This dish features a classic summertime herb along with garden vegetables and our favorite Autumn fish for a recipe to hold off winter for at least one more evening. While a California Chardonnay would pair well with the rich cream and Coho Salmon, we went with a Willamette Valley Pinot Gris, a lighter wine that let the dill shine.

Dill, dill, dill. What to do with dill? It’s not a seasoning I often use, but thanks to our friends up the Alaska Peninsula at The Farm Lodge in Port Alsworth, we found ourselves with an abundance of this pleasantly aromatic herb blooming in a glass jar on a windowsill. How about using it in a cream sauce to bring together fillets of freshly caught Chignik River Silver Salmon, farfalle pasta, and some of the last zucchini and summer squash we’re likely to see for awhile?

Salmon with Creamy Fresh Dill Sauce for Two

Ingredients

• 2 fresh wild salmon fillets, skin on, pin bones removed, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 cups farfalle pasta
• 1 cup or a little more diced fresh tomato
• 2 leaves of kale, cut away from the stem and cut into smaller pieces
• 1 cup or more yellow summer squash, sliced into circles and then cut into smaller pieces
• 1 cup or more zucchini, sliced into circles and cut into smaller pieces
• 1/2 cup carrot sliced julienne style
• other fresh vegetables, as desired/available
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, sliced julienne style
• 1 shallot, sliced thin to make about 3/4 cup
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• olive oil
• sea salt
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• a loose 1/2 cup of dill leaves and flowers (or use a smaller quantity of dried dill)
• sherry (or white wine)
• black pepper
• 1 cup or more deepwater Alaska shrimp shelled, deveined and patted dry (optional)
• 1 tbsp corn starch mixed into 2 tbsp cold water

Directions

1. Prepare pasta.
2. Meanwhile…

Directions for the salmon

1. Turn on oven broiler and preheat heavy broiling pan on middle rack for the salmon. Nothing works better for this than seasoned cast iron.
2. Sprinkle the salmon with sea salt. Our favorite is large grain gray sea salt.
3. When the broiling pan is sizzling hot, pour on a little olive oil, place the salmon skin side down on the oil and broil for about 9 minutes.
4. Remove salmon from broiler, place on cutting board or plate and cover loosely with a bowl or foil to rest.

Directions for the cream sauce

1. Put some olive oil in a fairly large skillet or sauteuse pan over medium heat.
2. When the oil is hot, add kale, a little sea salt, and a tablespoon or two of sherry. Stir and sauté until kale just begins to wilt. Next, place in zucchini, summer squash and julienne carrots, which will not  take as long to cook. Add a little more salt and sherry, stir and sauté until vegetables just begin to soften. At this point, add the cream and mix together.
3. Meanwhile, place butter in a separate skillet. When it’s hot, add shallots, a sprinkle of salt, and cook till they’re soft. Add garlic and a healthy splash of sherry, stir and cook till garlic begins to release its odor and soften. If you’re including shrimp, add them and a sprinkle of salt when you add the garlic. It takes only about 2 minutes to cook shrimp through.
4. Add the shallot mixture to the vegetables, a few grinds of black pepper, the lemon juice, mix together and taste. To thicken the cream sauce, slowly stir in the corn starch mixture. Serve immediately.

Place the pasta on large plates or in pasta bowls. Spoon on the vegetable cream sauce. Place the salmon on top, add a little more cream sauce and another grind of two of pepper. Garnish with fresh dill and pair with a chilled Willamette Valley Pinot Gris.