Salmon vs. Mrs. Salman

I made a lovely dinner last weekend by combining two recipes from the April issue, the leek cheese and herb souffle casserole http://www.marthastewart.com/892759/cheese-leek-and-herb-souffle-casserole and the roasted salmon from the salmon with cucumber-radish relish http://www.marthastewart.com/892685/salmon-cucumber-radish-relish.  I didn’t intend to make this combination; thought I would make the souffle as intended, for breakfast or brunch, but this thing took an hour and half to prepare which is too tough for a morning when kids are around. Also, I had planned to make the salmon two weeks ago on Sunday evening after a Saturday morning trip to Costco for a nice side of salmon.  Why didn’t I?  Well, the salmon died a second tragic death when my husband unloaded the groceries and accidentally put the salmon on a shelf in the basement instead of the refrigerator.  I know, don’t get me started, it’s been two weeks and I’m only now able to write about it. Anyway…

I was skeptical of this salmon recipe because the picture in the magazine looked kind of dry.

Photo credit: Martha Stewart
Am I lying - looks dry right?

Also, we make salmon a lot and almost always broil it and it’s always delicious, so I was doubly reluctant to change things up.  But, I’m glad I did.  The salmon was so good and so moist.  It was essentially the same preparation as broiling—salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of olive oil—very easy. 


Moist and perfectly cooked.

 My only compliant, and it’s not really a complaint, was that a lot of white stuff came out of the salmon (which I learned from Top Chef is called “albumen” and which Top Chef host and judge Padma says is a no no because it means the fish cooked too quickly.)  Whatever.  Quick is good and it was perfectly cooked, not even close to overdone, so I scraped that white goo off and served it. Honestly, I question the judgment of someone that attractive who would marry Salman Rushdie anyway. Yes, I know, they divorced years ago, but still.   



Photo credit: The Telegraph
I'm just sayin'

But, I digress.  Ok, on to the souffle.  It was a lot of work but it was really good.  Was the work worth the good?  Probably.  The recipe called for sauteing the leeks, making a parchment paper collar to help the souffle rise making the souffle base, beating egg whites, folding it all together, baking for 35 minutes, and voila!

I would definitely reduce the amount of salt.  Both my husband and I found the dish overly salty and I guess that’s not surprising when it called for salt in the leeks, another 1 tsp in the souffle base and another ½ tsp in the egg whites.  That’s just too much for a dish that fits in a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Next time I’d leave the salt out of the egg whites or cut the salt in the souffle base to ½ tsp. 

My souffle didn’t puff up like the one in the magazine, despite my excellent parchment collar ...

but I attribute that failure to me accidentally turning off the oven mid way (I meant to turn off the oven light).  Oops.  No matter, I just turned it back on and it ended up still delicious and light and fluffy inside, just not as puffy.
-Jacqui