Oh MAN! This was fantastic! A little involved, but totally worth it. I am talking high-end resturant quality. I was not sure what to expect with the sauce, so I was a little nervous. I just could not imagine what the flavor combination would taste like in reality, especially paired with the salmon. I am glad that I stuck with it, because it was a totally unexpected flavor, in the best possible way. I usually can imagine what things taste like, just by reading the recipe...but not on this one. I was very pleasently surprised!!!
Aside from the sauce, the pan-seared salmon itself was awesome. The texture was amazing. The fish preparation part was truly a simple method. Just salt, pepper, and a little oil, in a hot skillet. The outside of the fish got a nice brown, slightly crispy (but not overdone) crust to it, and the inside was perfectly flaky. My husband said that if all fish was prepared like this, he would be a 'bigger fish fan'. Trust me, that is a ringing endorsement. My husband does not like a whole lot of fish, so it is always a bit difficult to get him on board with new fish recipe. My son also loved it. Yes, a 2 & 1/2 year old will eat salmon...if you call it "pink meat". I was a little nervous that he was not going to go for fish for dinner,especially since we watched Finding Nemo after nap time today. I really kinda skirted around calling it by it's proper name tonight, for the benefit of peace at the table. Afterall, "fish are friends, not food".
I made a couple of changes to the sauce, just because I had some things that needed to be used up. I added a pinch of cayenne pepper, because the chiles I got were not all that spicy. I also added 1 whole green onion, a pinch of salt and pepper directly to the sauce, and about 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro. Seriously, I went back for seconds on the sauce. I used frozen spinach that I just thawed and squeezed out the excess water. Right before serving, I combined the spinach and sauce as the directions indicated. It thickened and behaved exactly as it was supposed to, and I was a happy girl.
I am going to stick to my modified version of the sauce when I make this dish again. It was perfectly suited to our tastes.
I plated this meal, as shown in the cookbook, by making a bed of sauce and placing the fish on top of it. The presentation was very appealing...again, I think it was resturant quality. It was very pretty, with nice contrasting colors. I served it with my baked/microwaved potatoes and the leftover green beans, which both went very nicely with the main event. Everything turned out so, so good.
I give this dish high marks. I would recommend trying it if you are a fan of both salmon and Mexican food flavors.
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