Local Chef Cooks Up Valentine's Day Recipe
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Forget to make dinner reservations for Valentine's Day? You can make it up to your special someone by cooking up a romantic dish.
The chef at La Belle Vie has put together a recipe that can be the start to a relaxing, romantic night at home with that special someone.
Fresh from Tim McKee, here's a recipe to make oven-steamed artic char with blue crabcake and citrus:
Ingredients
For the Arctic Char
2 5 ounce arctic char fillets (salmon could be substituted)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Crab Cakes
1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
1 tablespoon coarse-grained mustard
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ cup mayonnaise
2 ounces ( ½ sleeve) Saltine crackers
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch of green onions (finely sliced)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
For the Citrus Buerre Blanc (This will make about a cup. More than you need but it's hard to make less)
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup freshly juiced grapefruit juice
¼ cup freshly juiced blood orange juice (other orange could be substituted)
1 shallot (finely minced)
1 ½ sticks (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter (cut in 12-15 pieces)
kosher salt
For the Garnish
blood orange segments
grapefruit segments
Cara Cara orange segments (or other oranges)
baby greens (if available)
extra virgin olive oil
trout or salmon roe (optional)
Method
For the Arctic Char
Fill a 9 x 13 baking pan ½ full of hot water and put it on the bottom rack in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub the fish fillets gently with the olive oil and season with the salt and pepper. Place the fish in a small ovenproof dish or pan.
For the Crab Cakes (makes 6 crab cakes)
Combine the crab, mustards and mayonnaise in a large stainless steel mixing bowl. Coarsely crush the crackers into the bowl. Add the pepper, onions, Worcestershire Sauce and egg and gently mix everything together. Don't over mix. You want to have nice big chunks of crab. Let the mixture set for 10 minutes. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions and form into patties. If you are serving them with the fish fillets, I like to form the patties into the same shape as the fish. Set aside.
For the Citrus Buerre Blanc
Reduce the wine and juices until there is only about 2 tablespoons left. Remove from the heat. Immediately whisk the butter into the liquid, piece by piece until it is completely combined. Season with salt to taste, strain and keep in a warm place.
Assembly
Place the pan containing the fish in the oven and cook for 10 minutes for medium rare (my recommendation) or 15 minutes for medium. Meanwhile, Heat a sauté pan, add the oil, and cook the crab cakes (it would probably be best to cook the crab cakes two at a time) until brown on the bottom (about 3 minutes). Flip the crab cakes over and cook on the other side until they are cooked all the way through.
Place the crab cake on a warm (not hot) plate. Gently put the fish fillet on top. In a small mixing bowl, mix the citrus segments and the baby greens with a little extra virgin olive oil and salt, and put it on top of the fish. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the Citrus Buerre Blanc around the fish. Spoon the trout or salmon roe (if using) on and around the fish. Serve.
