Salmon Salad Sandwich, Green Goddess, No Fuss Recipe
By Greg Henry
I was a little bit fussy when I was a kid. I hope this Salmon Salad Sandwich proves that those days are long gone.
I’m not saying I was a fussy eater. The only foods I recall having trouble eating were watermelon (texture), sesame seeds (they made me gag), canned mushrooms (the 1970s canned version squeaked when you chewed it) and salmon (I don’t know what I was thinking on that one).
I had a “bring it on” attitude about most food (often a “bring it on again” attitude). So it wasn’t so much the food itself I was fussy about, but how that food was presented.
I didn’t like (nor would I) eat alone. Everybody had their proper place at the dinner table and I didn’t like it when my brother would just sit down at whatever chair was closest. I didn’t like food to touch paper either. So paper plates became a problem for my mother. The 1970s were when paper plates became ingrained in our culture. I’m sure my mother and her dishpan hands were not pleased with my paper phobia.
I was also very fussy about sandwiches.
Let’s set aside the fact that I wouldn’t have eaten this Salmon Salad Sandwich as a kid (as I said I didn’t eat salmon). Instead let’s discuss my attitude about sandwiches in general. As a kid nothing was as fun to me as an open-faced sandwich. It’s sounds ridiculous now but an open-faced sandwich was the height of elegance to this 6 year-old food nerd. Regular kids ate sandwiches with two pieces of bread. Regular kids ate sandwiches with the crusts cut off by their “mommies or daddies”. But I ate open-faced sandwiches and listened to my mother play Cat Stevens on the guitar and do her French homework at the same time.
If for some silly reason my mother forgot about my preference for open-faced sandwiches, then I’d simply pull the sandwiches apart and serve them to myself open-faced. I said I was fussy. I never said I was unyielding. Fortunately my mother (mostly) adhered to the open-faced rule. Though I’m sure she’d deny it, my love of the genre came from my mother, Cat Stevens and the romance of conjugated verbs.
In the emotional rear-view mirror it all seems perfectly charming to me now, but I can see how some folks might consider it a bit “fussy”.
Salmon Salad Sandwich with Green Goddess Dressing
These days I’m still impressed with open-faced sandwiches, but I don’t mind eating regular old sandwiches with two pieces of bread either. Of course salmon has practically become a weekly occurrence at my house. So we often have leftover salmon for sandwiches. Sometimes I still prefer to make myself an open-faced Salmon Salad Sandwich. Just not today. I’d hate for you to think I was fussy. GREG
Ingredients
- ½ ripe avocado (peeled, seeded and chopped)
- ¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves (lightly packed)
- 3 anchovy fillet (packed in oil; drained)
- 1 clove garlic (peeled and chopped)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- kosher salt (to taste for seasoning, plus 1 teaspoon for poaching)
- freshly cracked black pepper (to taste for seasoning)
- 1 carrot (sliced)
- 1 leek (white and light green parts, sliced and rinsed)
- 1 lemon (sliced)
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
- 1 cup white wine
- water (as needed)
- 1 pound skinless salmon fillet
- ¼ pound sugar snap peas
- 1 Persian cucumber (quartered lengthwise, seeded and sliced into ¼-inch pieces)
- 2 tablespoon capers (rinsed and roughly chopped)
- 2 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh dill fronds (feather fronds only, no thick stems)
- 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 8 slice egg bread
- 4 whole butter lettuce leaves
Directions
Make Green Goddess Dressing: In a blender or mini food processor, combine avocado, parsley, anchovies, garlic, chives, tarragon, sour cream mayonnaise and lemon juice. Scrape the dressing into a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until serving time.
Poach the salmon: Combine carrots, leeks, lemon slices, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, and wine in a wide saucepan. Add enough water so the liquid reaches a depth of 1 ½ inches. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to barely simmering. Add salmon, cover with a lid, and cook until flesh is firm but slightly moist in center, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer fish to a plate; cover with plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature.
Make the salmon salad: Meanwhile, slice the snap peas on the bias into ½-inch pieces and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the sliced cucumbers, chopped capers, chopped dill, oil, vinegar and a pinch each salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
Once the salmon is cool, flake it into ½-inch chunks and fold into the vegetable mixture. You should have about 4 cups.
Assemble the sandwiches: Spread a generous 1 tablespoon green goddess dressing on each of the 8 slices of bread. Lay a lettuce leaf onto 4 of the slices, divide the salmon salad evenly top. Close the sandwiches with remaining 4 slices of green goddess dressed bread. Cut sandwiches in half and serve.