagus. Cook, stirring, for another 3–5 minutes until asparagus is bright green.
  4. Transfer vegetables to a mixing bowl and tossed with lemon zest and juice.
  5. Keep warm while preparing salmon. (Recommended: sauté vegetables while salmon is searing.)

For the pesto: In a food processor, combine fennel, pistachios, lemon, garlic, and parsley in a few short pulses. Stream in olive oil and process until relatively smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Can be made one day ahead and refrigerated.

For the salmon:

  1. Season fillets with salt and pepper. Whisk together olive oil, champagne mustard, and lemon. Rub both sides of each fillet with the glaze. 
  2. Heat oil in a skillet on medium. Add salmon, skin side down, and raise heat to high. Sear 3–5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let salmon rest for a few minutes before plating.

To plate: Spread each salmon fillet with pesto. Strew the vegetable mixture across the plate, then place salmon on top. Garnish with remaining fennel fronds, if you like.