Sunday night we said goodbye to Downton Abbey. After six seasons watching Granny contemplate curious new inventions like weekends, seeing Carson struggle over the ever changing and shrinking staff, and witnessing the trials of Anna and Bates, it was time to bring the story to a close.
Through all six seasons the Mrs. Patmore’s kitchen cheerfully doled out teas, wedding breakfasts, cakes, and dinner parties filling the upstairs dining room and the downstairs servants’ quarter alike. Before we settled in to watch the end of this grand era, we decided to have an elegant dinner of our own.
One with courses, no less - well two at any rate. (Three, if you count the slices of leftover chocolate birthday cake we nibbled on for dessert.)
Generally a proper dinner has a soup course, a salad course, a fish course, a meat course, a cheese course, and a dessert course. We settled for salad and fish. To be exact: an arugula salad with roasted golden beets, caramelized shallots, and crumbled feta, followed by roasted salmon with a honey mustard glaze served with cucumbers and roasted fingerling potatoes.
It was delicious. And while we did not have liveried servants to present it to us, we enjoyed it just the same.
Part of the challenge of a coursed dinner, is getting everything done on time without undercooking it and keeping it warm without overcooking it. Since we do not all have a Mrs. Patmore to keep the stove fires going for us, this takes a bit of planning.
Beets take a while to roast, and since we were having them with a salad, I didn’t really want them piping hot. So I began by roasting those in advance.
lovely roasted beets
From there the preparations are rather easy. To begin, I removed the salmon from the fridge. I never like to put really cold meat into the oven to roast, and giving it a few minutes on the counter while I got everything else ready would do the trick. I washed and assembled all my vegetables.
With spinach and arugula always wash them in a sink of water and spin them dry. They grow in soil that leaves sandy grit among the leaves. As Mary Crawley would say "can't have that."
I peeled and sliced the now cooled roasted beets. I removed the stems from the washed arugula and sorted out any damaged leaves. I peeled and thinly sliced the shallots, I sliced the cucumbers. I pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees. I tossed the fingerling potatoes with some olive oil and salt and pepper in a small oven-safe pan.
I mixed my salmon glaze.
Honey and mustard are a winning combination, but the dill really adds a fresh pop to the glaze.
I heated up some olive oil in another pan over medium heat and began to cook the shallots, stirring occasionally to let them get sweet and soft.
Yes. That is the beet-roasting pan. Since we do not have a downstairs staff to do the washing up, I see no reason not to re-use it!
While the shallots cooked, I prepared my dressing and tossed my salad. I put the potatoes in the oven. I divided the tossed salad between two plates, arranged the sliced beets a top the arugula and crumbled feta on the lot. Still stirring the shallots as they needed it.
I glazed the salmon and placed it in a lightly oiled baking dish. I added the shallots to my salad, and put the salmon in the oven alongside the potatoes.
I set the timer and served the salad course. By the time we had worked our way through the beets and arugula, the timer dinged. I excused myself to the kitchen and arranged the piping hot potatoes and salmon on a plate with the cucumbers. Perfectly cooked, perfectly hot, perfectly delicious.
Mrs. Patmore would have approved.
ROASTED BEET & ARUGULA SALAD
2-3 golden or red beets
4 c. arugula, washed with stems removed
1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tbsp. crumbled feta
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees wash and cut the tops off of the beets. Lightly oil an oven-safe dish and place beets, cut side down on the dish. Roast for 40 minutes to an hour (depending on the size of the beets) until a knife piecing the beets comes out smoothly. Remove from oven and cover immediately. (The cover will give the beets the opportunity to “sweat” as they cool which will make removing the peel much easier.) In a small pan heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and cook stirring occasionally until they soften and begin to turn golden brown. Combine vinegar and 2 tbsp of olive oil in a small bowl and whisk together to emulsify. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss arugula with dressing. Arrange on a plate. Top with beets, shallots and feta.
SALT & PEPPER POTATOES
1/2 lb. fingerling potatoes
sat & pepper
olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a shallow baking dish or oven-safe pan. Toss potatoes with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes until soft all the way through when pieced with a sharp knife.
HONEY MUSTARD ROASTED SALMON
2 4oz fillets of salmon
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp dill
salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Allow salmon to rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Lightly oil a shallow baking pan. Combine honey, mustard and dill. Lightly salt and pepper salmon fillets. Spoon glaze over salmon spreading evenly with back of spoon. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove and serve.