Blackened Salmon With Blue Cheese Sauce

Sharon123's Note:

I just watched this on Big Daddy's House with Aaron McCargo(winner of the Next Food Network Star) and had to share!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste-Aaron uses 1 1/2 tbls.)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, for frying (or olive oil)
• 4 (6 ounce) portions skinless and boneless salmon fillets

Blue Cheese Sauce

• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, combine the Italian seasoning, black pepper, paprika, salt, and cayenne. Season each piece of fish with the rub, pressing it in with your hands.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the butter and oil. When the butter has melted, add the salmon and cook about 2 minutes per side. The rub will give it a nice color.
4. Transfer the whole pan to the oven and cook for another 4 to 6 minutes.
5. For the sauce:
6. Place the white wine into a medium saucepan and reduce by half. Add the heavy cream and allow to reduce.
7. Add the blue cheese and whisk until smooth. It will get nice and velvety.
8. Serve on top of the salmon.

Reviews

[Realtor by day, Chef by night]

Yummy! This was really great! I enjoyed it so much. Instead of frying my salmon, I put the butter and oil in my baking pan while I heated the oven up and then put the seasoned fish in the hot butter/oil. I only used 1 tsp of cayenne cause I'm a big sissy when it comes to hot stuff. For the yummy sauce, I added 1 tbsp of butter, 1 tbsp minced garlic, salt and a little paprika. I also used feta cheese instead of blue cheese because it's what I had on hand and I'm not too crazy about blue cheese. Thanks, Sharon for a delicious new way to make my salmon! Made for ZWT5 for the Kitchen Witches.

[Cooks4_6]

I ate a similar dish at Paula's in Fort Wayne IN a few weeks ago and simply adored it! Never before had I thought to pair salmon with blue cheese, yet it is a match made in heaven. Next time, I would make the sauce and add just 1/2 the blue cheese then sprinkle the remaining on it and place it under the broiler briefly to melt and brown. Thanks for posting...it was awesome!