Lime-Poached Salmon Over Pea Pesto + Two Shepherds Skin Fermented 2019 Pinot Gris Ramato #WinePW #Sponsored

This is a sponsored post written by me in conjunction with the May #WinePW skin-fermented event.

Wine samples or wines at an industry discount were provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links.

This was a pairing I created for the skin-fermented wine event for May's Wine Pairing Weekend with a wine from Two Shepherds Winery.*

You can read the tasting notes in my post: Diving into the Skin Fermented Wine Pool of Two Shepherds Winery. Once it goes live, on Friday, May 9th, I'll link to it. But here is the recipe for this simple dish with lots of seasonal flavors. 

Please note that I am using the term 'pesto' here, literally, not as in the basil, garlic, cheese deliciousness that you might be thinking. The name derives from the Italian verb pestare which means to pound or to crush, referring to the original way of preparing it - with a mortar and pestle. The ingredients in a traditional pesto are ground with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. Now I use a food processor. It's much easier! And...I use whatever greens and nuts I happen to have on-hand. So, for this version, I was inspired by some fresh peas I had in the fridge. Instead of pine nuts, I used almonds; and instead of garlic, I used Spring onions.

Ingredients serves 4

Pesto

• 2 C fresh peas, blanched and drained
• 1/4 C fresh parsley, destemmed and roughly chopped
• 2 T Spring onions, trimmed and chopped
• 1/2 C sliced almonds
• juice from 1 organic lime (I used one from a friend's tree)
• olive oil, as needed

Salmon

• salmon fillets (wild-caught preferred and serving sizes vary, but because I had a lot of other food on the table, so I banked on 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound per person)
• water, as needed
• juice from 2 organic limes (I used limes from a friend's tree)
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• fresh herbs for serving
• fresh lime slices for serving

Procedure

Pesto

Place all of the ingredients into the blender or the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times, drizzle in a few glugs of olive oil, and resume pulsing.  Pulse. Oil. Pulse. Oil. If you want a smoother, sauce-like pesto, add more olive oil and blend longer; if you want a chunkier pesto, use less oil and blend for less time.  So simple. So fresh. 

Salmon

Select a large enough pot that the salmon fillets can sit flat without touching each other. Sprinkle each fillet with salt and pepper. Pour water or wine into the pot so that it’s about ½” deep. Squeeze in the lime juice. Bring the liquid to a simmer and lower the salmon fillets – skin-side down – into the warm water or wine. Poach for 10 to 12 minutes. Flip the fillets and poach for another 5 to 6 minutes. If using immediately, serve warm. 

Serving

Spoon the pea pesto onto your serving platter or into individual serving bowls. and place the poached salmon on top. Sprinkle with more freshly ground salt and pepper, if desired. Garnish with fresh herbs and a lime slice. Serve immediately.

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*Disclosure: I received sample wines and wine at an industry discount for recipe development, pairing, and generating social media traction. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the organizer and sponsors of this event.