Seared Salmon and Sauce Gribiche

The thing I most dislike about Blue Apron is the limited choice.  On the site, they make it seem like you get to choose your three meals from six, but really you are limited to certain combinations.  If you want Entree A and B, you can only get Entree D.  Or maybe you want Entree C, you have to have E and F.  That's how we got stuck with this Seared Salmon & Sauce Gribiche.  I'd never even heard of Sauce Gribiche, but since it's made hard boiled egg and cornichons, I was hesitant.   And skin on salmon has never been my thing.

But I bravely went forward to making this meal anyway, knowing I have 2 meals I actually do want waiting in the next 2 days.

You start with boiling the egg.  I've seen many different methods for hard-boiling eggs, all slight variations and varying levels of success.  This method worked really well.  You put the egg in already boiling water for exactly ten minutes.  Let you egg come up to room temperature before putting it in boiling water.  I didn't wait long enough and mine cracked.  But it still worked just fine.

While the egg boils, start prepping the veggies.  Dice the potatoes, trim the beans into 2 inch pieces, chop the shallots, tarragon and cornichons and run the garlic down a microplane.    Put the shallots in a bowl with the white wine vinegar to sort of pickle for a few minutes.

When the egg is done, pull it out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon and run it under cold water to stop the cooking process.  Use the same boiling water to start the potatoes.  When the potatoes are done, you'll mash them with the pickled shallots, half the tarragon and some olive oil.

While you're boiling the potatoes, cook the beans and tomatoes.  It doesn't take much to excite me, so I was pretty eager to cook these beans.  You may not be able to tell from the ingredients picture above, but some of the beans were purple.  The chef's note on the recipe card said they would turn green while they cooked and they actually did.

You cook them with some garlic and the tomatoes in olive oil in a skillet.  Just let the beans and tomatoes blister a bit, then add a few ounces of water to steam them the rest of the way.

Remove the cooked veggies to a bowl and cook the salmon in the same skillet, skin side down first to get it crispy.

While that cooks, the last step is to make the Sauce Gribiche.   Mash up the hard-boiled egg with the dijonnaise, cornichons and remaining tarragon.   It makes a very thick sauce.

I can't say that I loved this meal, but we got through it.  I was happy that we gave it a shot and tried some new ingredients.  Also, I'm so ready for Porchetta-Style Sandwiches tomorrow!