I’m home for a full week! A full week people!! This is exciting news. I’ve been gone on book tour for the past 3 weeks and while it’s been amazing to be on the road and meet fans and see old friends, it’s nice to be home for some home cooking!
Salmon is my favorite type of fish. I think you either love it or hate it, but I clearly love it! Pan seared salmon is the way to go!
Home cooking, or at a restaurant, it’s a safe bet that I’m eating this at least once a week.
One thing that makes salmon so awesome is that you can really pair it with any number of sauces. Back in my culinary school days, I was tasked with making red wine sauces quite frequently. I would sway back and forth on what type of red wine makes my favorite kind of sauce, but in the end I really love the depth that a Pinot Noir brings to the table. The Naked Grapes Pinot Noir is rich with flavors like black cherry and blueberry and seriously reduces to the most perfect sauce I’ve ever made.
Not only could you make this rustic Pinot Noir sauce for salmon, but it would work wonders on a great grilled steak too! What I really love about this sauce is that I keep it rustic. A lot of red wine sauces have the aromatics strained out before you serve it, but I like to keep the shallots and the garlic in the sauce to give it a bit of rustic flare! Any who doesn’t love garlic and shallots? Am I right!
This dinner is simple yet lovely. You can easily size this down for a romantic night in for 2, or keep it as it reads for a fun dinner with your friends and family.
Here’s a quick step by step picture tutorial on the low down on the recipe, and scroll down to the bottom for the printable recipe!
Pan Seared Salmon with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 small shallot thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups The Naked Grape Pinot Noir
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Four 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets
Instructions
- In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, dried thyme and freshly ground black pepper and stir, cooking for about 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Add the wine and balsamic vinegar to the skillet over high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue to boil the mixture for about 10-15 minutes until the liquid has reduced to about a few tablespoons and the liquid looks like a syrup.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in the cream and butter until smooth. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- In a large cast iron skillet, add the remaining olive oil over medium high heat.
- Season the salmon filets with salt and pepper on both sides and add them into the cast iron skillet skinned side up. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side until both sides have a slight golden brown crust and the fish is just opaque in the center.
- Transfer the salmon to their serving plates or platter and spoon the sauce on top of the fish. Season with salt and pepper as needed, and serve.
- Serving suggestion: Sautéed or roasted broccolini
I recently went on a Vegan Diet and lost 31 lbs. since April the 7th, now I’m starting to add Salmon, and very little milk products. This recipe sounds terrific. I will try it for sure. Thank you for the wonderful recipes.
I love pan searing salmon too. What a lovely reduction – must try soon!
Mmmmm. Love the red wine sauce. Dinner tonight – check!
This recipe looks amazing, Gaby!
I am always in for simple and tasty seared salmon dishes like this!
the sauce makes this recipe!!
Yum! I think the comment about you either love or hate salmon is so true. I’m in the love category but my husband is in the hate. I think that this recipe just might persuade him though I mean look at that sauce! And if it’s not enough to make him love salmon, I know he’ll be head over heels for it on a steak.
Josh loves salmon! Going to make this for him!
My kind of dinner, Gaby. We love salmon around here. What a gorgeous plate!
Now this is my kind of salmon! Perfect dinner idea~
With caramelized onions too??!! Salmon is all ready my favorite. You just made it even better!
come on over and I’ll make ya some
What a beautiful dish! This salmon looks wonderful!
Thanks Ashley!
So skin side up first? Ive seen other recipes say skin side down first. Does it make a huge difference?
I don’t think it makes a huge difference 🙂
I took the skin off of May salmon fillets first. But I’m not fond of eating the skin.
I just bought a lot Of salmon on sale. Going to try this recipe. Sounds delish
This was outstanding!! A very gourmet meal that’s fairly easy to make.