Red Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon with Black Bean Sauce and Jalapeno Crema

From Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook, pages 116-117.

Serves 4.

I just have to say that Bobby Flay is a culinary genius.  We had this for dinner last night and were still talking about how delicious it was when we went to bed.  It's takes a fair amount of time to prepare the black bean sauce (start the night before), but it was definitely worth it.  Even Matt loved this salmon, and he really doesn't like to eat fish unless it's raw.

Jalapeno Crema (makes about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup crema, creme fraiche, or sour cream
1 large or 2 small jalapeno chilies, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

Brush jalapenos with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes at 375F, rotating a few times to ensure even roasting.  Put chilies in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let sit for 15 minutes.  Remove skin.  Cut in half lengthwise and scrape out seeds.  Chop.

Combine the crema and jalapenos in a food processor and process until smooth.  (Alternatively, you could finely chop the jalapenos by hand and stir them into the crema.)  Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.  This can be made and refrigerated up to 1 day in advance.

Black Bean Sauce
1 1/2 cups dried black beans
1 small red onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
Kosher salt

Red Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbs. ancho chile powder
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Four 8-oz skin-on salmon filets
2 Tbs. canola oil
Jalapeno Crema
Thinly sliced green onions, white and green parts, for garnish (optional)

Pick over the beans and discard any stones.  Put in a bowl, cover with water, and let soak overnight.

Drain the beans and combine with the onion, garlic, chipotles, and cumin in a medium saucepan and add just enough cold water to cover by an inch; bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat and simmer, adding more water if the beans appear dry, until the beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender (in batches, if needed) with a slotted spoon, add 1 cup of the cooking liquid, and process until almost smooth; the sauce should still be a little chunky.  Season with salt.  If the sauce is too thick, thin with more of the cooking liquid or with water.  This can be made up for 4 hours in advance and refrigerated.  Reheat before serving.

To make the glaze for the salmon, whisk together the honey, ancho powder, and mustard in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat a grill pan or large nonstick saute pan over high heat.  Brush the salmon with the oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper.  Place the salmon in the pan, skin side down, and cook until golden brown and a crust has formed, 3 to 4 minutes.  Brush the top of the salmon with some of the glaze, flip over the filets, and continue cooking until a crust has formed and the salmon is cooked to medium, about 2 minutes more.  The salmon will be pink in the center.

Spoon some of the black bean sauce onto 4 plates and drizzle with some of the jalapeno crema.  Set the salmon in the center, glazed side up, brush with more of the glaze, and garnish with green onion.

Notes:
- We ate this with rice.  I think a salad or some freshly steamed vegetables would also accompany it well . . . if you have room to eat them!
- I think our salmon filets were 6 or 7 oz. each, and that was enough.  We also used skinless filets, and that didn't seem to be a problem.
- If you have trouble finding the chipotle chilies, look in the section of your grocery store that has the Mexican foods.  The chilies I buy are in probably an 8-oz can.
- I ended up adding all of the cooking liquid to the bean puree before I thought it had reached the right consistency, so don't be afraid to keep adding liquid until the mixture looks right to you!
- I divided the glaze into two bowls: one for brushing the raw salmon and one for brushing the cooked salmon.
- Be careful flipping the salmon--mine stuck a little.
- I think I cooked our salmon a little longer on the second side than the recipe calls for, maybe a minute or two.  And then I turned the heat off and left it there while I put the sauces on the plates.
- Maybe it's because I used sour cream, but my Jalapeno Crema wasn't really drizzling consistency.  It was more globbing consistency.  Oh well.  Still tasted good.