PNW Steelhead Pappardelle

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Score: 6/10

This recipe features a beautiful, seasonal ingredient profile with elegant flavors. However, the technique of poaching the fish directly in a shallow amount of beurre monté is structurally flawed; there isn't enough liquid to poach, and the fish juices will likely break the delicate butter emulsion. Adjusting the fish cooking method to a sear or roast, and tweaking the pasta water timing, will turn this into a fantastic dish.

Strengths

• Great flavor profile featuring a cohesive, seasonal Pacific Northwest theme.
• Efficiently uses the boiling pasta water to blanch the asparagus and snap peas.
• Creative use of maitake mushrooms to add an earthy contrast to the rich butter sauce and bright lemon.

Issues

• high / cookability: Six tablespoons of butter and a few tablespoons of reduced wine in a 'large skillet' will barely cover the bottom of the pan, making it impossible to genuinely 'poach' 12 ounces of steelhead. This setup will result in shallow steaming instead.
• medium / presentation: Cooking the steelhead directly in the beurre monté will release water and albumin (white proteins) into the delicate butter emulsion. This is highly likely to break the sauce and make it look cloudy and unappealing when tossed with the pasta.
• medium / timing: The recipe instructs the cook to bring pasta water to a boil in Step 1, but the pasta isn't added until Step 5 (after searing mushrooms, reducing wine, and cooking fish). The water will evaporate excessively if left at a rolling boil for 15-20 minutes.

Suggested fixes

• Change the fish cooking method: pan-sear or oven-roast the steelhead separately rather than poaching it in the pasta sauce.
• Build the beurre monté in the skillet while the pasta cooks, using the shallots, wine, butter, and pasta water to create a clean, stable emulsion.
• Adjust the timing in Step 1 to say 'Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil' closer to when the pasta actually needs to be cooked, or instruct the cook to drop the pasta at the same time they begin cooking the fish.