Fresh Salmon with Tri-colored Peppercorn Sauce over Wild Mushroom Risotto

For salmon:

Squeeze juice from lemon half over salmon and then broil salmon until cooked all the way through (anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on thickness of salmon steak). Do not overcook!

Melt butter, then add mustard and lemon juice. Remove cooked salmon and top with finely crushed peppercorns. Drizzle melted butter sauce over salmon and serve immediately over top of the risotto.

For risotto:

Put dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl and add 3 cups boiling water. Let mushrooms steep until hydrated and soft (roughly 30 minutes). Drain mushrooms, reserving liquid, and roughly chop the mushrooms. Set the liquid and the mushrooms aside.

Heat broth and 2 cups mushroom liquid in a pot over medium heat and simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and keep liquid simmering during risotto process.

Heat olive oil in Dutch oven, or heavy-bottomed pot, over medium high heat, then add onions. Sprinkle with salt and sauté until onions are translucent (roughly 5-7 minutes). Add garlic, cook for one minute. Add pepper and rice, stirring often to toast the rice (roughly one minute). Add white wine and stir continuously until liquid is nearly absorbed.

Add a ladleful of simmering stock to rice and stir until mostly absorbed, or when you drag your wooden spoon across bottom of pot, you see no excess liquid. Add another ladleful of stock and stir until absorbed, repeating the process until rice is tender and creamy (roughly 20-30 minutes). Make sure to stir continuously so that rice does not stick or burn on the bottom of the pan and also make sure that the liquid is mostly absorbed before adding more stock.

Most likely you will use all of the stock, though more or less may be needed. Stock added to the risotto must be hot for it to cook correctly.

When risotto has finished cooking, add chopped mushrooms, Parmigiano and butter, stirring to combine. Spoon onto plate, then place salmon on top and add the leftover butter sauce to top everything off. And try not to preen and prance about when said special person asks you to become their personal chef (because most likely you already are).