Sonoma Magazine / Winter 2012 / Don’t try this at home

 Email  Print

Don’t try this at home

A recipe for those with mounds of truffles and some time on their hands.

Chefs at most world-class restaurants keep their recipes in a vault. Copycats are a hazard of the industry. But not Andrew Cain, the brilliant but publicity-shy Chef de Cuisine at Santé, who, at 34, has already reached the pinnacle of his profession in the most celebrated restaurant in Sonoma Valley.

Cain, along with Executive Chef Bruno Tison, has the daunting responsibility of creating the menus and assembling the ever-changing array of original, locally inspired dishes that have set Santé apart for more than a decade.

And yet Cain remains humble, willing to reveal how he makes one of his best dishes. He actually handed over the recipe for anyone to replicate, anyone with 40 pounds of mushrooms and fresh truffles and at least a day set aside to prepare.

To make the Brioche-Encrusted Salmon with Wild Mushrooms and Wilted Bloomsdale Spinach that Cain will whip together in a side kitchen outside the hustle and flow of the restaurant’s primary work space, he first lays out and identifies all the ingredients, each in its own white ramekin. The display looks much like an artists’ palette—deep pink, wild California king salmon; long-stemmed white wild mushrooms, with small taupe heads; lobster mushrooms from Oregon, cinnamon pink on the outside, rich cream within; fresh green local spinach; a mound of pure black charcoal-like balls. The charcoal clumps turn out to be whole Périgord truffles that—when eagerly sniffed—smell rich and darkly earthy.

With his materials readied, the chef goes to work. His assurance is serious and his focus is steady. He demonstrates none of the flamboyant flourishes of the celebrity chefs populating Food Channel TV shows. There are no big gestures, no nonstop banter, no cries of delight or dismay. Cain is the real thing, reserved and quiet, speaking only in response to questions, moving smoothly through a dance he’s done many times before—sure of his steps from counter to stovetop as he mixes and pours. He is precise, efficient and tidy: no mess in his wake, white coat and apron unstained, counters gleaming.

The recipe unfolds like this: A loaf brioche is quickly trimmed into small, crumbless cubes. A bit of salmon then goes into a food processor with a splash of cream, yielding a mousse he spreads atop the salmon squares and presses into the brioche cubes. This will be his last dish using California King Salmon, which is at the end of its season, and all of Cain’s dishes have a seasonal sensibility.

Cain works back and forth from counter to stove and back again, past 50-gallon pots of simmering veal stock, bubbling leeks and onions, an enormous tray of cooked tomatoes (from The Patch, Sonoma’s urban garden), components, no doubt of other dishes to come.

Some menu items, Cain says, take as much as a week to make and have to be started days ahead. Ask him if he has a written schedule to keep straight all the parts of all the dishes coming up in the week ahead, and he says no, he keeps it all in his head. He is un-self-conscious, patient and appears to be able, as they say, to stay in the zone, no matter what is going on around him. He has a boyish face, the steady hands of a skilled surgeon, and a mind creative enough to pop out one or two new dishes every week, year-round, for the 11 years he’s been at Santé.

Ideas, he says, come in “all shapes and forms,” from experience, from the media, from a conversation with friends, from get-togethers with other chefs. He’s “thinking all the time of the next dish,” he says.

He cooks at home, too, and for friends on the weekends.

Is he obsessed with food? Perhaps. As a toddler he pulled a chair up to the kitchen stove. By high school, he was already working as a cook. For college, he
attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York and moved right away to stints at the French Laundry, La Folie in San Francisco and Michele Richard’s Citronelle. Ask him to name his favorite dish, and all he says is, “Food.” All food. And even though he supervises two sous-chefs and 15 other kitchen workers, he cooks himself, every day.

But Cain doesn’t just cook. He walks Sadie, his Rhodesian ridgeback, he hikes, he camps, he works on his house. Lately, he says, he’s been chopping a lot of wood. But somewhere in his thoughts there is always an interior dialogue about food. Ask him, should he have a choice, what his last meal would be, you know it’s not mac ’n’ cheese. He’d ask for caviar, he says, crab or scallops, foie gras, côte de boeuf, seasonal veggies, a cheese course featuring French blues, a chocolate soufflé, and the only thing that might overlap with a “normal” person’s request, chocolate chip cookies.

In about two hours, all the parts of the salmon are ready. Cain arranges the elements carefully on a large white plate, adjusting their distance from each other and puddling sauces around. He offers a taste, urges a blending of things together in the mouth, and it’s true that all the components complement each other. The subtle sauces, the crunch of mushrooms, the egg-shaped quenelle of spinach and the tender salmon blend into a rainbow of flavors. “This,” Cain is told, “is marvelous,” and he shares a shy smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dish:
Brioche Crusted Filet of King Salmon, Butter Braised Lobster Mushrooms, Pommes Fondant, Wilted Bloomsdale Spinach, Parsley and Garlic Coulis, Mushroom and Truffle Emulsion

By Andrew Cain, chef de cuisine at Santé restaurant at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn

Home cooks, says Cain, should serve this dish with a simple salad and a fresh baguette. A trained sommelier, as well as a chef, he would pair his dish with a pinot noir, “maybe Hansell 2001 or 2002,” he says, “something with a little age on it.”

Serves 8

 

For the Brioche Crusted Salmon:

• One 3.5 lb. center-cut skinless filet of King Salmon, pin bones removed
• 1 loaf of brioche, frozen
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

For the Lobster Mushrooms:

• 1 lb. of fresh lobster mushrooms
• 1 lb. sweet, unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/4 bunch fresh thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• Salt to taste

For the Pommes Fondant:

• 3 large Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 quarts fish, vegetable, or chicken stock
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 cloves of fresh garlic, lightly crushed
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt to taste

For the parsley and garlic coulis:

• 1 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup garlic cloves, peeled and de-stemmed
• 1 cups heavy cream
• Salt to taste

For the Spinach:

• 8 tightly packed cups of cleaned and de-stemmed spinach
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt to taste

For the Mushroom Emulsion

• 2 1/2 lbs of fresh button mushrooms, ground through the large die on a meat grinder
• 2 gallons water
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 10 black pepper corns
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 can truffle jus
• 4 tablespoons butter

 

For the Brioche Crusted Salmon:

Using a sharp knife trim the thin belly portion of the salmon from the filet as well as any uneven parts.  The remaining filet should be a nice rectangular shape, even in thickness throughout.  Reserve the trimmings for the mousse. Carefully portion the trimmed filet into 8 equal 5 to 6 ounce portions.  Ideally the portions should be perfect squares.

In a cold food processor combine the reserved salmon and cream with a pinch of salt.  Process well, until the mixture is a well incorporated paste to create mousse.

Remove the dark brown crust from the frozen brioche and dice the heart of the bread into 1/4” cubes.  Place the cubes onto a cookie sheet or deli tray.

Evenly spread the prepared salmon mousse onto each portion of salmon, and then place the side that has the mousse on it onto the brioche cubes.  Take care to insure the brioche cubes are tightly packed together and are in an even layer before you complete this step.

In a medium-hot sauté pan add the olive until it reaches a depth of approximately one centimeter, and heat until it shimmers. Place the crusted salmon portions one at a time, brioche side down into the oil and brown lightly. When the brioche on each portion is golden, turn them over onto a lightly oiled sheet tray, skin-side down.

Bake the filets in a preheated 275-degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
 

For the Lobster Mushrooms:

Using a pastry brush gently brush any soil or debris off each mushroom. Cut each mushroom into small portions no larger than 1/2-inch square. Take care to insure the mushrooms are all cut into similar sized pieces to insure even cooking.

In a medium sauce pan heat 2 tablespoons of water to a simmer over a very low flame.  Slowly whisk in the cold butter cubes until the mixture is well incorporated and of a thick creamy consistency.  Add the herbs and cracked garlic cloves as well as a pinch of salt.

Place the mushrooms into the prepared butter and slowly simmer over a very low flame until the mushrooms are tender, about 30 to 45 minutes. Reserve one small mushroom for the garnish, slice it paper thin on a mandolin and quickly deep fry until crisp in 350-degree oil.
 

For the Mushroom Emulsion:

Combine the ground button mushrooms, thyme, peppercorns, and bay leaves with the water in a large stock pot. Bring the mixture to a full boil then reduce to a simmer.

Simmer the mixture for approximately 5 hours, then strain through a fine mesh strainer.

Add in the truffle jus and continue to simmer the “Mushroom Consommé” until you have about 16 ounces of finished liquid.

Just before you are ready to serve the salmon:  Whisk in the butter until incorporated and hold in a warm spot.
 

For the Spinach:

Sweat the shallots in the butter lightly in a large sauté pan. Add in the spinach and continue to cook until the spinach is wilted and tender. Season to taste with salt.

To Assemble the Dish:

On hot plates arrange the hot wilted spinach off to one side of the plate. Remove the hot braised lobster mushrooms from the butter, allowing then to drain briefly on clean paper towels.  Then transfer the mushrooms onto the plates, placing them in two or three small mounds around the plate.

Remove the salmon from the oven and place each filet on the center of each plate.

Quickly blend the sauce with a hand held emersion blender or whisk.  Then spoon about 2 to 3 tablespoons of sauce intermittingly around each plate.
Garnish each plate with chervil sprigs, black truffle slices, and crispy fried lobster mushroom slices.
 

 

From the 2012 Winter issue of SONOMA