If you’re looking for something impressive and restaurant-quality but quick and easy to make, serving up some crispy-skinned fish with a beurre blanc sauce is an excellent option.
This just sounds fancy and it’s also something that I’ve recently ordered at a nice restaurant, but the secret is that it’s actually pretty easy to make at home – if a bit hands-on.
I’ve bucked tradition and included some capers and a splash of lemon juice in my beurre blanc. Coupled with perfectly pan-fried salmon with ridiculously crispy skin, this is sure to be a new favourite meal for an at-home date night or a special occasion!
How to Make Salmon with Lemon-Caper Beurre Blanc
From start to finish, this meal can be made in under 30 minutes, but note that all of it is active time and it does need to be served immediately after cooking – so make sure to have all of your ducks in a row!
There are very few ingredients to prep, but I recommend having them all in place before cooking rather than doing it as you go along.
This means patting dry and seasoning your fish, cutting your butter into pats, finely dicing a shallot and measuring out your wine, vinegar, capers and lemon juice.
Now that that’s all done, add the wine, vinegar and shallot to a small saucepan and set it over medium-high heat.
Bring it up to a simmer and allow the liquid to reduce until only a couple of teaspoons remain.
Meanwhile, you can use this time to add a bit of oil to a non-stick (or cast-iron or carbon steel – just something that won’t encourage the fish to stick!) skillet. Set that medium-high heat and bring the oil up to shimmering – or just below smoking.
Once the oil has heated, add your salmon, skin side down. and don’t agitate it as it cooks – you want the skin to get as crispy as possible!
Let the salmon cook until it’s about two-thirds of the way cooked through – or it registers at 40°C/104°F. Then, flip the salmon over and finish cooking on the other side until the interior is 50°C/122°F.
While the salmon is cooking and your wine mixture has reduced, you can begin adding in the butter. Buerre blanc is basically just a hollandaise sauce without the egg yolks, but it’s also much easier to get right! So it’s a great first step if you want to master sauces in this category.
With the wine mixture on the heat, add a pat of chilled butter and whisk constantly to melt it. Once it’s melted, keep whisking and add another pat of butter.
Continue this, whisking constantly, until all of your butter is added.
At this point, you have a basic beurre blanc; however, I like to jazz it up a bit with this recipe. Just before serving, remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in some lemon juice and some capers.
Now all you need to do is serve! To prevent the salmon’s crispy skin from getting soggy, spoon the sauce on the plate first. Then, add the salmon on top, keeping that crispy skin facing up.
Salmon Beurre Blanc with Capers & Lemon
Ingredients
- 600 g (21 oz) salmon fillets skin-on, cut into 4 fillets
- 90 ml (⅓ cup) dry white wine
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) sherry vinegar (see note)
- 1 shallot minced
- 150 g (10 tbsp) unsalted butter chilled & cut into 1cm (½in) pieces
- 20 g (2 tbsp) capers drained & rinsed
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
Instructions
- Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels and season all sides generously with salt. Set aside.
- Add the wine, vinegar and shallot to a small saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce until only a couple of tablespoons of liquid remain, about 3-5 minutes.
- Once the wine mixture has reduced, add a piece of butter and whisk constantly to melt it into the mixture. Once melted, add another piece and repeat. Continue this until all of the butter is added and the sauce is emulsified. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Set a large skillet (preferably non-stick) over medium-high heat and add 2 tbsp of neutral oil. Once shimmering, add the salmon skin-side down. Cook until the skin is deeply browned and the fish registers 40°C/104°F on an instant-read thermometer – about 5-7 minutes. Flip & cook on the other side until the interior is 50°C/122°F. Remove from the pan and allow to rest, skin-side up, while you finish the sauce.
- Return the sauce to low heat and whisk constantly to heat it up again. Whisk in the capers and the lemon juice. Taste to adjust for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed.
- Remove from the heat and spoon the sauce onto a plate. Place the salmon, skin-side up, on top of the sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes
- I like the complexity of sherry vinegar, but feel free to use white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar if that’s what you have.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is automatically generated and provided as guidance only. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Salmon with beurre blanc may seem incredibly high-end and fussy to make, but it’s actually quick and relatively straightforward. Make this recipe and you’ll definitely feel like you’re a classically trained chef in your own home kitchen!
Are you after a salmon with lemon & caper beurre blanc? Have any questions? Let me know in the comments!
