Salmon Scallops with Garlic Confit, FISH pg. 231

We eat a lot of fish in our house – I cook it like 2 or 3 times a week. Mr. Bittman’s “Fish” book has been a great help and inspiration in my search for something different to put on the table. Almost all of the recipes in this cookbook have been hits….almost.
I have wanted to try this recipe for some time. Bittman says it’s “the kind of dish you’d pay a small fortune for in a restaurant”, and who could resist that glowing remark? I happened to have some salmon that had the skin and scales (don’t ask) still on it, so I needed a recipe that called for the cooking of the meat only. This seemed like the perfect time to try the million dollar recipe.
The recipe calls for you to cut the salmon into “scallops” by cutting thin slices almost parallel to the surface of the fillet. It all looks so nice (and easy) in the provided illustration… Well, needless to say some of my slices were beautiful, the others looked like bait. I thought I was doing O.K. – my knife was nice and sharp - but look at the picture and judge for yourself.
Since my salmon pieces were smaller than they should have been, they cooked WAY too fast and most were WAY overcooked.

The garlic confit, on the other hand was wonderful. Nice and mild and especially nice with the fresh basil that the recipe calls for.

We had some roasted asparagus (not a Bittman recipe, but so simple we have it all the time – asparagus rolled around in a little olive oil on a baking sheet and sprinkled with salt and pepper – in a 400 degree oven for 12 minutes – YUM!) with the fish to round out the meal.

I wouldn’t say I’d never make this again, but I think I need to brush up on my technique prior to my next attempt.