Pan-Seared Salmon with Pistachio Mint Cream Sauce

Do you ever have those weekends where you don't want to do anything at all but veg out at home? I have them sort of often, but it seems that it never quite works out how I want it to. This weekend I planned only to leave the house for grocery shopping, and to spend the rest of the time cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, blogging, catching up on DVR, etc. Do you want to guess how much of that actually happened?

Let's just say the DVR is cleared out and the laundry is done, but I never made it to the grocery store. I can partially thank my friend SG for that, since she dragged me out of my apartment Saturday afternoon for "a drink" that wound up lasting nine hours. Yep, you read that right. We wound up sitting at the sports bar down the street talking and drinking for nine hours. I got home at midnight. Nothing got done that day.

 

 

 

And Sunday...well, thankfully I wasn't hungover because despite how long we sat at the bar, we talked more than we drank. But I was still tired and feeling lazy. I never got formally dressed and other than taking the dogs outside to potty, I didn't leave the apartment. I did get laundry done, the kitchen cleaned, and dinner cooked so I was a teeny bit productive, but not quite what I'd hoped for. Tonight, after I go home and let the dogs out and go to they gym, I get to go grocery shopping. Oh the joy.

But, one of thing I rarely have to worry about is finding a quick, weeknight meal to make when I'm going ninety-to-nothing trying to play catch-up. And, fish is generally a quick entree to prepare. Top it with a cream sauce and some crunchy pistachios and you have one satisfying meal that will help all the stress of the day fade away, if only for those few moments that you're eating. The salmon was seared perfectly, and the mint added to the cream sauce was a perfect balance. And of course the crunch from pistachios makes for a great balance in textures. Overall a really great meal, served with rice and roasted asparagus!!

Pan-Seared Salmon with Pistachio Mint Cream Sauce
As seen on Bev Cooks

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 fresh salmon fillets
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp freshly chopped mint
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped pistachios
• salt and pepper, to taste 

 

Preparation

1. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high. Season both sides of the salmon with salt and pepper and sear in the pan for 3 minutes per side. Remove from skillet and cover to keep warm.
2. Now, add the flour to the skillet with the melted butter and whisk until smooth, about a minute. Add the cream and lemon juice and continue to whisk, until it thickens, about 2-3 more minutes. Add the chopped mint and a pinch of salt and pepper to the sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
3. Serve salmon with a generous topping of the cream sauce and a sprinkle of chopped pistachios.