My new favourite way to bake salmon. It’s so simple and it really takes this dish to the next level. The presentation is gorgeous and the the crust adds that little extra twist you need, to make this dish fit for a formal celebration or a week night dinner. The sauce is so delicious, you will be reaching out for a spoon.

Ingredients

• One whole Salmon fillet (about 1 kg), without skin or bones
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 Tbs dijon mustard

 For the crust

• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbs parmesan, grated
• ½ Tbs tarragon, finely chopped
• 1 Tbs parsley, finely chopped
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

 For the sauce

• ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup white wine
• ¼ cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
• ½ cup orange juice
• 1 tsp orange zest
• ½ cup cream
• 125 grams unsalted butter, cut in 2cm cubes

Method

Preheat oven to 210 C fan.

Make the crust: Toast the breadcrumbs in a medium frying pan, over medium heat, stirring often until beginning to colour. Set aside in a bowl. Once cool mix in the remaining ingredients. Make sure that the olive oil is well distributed.

Prepare the salmon: Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Place the salmon fillet, skin side down on the paper. Season with salt and pepper. Spread the dijon mustard on the entire surface of the salmon.

Sprinkle salmon with the crust, pressing slightly with the palms of your hands to help the crust adhere on the fish. Bake salmon for 20 minutes, until golden and crisp.

Make the sauce: In a small saucepan put the onion, white wine, Cointreau, orange juice and zest. Bring mixture to boil and heat until reduced to about 3 Tbs. Pass mixture through a sieve, pressing the onions to extract as much liquid as possible. Transfer liquid back to the saucepan. Up to this stage you can make the sauce several ahours in advance. Keep covered at room temperature (see note).

When ready to complete the sauce, place saucepan over medium heat. Once heated remove from heat and start adding the butter, piece by piece, stirring constantly. You want the butter to emulsify without separating so don’t add it all at once. Add a couple of pieces and once mixed through add a couple more. Repeat until all the butter has been used and sauce resembles thin mayonaise. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, transfer fish on a serving platter. Put sauce in a bowl and serve along with the salmon.

Note: You need to make the sauce as close to serving time as possible as beurre blanc cannot be reheated. But if you have a Thermos flask, you could make it up to 3 hours in advance and keep it in the Thermos until serving time.