Salmon with Red Wine Cherry Sauce and a Pork Chop Alternative

If you visit the blog with any regularity you know I love to cook salmon for the husband. It’s his favorite fish. I don’t like it all so I’ve learned to come up with recipes that can work for his fish and then also taste good on chicken or pork or perhaps cod or some other white fish. This red wine cherry sauce recipe is delicious and certainly fit the requirement of working on many different proteins.

In fact I can imagine this tasty sauce being just as delicious on shrimp or scallops as well as even steak. It’s very versatile and can be easily made with either fresh or frozen cherries so you are not tied to a season. Can’t ask for more than that out of a sauce now can you?

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Salmon with a Red Wine Cherry Sauce

Serves 2

2 5oz Salmon steaks
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1 TBS canola oil
2 cups cooked jasmine rice

For the Red Wine Cherry Sauce

1 cup pitted, halved fresh cherries (or you can use frozen)
1/4 cup red wine
1 tsp soy sauce
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp butter if desired

Preheat oven to 350°

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Season the salmon steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Press into the panko bread crumbs until covered. Set aside while you make the sauce.
Add the cherries, red wine, soy sauce and 5 spice powder to a small sauce pan. Heat until it starts to boil and then let simmer until the liquid reduces by about a third. Add the lemon juice, taste and adjust to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the canola oil. Add the salmon steaks (and or pork chop) and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side until the panko is nicely browned. Pop into the hot oven for about 5 – 7 minutes until the fish is just cooked through. Remove pan from oven REMEMBERING THAT IT IS VERY HOT.

Warm the set aside sauce, adding the 1 tsp of butter for richness and sheen if desired.
Serve the sauce over the salmon with the rice and a side salad.

If your household is like mine and you have someone that does not like salmon you can substitute one of the salmon fillets for a pork chop as I did this night. I simply followed the same cooking directions only I made myself pork instead of fish and we both enjoyed a delicious dinner. The pork cooked a little more quickly as it was not as thick as the salmon fillet so I just kept it warn until the salmon was done. Not a big problem at all.

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How Was the Salmon with Red Wine Cherry Sauce?

As I am sure most of you know by now – I have no idea! But I can tell you the pork with red wine cherry sauce was delicious. The husband did enjoy his salmon so we were both very pleased with this meal. It behooves me as a cook to make a sauce that can go on different proteins when I am making something for him that I don’t like, doesn’t it?

This cherry sauce is rich, tasty and just wonderful on any number of different proteins from the pork and salmon we ate to chicken or shrimp. I suspect it would also be delightful on beef or venison. It’s a very versatile sauce recipe.

Cherries are a wonderful fruit to use in making a dinner shine. They pair so well with many different proteins so stop and consider them when you are cooking. They are rich in vitamin C and in one study runners who drank tart cherry juice daily before running a major race felt fewer aches and pains afterward. That’s pretty impressive for a little fruit, eh?

I’ve got nothing going with the cherry board or anything, I just love cherries and find they can really perk up a meal. I use them in dinner – obviously and not just in desserts like cherry cheesecake or cherry vanilla upside down cake. And of course we can’t forget the good old fashioned classic of fresh cherry pie.

Mmmmmm. So time to start planning ahead for fresh cherry season or to head to the store to buy some frozen cherries. Either way enjoy this healthy fruit.