Pan Seared Salmon with a Champagne Sauce

We spent last weekend installing new shelving for our numerous boxes of cook books.  As we were unpacking the boxes, we could not help but skim the pages of some of our favorites.  In Rick Stein’s Complete Seafood we stumbled upon a fabulous sauce called champagne and chive sauce.  This is our version inspired from Mr. Stein’s recipe.

Wrap the chives tightly with the damp paper towel.  This will allow you to hold the chives and slice very thin.  Try to get the blade as close to the edge of the chives as possible.  Be sure to rock the knife from tip to tail.  This ensures that you slice rather than crush the delicate chive.

Start with a little olive oil.  Sweat the diced shallots in the oil.  Add the champagne and reduce au sec (until almost gone).  Add the cream and reduce to a good sauce consistency.  Just before serving, add another splash of champagne, the chives and then, off the heat, swirl in some caviar.  Season with salt and pepper.

We served this sauce with pan seared salmon as well as blanched potatoes which we cooked ahead of time and then reheated in the sauce.  We had some beautiful upland cress which provided a lovely peppery flavor much like watercress.  We topped the salmon with some caviar and finished the entire dish with additional  sliced chives.  It was absolutely delicious!