Slow Roasted Salmon with Lemon-Crispy Vinaigrette and Thinly Sliced Potatoes

August 25th I got this recipe from an old Bobby Flay cookbook I found on the bargain racks at work. It's called Bobby Flay Cooks American, and I'm pretty sure it was mass-produced just when Bobby was beginning his successful run on the Food Network. If you don't know who he is, he's the last cook on the Food Network who has survived the great purge. Like most networks (MTV, Bravo, etc.) they have abandoned what made them popular and morphed them into another reality show channel. Emeril, gone. Mario Batali, gone. The leftovers are Paula Deen, the aformentioned Bobby Flay and Alton Brown. There is a smattering of Rachel Ray, but since she has become a Oprah wannabe, all you can catch is a repeat of her 30 Minute Meals show. Her magazine has even become more about gadgets and fall fashion than recipes, and those are mostly about how to make different types of hamburgers. I like hamburgers, but I think I have enough creativity to figure out what to put on a round piece of meat. If you can't cook a burger in 30 minutes, than you are probably burning it. Replacing these shows are a bevy of semi-reality programs where we get to watch novice chefs try to get their own Food Network show. What they don't realize is that their favorite salmon recipe will be viewed by foodies at 6 am Sunday morning, i.e. nobody (even foodies need their sleep). Also on the lineup are experienced cake makers forced to make an absurdly-sized, themed dessert. This complete waste of flour and egg may wind up on the floor, as contestants try to bring back a little of their high school physics class in order to get the damn thing on a display table. If that's not enough, you can watch Alton Brown (a favorite, but I liked his original show) narrate very quickly, how top chefs are able to make squid 900 different ways in just one hour. In the new Iron Chef, you don't learn anything other than that you will never be able to do what they are doing. Wow, its squid empanadas! There are some other Food Network offerings that have survived. A little show called Unwrapped which features a former Nickelodeon kid show host showing the public how Tootsie Rolls are made. Since I have no desire to eat really old semi-chocolate - I pass, yet it seems that this show is one of the more popular ones on the network. I have never understood how anyone would want to know, or even care, about a show that features the inner workings of a Peep factory. I want someone to show me how to cook real food, damn it. You are the Food Network for crying out loud, give me something I can actually use. I don't want to see a celebrity chef go against Joe Schmo from Mississippi in a shrimp boil-off, I want the celebrity chef to show me how to make a good seafood boil, just him or her, not the ordinary public. Am I too believe that someone who owns a bevy of restaurants is going to consistantly lose to people who just happen to make a decent taco? No, I don't. Speaking of Bobby Flay, whose recipe started this post. . . As I gander at the cookbook cover, I see a man very happy in his surroundings. He has fresh fruit and vegetables around him and seems very confident in his ability to chop them up and make something delicious (with one hand). He has his other hand on his hips as if to say, "Yeah, bring it and I will cook it." I, however, would have gone in a different direction. I picture my cookbook to have me giving the Ozzy rock-on sign with both hands while a collection of meat and fish flop around on a cutting board. They would all be looking at me, begging for a delicious sauce to accompany them on the gorgeous plate of my choice. It would be called Cook, Bitches! and it would guarantee me NO spot on any Food Network program. Well, I might be able to battle for the 6 am slot on Sunday morning, but I don't do mornings, so, no thanks. Here we go, some salmon. First, let's get some sauce going. Take about 2.5 cups of lemon juice and put in a sauce pan and boil. What you are trying to do is reduce it by about a 1/2 a cup, to cut down on the acidity. While that is going, break out your blender and add .25 cup of sherry vinegar (I didn't have this and rather than buying a bottle of it, I combine vinegar with sherry wine, it worked), 1 tbs of chopped shallot and 2 garlic cloves - chopped. When the lemon has reduced and cooled (you don't want to get third degree burns from blending scalding lemon juice) add it to the rest of the ingredients and set to puree. While it's blending, slowly drizzle in .75 cup of olive oil. Once smoooth, stick a clean finger (or spoon) in there and check taste, add salt and pepper if necessary. When you have gotten it too taste bud happiness, pour into a bowl and set aside. We are not done with the sauce, we need a little caper action. Take .25 cup of capers, washed and dried on some paper towels. While they are drying, add 3 tbs of olive oil to a saucepan. Heat that on medium high until it starts to shimmer then throw the little, green flavor bombs in there until they start to brown a little. We are trying to get them a little crunchy, but not like hardened peppercorns. When they are done (3 min), take them out of the oil and add them to the sauce you just made with 2 tbs of chopped fresh parsley. Taste again - is it too acidic? If so, add a little sugar or orange juice to soften the acid taste. You don't want to feel as if you need to take a tequila shot before you try this sauce. Let's prep the fish and potatoes. First, set your oven to bake at 350 degrees, then take 1 large Yukon gold potato, peeled, and cut it into very thin rounds. Massage those disks with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and layer them on your baking dish, preferably a Pyrex. Put them in the oven for 30 minutes while you prep the salmon. Take 4 - 6 oz salmon fillets (now I choose salmon without the skin, I made the assumption that the fried skin on the potatoes might make for a weird looking final . . . to each their own) and season each side with sea salt and pepper. Now we are just waiting for some potato love. Once the potatoes are softened, but not cooked through (check them after 20 minutes, each oven is different), take them out of the oven and add the salmon to the top. Put back in the oven and cook for 12-14 minutes more. Once done, take out and plate. Remember that sauce, it's time to pour a little on each fillet. The sauce is supposed to be luke warm when poured on the hot fish, so don't worry about your sauce sitting out to long. Whatever you do, don't refrigerate the sauce (and whatever you do, do not taunt the sauce - I'm just saying). Take some chopped parsley and sprinkle on top for presentation (Powerpoint just doesn't do it) and add a veggie of choice. I chose butter beans, which are like little mashed potatoes, and I sure love me some mashed potatoes. Serve this to one you love, or undercook the fish and serve to someone who just pissed you off, it's your choice. I will be taking a cooking sabatical for the opening of school. As fun as it is too cook big meals, there is no fun in eating it by yourself. I am hoping to prepare a post opening of school meal for my wife this weekend, but may be able to add a nonsense post along the way. Until then. . . Cook, Bitches!