A Very Special Potato Crusted Salmon

Evelyn Dawn’s Potato Crusted Salmon
Sautéed Vegetables, Lemon Dill Sauce
@ Gina Lee’s Bistro, Redondo Beach, California

UPDATE: December 2021, a new version of this recipe now posted here.

Evelyn Dawn was my grandmother-in-law. She passed away at 93 years of age in the year 2000.

As a tribute when Evelyn passed, my dear friends Scott & Gina Lee, proprietors of Gina Lee’s Bistro, named this dish after her. They keep her memory alive in their fabulous restaurant. New patrons ask, who is Evelyn Dawn and why is the salmon named for her? They are quick to tell about Evelyn; an independent woman ahead of her time, with impeccable taste, a successful businesswoman, friend, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and educator of hundreds. A framed photograph of Evelyn sits atop the sideboard in the restaurant.

Gina said of the salmon dish, “This is a crowd favorite. Lots of people remember Miss Dawn the founder of Rolling Hills Country Day School. She came in the restaurant nearly daily and always had the salmon professing that the omega 3 fatty acids kept her going at top speed. We’ve had former students and teachers come in, they marvel that she lives on, on our menu.”

Miss Evelyn Dawn
July 8, 1907 – July 16, 2000
 
Evelyn in her 90’s with a glass of red wine and a cigar!
Rolling Hills Country Day School was founded by Evelyn Dawn who began educating children in the early 50’s. She bought and operated her first school in Manhattan Beach, California – a preschool. In 1961, Miss Dawn, with very little assistance, broke ground on a beautiful piece of land on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and realized her dream of a Kindergarten through Grade 8 School. She named it Rolling Hills Country Day School, now about to celebrate 50 successful years of educating children in the South Bay.
 
I previously wrote about Evelyn Dawn’s Potato Crusted Salmon in 2008. We are dining on the salmon and remembering Evelyn again this July, the month of her birth and 10th anniversary of her passing. Rest in peace Nana.
 
Evelyn Dawn’s Potato Crusted Salmon
Sautéed Vegetables, Lemon Dill Sauce
Recipe from Scott & Gina Lee
Ingredients:
  • Salmon
  • Flour
  • Eggs
  • Hash Brown Potatoes
  • Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
  • Salt and Pepper
Cut salmon on a bit of an angle into 3.5 ounce portions. Dust in flour. Dip in egg. Roll in hash browns to which you have added salt and pepper and coarsely chopped Italian parsley. Put aside.

Lemon Dill Sauce:

  • 3 cups White Wine
  • Juice of two Lemons and their Zest
  • 1/2 cup of chopped Shallots
  • One bunch of chopped Fresh Dill
  • 1 cup unsalted Butter
Heat first four ingredients in a sauce pan. Reduce by 1/3. When reduced, strain and slowly add 1 cup of all melted butter. This is your sauce. Keep warm. The salmon is pan sauteed in olive oil on one side, flipped and then put into a 450 degree oven for 7-10 minutes depending on how you like it cooked. The salmon is served pan roasted side up…on top of zucchini, yellow squash and carrots that have been sautéed in olive oil and mirin. For plating…vegetables on the bottom, salmon on top, coat with lemon dill sauce and a dash of fresh lemon juice.


Gina Lee’s Bistro
211 Palos Verdes Blvd.
Redondo Beach, CA
310-375-4462
Gina Lee’s Menu here.

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24 thoughts on “A Very Special Potato Crusted Salmon”

  1. Pingback: Malted and Salted: Milk Chocolate Pots de Creme - Taste With The Eyes
  2. Pingback: The Best Potato Crusted Salmon - Taste With The Eyes
  3. Pingback: Evelyn Dawn's Potato Crusted Salmon - Taste With The Eyes Taste With The Eyes • where the image is meant to titillate and inspire the cook
  4. Pingback: Malted and Salted: Milk Chocolate Pots de Creme • Taste With The Eyes • where the image is meant to titillate and inspire the cook

  10. So often in our lives we associate particular foods with specific people or events. What an excellent dish to remember Evelyn Dawn with. Thanks for sharing a great story and recipe.

    Reply

  13. This is such a beautiful tribute. The photo of her with the cigar and wine is priceless! the dish has me drooling…especially that sauce. Girl, you know how to lay it on thick! LUSH!…as in luscious!

    Reply

  18. Lovely tribute and certainly a recipe that will make it to my kitchen……
    My gran passed away at age 98 and she was also a phenomenal lady….I think their positive outlook on life was they key to success!!

    Reply

  19. I remember her from a previous post you did LL, how can I forget that cigar! What a great lady. That salmon… I could just close my eyes and taste it!

    Reply

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