Southern Adventure Leads to Amazing Dinner

This just in:  pecan-encrusted fish are the hot new food.  And I am loving this new trend, especially with my latest acquisition (pecans!).  So I spent my yesterday browsing the internets for the most intriguing pecan-encrusted salmon yesterday.  A huge thanks to Brad for the salmon - those fillets were so big that one easily fed both Kyle and me.

And here it is, the most intriguing recipe I found:

Ingredients:

• 8 (4 oz) salmon fillets
• 2 c. pecans
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Put the pecans in a food processor and chop until fine.
2. Add garlic, salt and cayenne pepper to food processor and process just till mixed well.
3. Brush the salmon fillets with olive oil and roll in pecan mixture.
4. Heat a large non-stick fry pan and lightly saute the salmon on one side until browned.
5. Turn and saute until done (approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side). 

 Yes, you read that correctly.  The pecans are mixed with garlic and cayenne pepper!  Note:  fresh pecans are pretty difficult to chop with a rolling pin.  They were so moist and oily that I basically made a bunch of tiny pecan pancakes.  But after that they crumbled, so it turned out okay.  In addition, I also baked my salmon because I just didn't see pan-frying turning out that well because the pecans weren't really sticking to the fish.



 

Also, since I only had two fillets (actually, two halves of one monster fillet), I had to cut the recipe in quarters.  Except for the cayenne pepper, which I doubled, because I love cayenne pepper.  The salmon ended up spicy and delicious.  The pecans added more texture than flavor, but the flavor that they added wasn't out of place or weird.  Also, I served my salmon with asiago dill potatoes, which are always a huge hit.  Love dill.  Love asiago.


Look at how spoiled I am.  I didn't even have to do dishes afterward.  Hey Kyle, if you don't want me to post weird pictures of you, then don't make weird faces at the camera :)