Saute Fresh Salmon With Fresh Crisps

Dr. Osman Oz, Emmy Award Winner who appeared on Oprah's shows very often has written an article on this week's issue of Time magazine telling us what to and what not to eat according to the latest research on diets.  Omega 3 is one of the substances we have to ingest but in moderation. So that is where fresh salmon comes in. Of course it is much better to be able to find fresh, wild salmon caught in the North Sea or the north Atlantic but the ones found in fisheries is a good substitute. 
Today my friends is Monday 5 a.m. in Athens, Greece, and I wish you all a happy week with everything going your way.  I would like to share with you a recipe for fresh filet of salmon cooked in browned fresh butter served with crisps home made from scratch.
For the salmon you will need :
Serves 4
-  4 nice big filets of salmon (about 200 gm each)   skin on one side, scales off.
-  100 gm of good quality fresh butter.
-  Freshly dried sage.
-  Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For the crisps you will need:
-  1 kg of potatoes peeled and passed through the mandolin*.

Too many potatoes in one batch!! Not good.

-  1½ liters of your usual frying oil.

-  Your favorite seasoning for crisps.

Method for the crisps:

-  It would be best to start frying the crisps before hand. Try not to nibble at them while you are cooking the salmon.

Unevenly fried crisps.  But very good!!

Note on frying crisps, french fries etc.:  If you do not have an electric fryer it is best to fry using a large deep frying pan, lots of fresh olive oil. Always fry a small batch at a time. Before you add the new batch always wait for the oil to heat. Use a high temperature thermometer.  This way you get them dry, evenly fried, and crispy every time. We do not own an electric fryer because we do not usually eat fried food. We never buy the "ready to fry " potatoes obtained from super markets.We peel fresh potatoes.  In fact we haven't eaten fried crisps in over two years (hence the uneven frying of the potatoes!) 
Note on heating olive oil:
-  Olive oil boils at 300 degrees C or 570 degrees F.
-  Olive oil starts to smoke ( that's when it starts breaking down and no good to eat or cook in) 185 degrees C or 365 degrees F to 204 degrees C or 299.2 degrees F.
-  The better the olive oil the higher the smoking point.
-  Olive oil is the only oil which can withstand high heat cooking.  Most other oils break down and become terribly unhealthy.
Note on cutting the potatoes:  If you eat lots of french fries, crisps, carrots, cucumber julienne or brunoise, it would fantastic if you would invest by buying a mandolin*. A mandolin is a piece of equipment used in the kitchen to slice and cut hard vegetables, fruits or food in general. This would really untie your hands in the kitchen. A detailed picture presentation of my new mandolin (not the original "Le Mandolin" because it is too expensive for my pocket) is a post by itself called "My new mandolin".
Method for frying the salmon:
-  Heat your non-stick skillet.
-  Add the butter wait for it to melt and start changing colors to brown then add the dried sage. Stir for a few seconds.
-  Add the salmon filets skin down on the skillet, lower heat to minimum, and let the salmon cook slowly from down going up. This is what you would normally do on a Spanish Plancha (evenly heated metal plate).
- You can actually see the salmon flesh being cooked from down going up as time passes. However this needs patience. The outcome is tremendous....very juicy.
-  While you wait for the salmon to cook, you could be frying the crisps.
-  Serve with vapor spinach, or any wild vegetables collected from the countryside dressed with top extra virgin olive oil, some salt (preferably not), and lots of lemon juice which unclogs the arteries!!
Enjoy!!
Stelio