-Making ranch dressing for
Aretha fucking Franklin.
Like, are you kidding me?
It was so cool...
and she ate the salad.
I was very excited.
I was, like, peeking out
of the kitchen,
like, crept around.
That was pretty dope.
♪♪
Hey, I am Adrienne Cheatham
of the Sunday Best pop-up series
here in New York,
and today, we're gonna
make blackened salmon
with a collard green salad,
buttermilk vinaigrette,
and some crunchy
black-eyed peas.
So the first thing we're gonna
do is break down our salmon.
We have a beautiful
skin-on filet,
and we're just gonna
clean that up,
starting with the tail.
Give yourself a little handle
back here.
Find the skin,
and then from here,
you're just gonna hold
your knife steady
and move the skin
back and forth.
Next thing you're gonna do
is clean off the blood line,
so all this back here,
that layer between the skin
and the actual fish,
we're just going to trim off
and clean it up.
You want to get this off because
it's a little bit bitter,
and it doesn't look that nice
when it cooks up.
It gets kind of, like,
a muddy brown color,
getting as close to the flesh
as possible.
Again, salmon is not cheap.
You don't want to lose it.
I'm a huge fan
of Southern cooking.
My dad is from
Jackson, Mississippi.
We spent every summer break,
every spring break
in carports in Mississippi.
Working in fine dining,
I started to see that
Southern food didn't really
get a lot of respect,
but it uses the exact same
techniques as French, Italian.
It's the original fucking
farm-to-table organic
seasonal cooking.
Just gonna get the last
of this blood line
out of the center here,
and then we're gonna
slice our portions.
I like to go about an
inch and a half to 2 inches wide
on my portions.
Just think about your guests.
If they eat a lot of food,
cut them bigger.
If they don't,
make them smaller.
We're gonna do kind of
like a bootleg cure,
so we have some paprika
and a little bit of salt.
You want to get the salt
and the paprika
nice and blended,
and then you're just gonna
season the fish all over.
This is not
the blackening spice,
but this is just kind of
a light cure minus the sugar
that's just really
going to soak in
and get our salmon
extra delicious.
So normally when you're curing,
you have equal parts
salt and sugar
and then another
flavoring agent,
in this case paprika.
We're cutting out the sugar
'cause we don't want to draw out
too much moisture.
We just really want the salt
to kind of work its way in.
It will pull out
a little bit of moisture.
Safety first.
We're gonna refrigerate this.
Don't want to leave it
at room temp
because that's just
a little sketchy.
♪♪
Can rest on top of that beer.
And while that salmon
is in the fridge,
20 minutes up to 45 minutes,
we're going to knock out
the other components
that are going
to be served with it.
Next up, we're gonna cook
our black-eyed peas.
These are some of
my favorites to cook.
The only thing -- You don't
have to soak them overnight,
just want to make sure
there are no rocks in them.
Rocks are not delicious.
We're gonna put these
in a pot of water.
You want to make sure that
they're covered by 2 to 3 inches
because you don't want them
to dry out,
and then some will be
exposed on top,
and they'll cook unevenly.
We're gonna flavor them
while they cook
with a little bit of onion.
You don't have to mince it
or do anything,
like, super exciting to it --
just put it in.
We're gonna add
a couple of bay leaves
for a little familiar flavor,
compliments the black-eyed peas
nicely.
One of my favorite ingredients
ever -- gumbo file.
What is gumbo file, you ask?
It is ground-up
sassafras leaves.
If you know root beer,
you know sassafras.
We're just gonna give it
about 2 tablespoons
just so that flavor can
kind of work into them
while they're cooking,
give it a little black pepper
for some spice.
I'm just gonna stir this up
a little bit
while this comes to a boil,
and we're gonna let this cook,
no salt.
If you add salt too early,
your beans will
take longer to cook,
so season them at the end
just when they're starting
to get tender.
Let this come to a simmer,
and cook for about
30 to 45 minutes.
While it does that,
you want your beans
to be super tender.
You want to be able
to smoosh it on the board,
but you do not want them
to get to the point
that they're falling apart
in the pot.
While our beans are
coming up to a boil,
we're gonna get our collard
greens ready for the salad.
You're used to cooking
collard greens.
I was, too,
but raw collard greens
are actually really
fucking delicious.
They have crunch.
Kale can't hold on
forever, guys.
It's actually healthier
than kale,
has more texture
in a good way,
and, I mean,
they're collard greens.
Come on. They're the OG
of leafy hard greens.
So what we're going to do is
take about four to five leaves.
Roll them up.
Make them nice and tight,
and then you're going
to do a chiffonade.
It's, essentially,
just slicing them
really, really thin.
Because the greens
are a little tough,
you want to cut them
really thinly
so that they soften up
when we marinate them.
I'm okay with leaving
the stems on.
I like the crunch and texture.
Don't worry if
it looks like a lot.
It's gonna shrink a little bit.
One of my favorite kitchen
tools -- Microplane.
So we're going to get
a little bit of the zest.
We're going to give it
the juice, also.
Just try to strain out
the seeds through your hands.
We've seasoned it with a little
bit of salt and lemon juice
and the lemon zest.
Take out your frustration
a little bit
on the collard greens.
You really want the acid
and the seasoning
to kind of break the leaves
down a little bit
and help them get
a little tender.
It's kind of like
making coleslaw.
You know how you season
the cabbage and everything,
and then it starts to, like,
pull some of the liquid out?
That's exactly what
we're doing here.
You know you got it right
when the leaves are starting
to look a little shiny
and get a darker green color.
Really, really pretty
if you ask me.
If you don't like
collard greens,
there's something wrong.
So now while this is sitting
and kind of macerating,
we're going to make
an emulsified vinaigrette.
That means that the oil
and the liquid,
being the vinegar in this case,
are suspended.
The little molecules
are just broken up,
and they're fully suspended,
and they can't separate
even if they wanted to.
So here, we have a little bit
of Dijon mustard and buttermilk.
Dijon is a natural emulsifier.
Buttermilk is delicious.
It's gonna bring
a little bit of tanginess,
and it also will help
keep this emulsified.
Little bit of
white wine vinegar,
and we're gonna use
a tiny bit of shallot.
We'll just get a couple
of slices.
It can be a little strong
if you use too much onion.
It is raw, so you don't want
that flavor to grow too much.
You just kind of want
to control it.
We'll start with
a little bit of salt
and a little bit of pepper.
Now the fun part --
emulsification.
So while the blades are turning,
you want to slowly start
to drizzle in your oils.
We're going to use about
a cup of grape-seed oil.
Grape-seed oil is more
neutral flavored,
kind of like canola oil.
If you've got canola,
you can use that, too.
The oil is gonna make it thicker
so it's not, like,
super-duper liquidy,
and it'll actually cling
to the collard green leaves.
Extra virgin olive oil,
about 1/2 cup,
so you want to drizzle
the oil in slowly.
If you go too fast, it'll break.
You can start to turn
the speed up a little.
[ Whirring intensifies ]
[ Whirring stops ]
Mm-kay.
We are going to add our herbs,
and for this buttermilk
vinaigrette,
we're going to be using
dill, tarragon, chives.
So, we'll use
a little bit of dill.
If the tarragon has thick stems,
just pull the leaves off.
Dill stems are totally fine,
and chi-ves,
also known as chives.
So we're adding these last
because we really want them to
not be completely pureed.
You'll see a little bit
of the herbs.
You'll still get
the flavor in them,
but if we had the herbs
in the whole time,
they would be super pureed,
and it would just be, like,
a green vinaigrette,
and then we'll just
set this aside.
If you don't cook beans
with flavorings,
they'll just be super bland,
so you have to cook them
with some aromatics to really
work their way into the beans
while they're cooking,
and the gumbo file is just
gonna give it some nice flavor.
About 20, 25 minutes
into the cooking,
you can go ahead
and add salt.
That's gonna give your beans
some seasoning
besides the aromatic flavors.
Let it cook for another
5, 10 minutes,
and just soak up that salt,
but you'll have
some delicious beans
that you can eat on their own,
or you can do something
even more awesome with,
like turn them into croutons,
and then we'll get them laid out
and seasoned and crisp them up.
Mm-kay.
So our beans are cooked...
seasoned, strained.
Now we're going to add
a little bit of canola oil,
a little bit paprika.
I like smoked paprika.
You can use hot smoked
or sweet smoked.
Whatever, up to you,
but it gives it
a nice smoky flavor,
a little bit of garlic powder.
Who doesn't like
a little bit
of Creole seasoning?
So we're just gonna
toss the beans
to get the seasoning
all over them.
When you bake them in the oven,
it will kind of intensify
the flavor,
so don't make them
too salty now.
If they're seasoned nicely,
they'll be where you want them
when they're finished.
I like to use these
because nowadays,
you have so many people
that are gluten-free
that when you're making
salads and snacks,
you still want
something crunchy,
like, that texture is
so awesome and satisfying,
so this is a great substitute
to use on salads,
because you still
get that texture.
You still get that crunch
that you would from croutons,
but then you don't have
to worry about gluten.
Just gonna lay them out
in a flat layer.
I like to bake them.
They get super crispy,
and you cut out
a lot of the oil,
so now we're just gonna
pop these into the oven.
♪♪
Start them on 400.
In about 10 minutes,
we'll lower it to 350
and then let them go from there
until they're super crispy
and dry and, like,
crunchy as hell.
Now we're gonna get
our fish seared.
This has had some time
to really, really soak up
that seasoning,
so we're not going
to re-season it,
because we already put enough
salt on it to start.
We're just gonna go ahead
with our blackened seasoning.
You can buy this,
or you can make it.
I like to make my own because
sometimes the store-bought
just has a fuck-ton of salt.
It's pretty much paprika,
garlic powder, onion powder,
dried thyme
or Italian spice blend.
Use it judiciously
if you buy it,
but if you've got
a nice low-salt kind,
you can go ham.
And blackening,
what you're really doing
is just charring the spices.
Sometimes, there's
a little bit of sugar
in store-bought
blackened spicing mix,
so you're getting a really deep,
hard sear on the actual
seasoning itself
but not leaving it in the pan
long enough to cook the fish.
To cook the fish, we're going
to finish it in the oven.
Blackening is not sauteing.
You do not need a ton of oil
because you're not going for
even browning like you do
when you're sauteing,
so what we're going to do
is just add a little bit
of canola oil,
or if you have leftover
grape-seed, you can use that,
just something
with a high smoke point.
Don't go medium heat.
Go, like, high heat.
Get yourself set up
because you're gonna have
to move quickly.
We have our tray that
we're gonna put our fish on.
We don't want it to stick,
so we'll just give it
a little bit of oil here.
Our pan is nice and wicked hot.
Shake off some of the excess
and just go face-down
with your filet portions.
Mm-hmm.
Smells like home.
If you want to take
a sneak peek,
see if it's where
you want it to be,
good to go, pull it out.
Always pull out.
[ Chuckles ]
Couldn't help myself.
And same as sauteing
on this part,
don't crowd your pan.
You don't want that steam
that it's creating
from the bottom
to cook through the salmon.
Nice, portion deux.
This guy went in last,
so we'll just make sure
it's even.
Now that is blackening.
Blackened salmon
is not something
you'll really see
in the South.
You'll more frequently
see blackened catfish.
Something that has
a creamy texture is great.
Salmon is really good because
it has a high fat content,
so it really works well to me
with the smoky and spicy flavor,
and, again,
you just need a few seconds
if your pan is nice and hot,
and you're good to go.
So we're just gonna pop these
in the oven
and let them finish cooking.
Our oven is set 400.
♪♪
5 to 7 minutes,
depending on thickness,
and you're good to go.
While that's in
this oven cooking,
we're gonna finish the salad.
Drizzle a little bit
of our buttermilk vinaigrette.
One of my favorite cheeses,
ricotta solatta.
It is a dry
kind-of-salty cheese.
You don't see it a lot here,
but you do see it a lot
in Italian cooking,
and it goes so well
with collard greens.
It's okay
if the cheese breaks up.
That way, you get it
distributed evenly.
Oh, god.
I hate it.
Trying to pretend like I don't
get my hands in when I cook,
but I like to touch my food
and feel it because
then you can feel if your salad
is overdressed, underdressed.
These guys, we're gonna
mix a few in now.
We're gonna see
how crunchy they are.
[ Black-eyed peas crunching ]
Can you hear that?
Oh, my God.
They're like crisp little shards
of black-eyed pea goodness.
Again, this recipe is
for about four people,
but you can use it
for two or one.
I've definitely done this salad
just for me
and crushed a whole bowl of it.
Let's give it a little
more cheese on top,
sprinkle of our black-eyed peas.
This may not be
traditional Southern,
but everything about this
screams "Southern."
♪♪
Nice.
Mm-kay.
So, great.
Our fish looks like it's ready.
There's some white stuff
that starts to come out.
That's albumen.
It's essentially just,
like, protein from the fish.
We're gonna use a cake tester.
You just want to leave it in
for, like, a second or two,
And it's nice and warm.
It's not hot.
If it were hot,
it would be overdone,
but it's warm.
That means we're good to go.
So we're gonna get our piece
of blackened salmon,
just nestle it right in there.
You got a little
extra vinaigrette.
Just going to put
a little bit next to it.
It's kind of like buttermilk
but a little more herby,
and it's just delicious,
so why not give yourself
a little bit extra?
And you are good to go.
Now we're gonna try it --
salad first, eat your greens.
Collard greens is the best.
Mmm.
That is a damn salad.
The salt and lemon
give it that acidity,
and it helps soften up
the greens a little bit,
and then the vinaigrette
is, like, nice and herby.
The ricotta solatta
gives you a little bit
of texture and creaminess,
and those crispy black-eyed peas
are, like, the best shit ever.
Mmm.
The salmon, you get,
like, a little bit
of smokiness and spice
and a little bit of texture
from the crust
on the blackened seasoning,
and it's just so damn good with
that buttermilk vinaigrette,
brings some tanginess
and some herbal flavors,
and it is, like, ugh, so good.
This shit is like
a match made in heaven.
For the recipe for this dish,
click the link
in the description below.
You guys can turn
the cameras off
because I am gonna
house this shit.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
