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    Home » Recipes » Main Dishes

    Pan-Seared Sturgeon with Chanterelles & Baby Yukons

    May 7, 2018 • Updated: June 11, 2022 • by Renée B. • This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe   Print Recipe
    Pan-Seared Sturgeon with Sautéed Chanterelles & Baby Yukons {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

    Chef Andrew Garrison breaks down the steps for making this delicious, dinner-party worthy Pan-sear Sturgeon with green garlic soup sauce, sautéed chanterelle mushrooms, and poached baby Yukon gold potatoes.

    Pan-Seared Sturgeon fillet laying on a bed of greens, baby potatoes, and a creamy yellow sauce.

    Many thanks to the Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa for hosting our stay and for providing our cooking class with Chef Andrew.

    While enjoying our stay at the Headlands Coastal Lodge in Pacific City, Oregon, Mr B and I had the opportunity take a group cooking class from Chef Andrew Garrison, Executive Chef at the Lodges’ restaurant, Meridian.

    One of Chef Andrew's "chef tattoos": Skull with knife & whisk in place of crossed-bones. "Soigné" above skull.

    When we arrived, Chef Andrew greeted us and informed our group that he would be preparing a dish he was planning to add to the menu - Pan-Seared Sturgeon with Sautéed Chanterelles and Baby Yukons - and we were to be his guinea pigs. (Or, as one of our group quipped, "beta-diners.")

    Before he started the cooking demonstration, Chef Andrew shared with us a little about his cooking philosophy and approach.

    We don’t really work off any recipes [in our kitchen]. We try to do what we call intuitive cooking, where you understand the process and the method behind the recipes, and then expand them to other dishes. It teaches you how to actually cook instead of just following a recipe.

    It is in this spirit that this post is written.

    NOTE: What follows is not a traditional recipe. We've estimated the weights and measures, as well as the cooking times, based on our cooking class experience, but they are inexact at best. However, if you are a relatively experienced cook, the completed dish should be fairly easy to execute. 

    The following instructions are transcribed almost verbatim from Chef Andrews remarks, and are presented as such.

    Menu Tasting with Headland's Chef Garrison {Seared Sturgeon Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

    How to Make Chef Andrew's Pan-Seared Sturgeon

    Perfect for an anniversary or Valentines dinner, or whenever you want to make something truly special.

    Sautéed Chanterelles

    Add oil to pan and heat pan on stove to the smoke point. Add mushrooms and sear them. Once they are seared, finish by sautéing in a little butter with fresh garlic, thyme sprigs, and rosemary sprigs [GTR] thrown in. Set aside.

    • Always use a neutral oil like canola oil. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil and imparts less flavor.
    • You want the mushrooms to be dry, and you don’t want to move them much once they’re in the pan. You want them to sear.
    • Don’t add salt to the mushrooms until you are done cooking, or you will end up with a pan of soggy mushrooms.

    Baby Yukon Gold Potatoes

    Put the precooked baby potatoes in a pan and make a little hole in the middle. Throw in a couple knobs* of butter and few cloves of garlic. Bring the butter to a foaming point and then add some GTR. Glaze the potatoes with the garlic-herb-infused butter, then season with a little kosher salt. Set aside.

    • The potatoes were precooked: poached in duck fat. (If you are short on duck fat at home, you can simply parboil them.)
    • When you add the herbs to the foaming butter, you’ll hear the herbs frying and popping, and that’s the sound you want. Then you’re shallow frying, and the aromatic compounds in the herbs infuse into the butter a little better.

    * A "knob" of butter is about 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons - about the size of a knob on a kitchen drawer.

    Pan-Seared Sturgeon

    Optional step: Brine the sturgeon for ½ hour before cooking.

    Just as you did with the mushrooms, add oil to an oven-safe frying pan and heat on stove to the smoke point. Lay the fish in the hot pan, presentation side down. Sear the fish on one side, and then put it in a preheated oven (425° F) until it is done medium well. [An internal temperature of 140°F in fish is medium well.] It will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat, and will be well done by the time you plate it up.

    Proteins, with the exception of steak, I always just cook it on one side. The idea is to keep as much of the flesh as tender as possible.

    Once the fish is done, take it out of the oven, flip it over, add some butter and GTR to the pan and baste it. You want the butter to be frothing when you do this to really get all those aromatics going well. If it’s just [non-frothing] melted butter, you’re just going to make the fish soggy. You want the basting to be a fairly quick process. You don’t want to cook the fish more; you just want to glaze it.

    • For this demonstration, Chef Andrew used cold-smoked white sturgeon, farmed out of Idaho.
    • Brining seasons the fish all the way through and actually firms the flesh a little bit. It also gets rid of that white albumen that often comes out when you cook it.
    • If you are using fish that has been brined and/or smoked for this dish, don’t salt it before you pan-fry it.
    • Each piece of fish has two sides: the presentation side and the other, non presentation, side. The bloodline side is always the side you want facing down on the plate. In a fillet, the “inside” is always the presentation side. The skin side always goes down. (Unless you are doing skin-on fish.)
    • Chef Andrew likes to cook sturgeon to about medium well and then let it carry over to well. It’s not really a fish you want to eat rare.

    Kosher salt is my primary seasoning. I don’t put pepper on proteins before I cook them. Especially fish, because at high heat, you end up burning the pepper. I’d rather just have a crack of pepper at the end.

    Menu Tasting with Headland's Chef Garrison {Seared Sturgeon Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

    My approach to cooking is based on magnifying natural flavors. I use vinegar or citrus in just about everything. Salt… seasoning is really important, but acidity is another thing that really opens up and magnifies the natural flavors.

    Green Garlic Soup (Sauce)

    Pureed soups make good sauces, and the soup used for this dish is basically a variation on vichyssoise, or potato leek soup: Yukon Golds, yellow onion, garlic, leeks, and a bunch of green garlic. (Green garlic looks like a small leek, and appears in the spring, about the same time as garlic scapes.) Then finish the soup with some cream, a whole bunch of kosher salt, and a little bit of cider vinegar to adjust the acidity.

    Always try to use Yukon Gold when you make a smooth pureed soup. Avoid using russet potatoes for smooth, pureed soups: the starch in them is far too grainy.

    Menu Tasting with Headland's Chef Garrison {Seared Sturgeon Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

    Pan Sauce

    Warm up the potatoes up in the pan with a little chicken stock. Once the stock is warm and potatoes are warm, reduce the stock a bit and throw a couple of nobs of butter in the pan, along with some aromatics [GTR]. As the stock reduces, keep the pan moving; swirl it around for a bit to keep things emulsified and make a pan sauce. Baste the potatoes in the pan sauce just before plating.

    Rewarm the sautéed chanterelles at this time, too.

    Foraged greens

    For this dish, Chef Andrew used miner’s lettuce, which is plentiful all over the Pacific Northwest throughout the spring. (If foraging isn’t your thing, you can usually find it at farmers’ markets this time of year as well.) Alternatively, a handful of any fresh, tender greens will work.

    Before I wrap this up, let me just say, Chef Andrew is personable, dedicated to his craft, and he made our cooking class "adventure" a pleasure to attend. Oh, and he is also adorable - I mean, how cute is this:

    Menu Tasting with Headland's Chef Garrison {Seared Sturgeon Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

    Which all goes to show that even the pros get excited when they get it right - and that’s a lesson for us all: Take pride when you put something wonderful on the table!

    Pan-Seared Sturgeon fillet laying on a bed of greens, baby potatoes, and a creamy yellow sauce.

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    Pan-Seared Sturgeon with Chanterelles & Baby Yukons

    A delicious, dinner-party worthy Pan-sear Sturgeon with green garlic soup sauce, sautéed chanterelle mushrooms, and poached baby Yukon gold potatoes.
    Recipe courtesy of Chef Andrew Garrison.
    Print Pin Add to Shopping List Go to Shopping List
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Gluten Free
    Prep Time:1 hour
    Brining Fish:30 minutes
    Total Time:1 hour 30 minutes
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 376kcal
    Author: Renee
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Equipment

    • 1 heavy skillet
    • 1 Tongs

    Ingredients

    US Customary - Metric
    • 1 pound sturgeon fillets 4 servings
    • ¼ cup canola oil or more
    • 8 ounces chanterelle mushrooms
    • 1 head garlic
    • 1 handful thyme
    • 1 handful rosemary
    • 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
    • 1 medium yellow onion
    • 1 large leek
    • 1 handful green garlic
    • 1 cup chicken stock
    • 1 handful greens miner's lettuce, arugula, etc.
    • kosher salt

    Instructions

    • What follows is not a traditional recipe. We've estimated the weights and measures, as well as the cooking times, based on our cooking class experience.

    Sautéed Chanterelles

    • Add oil to pan and heat pan on stove to the smoke point.
      Add mushrooms and sear them. Once they are seared, finish by sautéing in a little butter with fresh garlic, thyme sprigs, and rosemary sprigs [GTR] thrown in.
      Set aside.
    • You want the mushrooms to be dry, and you don’t want to move them much once they’re in the pan. You want them to sear.
      Don’t add salt to the mushrooms until you are done cooking, or you will end up with a pan of soggy mushrooms.

    Baby Yukons

    • Precook the potatoes.
      Chef Andrew poaches them in duck fat, but if you are short on duck fat at home, you can simply parboil them.
    • Put the precooked baby potatoes in a pan and make a little hole in the middle.
      Add 3 tablespoons of butter and few cloves of garlic.
      Bring the butter to a foaming point and then add some GTR.
      Glaze the potatoes with the garlic-herb-infused butter, then season with a little kosher salt. Set aside.

    Pan-Seared Sturgeon

    • Optional step: Brine the sturgeon for ½ hour before cooking.
    • Just as you did with the mushrooms, add oil to an oven-safe frying pan and heat on stove to the smoke point.
      Lay the fish in the hot pan, presentation side down.
      Sear the fish on one side, and then put it in a preheated oven 425°F (223°C] until it is done medium well. (An internal temperature of 140°F in fish is medium well.)
      The fish will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat, and will be well done by the time you plate it up.
    • Once the fish is done, take it out of the oven, flip it over, add some butter and GTR to the pan and baste it.
      You want the butter to be frothing when you do this to really get all the aromatics going well. If it isn't hot enough, it will make your fish soggy.
      You want the basting to be a fairly quick process. You don’t want to cook the fish more; you just want to glaze it.

    Green Garlic Soup (Sauce)

    • The sauce used for this dish is basically a variation on vichyssoise, or potato leek soup.
      Make a simple soup using Yukon Golds, yellow onion, garlic, leeks, and a bunch of green garlic.
      Finish the soup with some cream, a whole bunch of kosher salt, and a little bit of cider vinegar to adjust the acidity.

    Pan Sauce

    • Warm up the potatoes up in the pan with a little chicken stock.
      Once the stock is warm and potatoes are warm, reduce the stock a bit and throw a couple of nobs of butter in the pan, along with some aromatics [GTR].
      As the stock reduces, keep the pan moving; swirl it around for a bit to keep things emulsified and make a pan sauce.
      Baste the potatoes in the pan sauce just before plating.
      Rewarm the sautéed chanterelles at this time, too.

    Foraged Greens

    • For this dish, Chef Andrew used miner’s lettuce, which is plentiful all over the Pacific Northwest throughout the spring. (If foraging isn’t your thing, you can usually find it at farmers’ markets this time of year as well.)
      Alternatively, a handful of any fresh, tender greens will work.

    Notes

    GTR = Garlic, thyme, and rosemary.
    Always use a neutral oil like canola oil. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil and imparts less flavor.
    For this demonstration, Chef Andrew used cold-smoked white sturgeon, farmed out of Idaho.
    Brining seasons the fish all the way through and actually firms the flesh a little bit. It also gets rid of that white albumen that often comes out when you cook it. If you are using fish that has been brined and/or smoked for this dish, don’t salt it before you pan-fry it.
    Green garlic looks like a small leek, and appears in the spring, about the same time as garlic scapes.
    Always try to use Yukon Gold when you make a smooth pureed soup. Avoid using russet potatoes for smooth, pureed soups: the starch in them is far too grainy.
     

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1serving | Calories: 376kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 314mg | Potassium: 1434mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 585IU | Vitamin C: 36mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 4mg
    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
    Have you tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

    Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details.

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    About Renée B.

    Renée is writer, music maker, artist, and storyteller. In her spare time, you can find her writing love songs about cowboys, exploring the moss-covered nooks and crannies of the Pacific Northwest, and making music with her talented singer-husband.

    Reader Interactions

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    1. Elizabeth says

      May 28, 2021 at 3:15 pm

      What is GTR? I see it referenced with respect to fresh herbs, but I don't know what it means.

      Reply
      • Renée says

        May 29, 2021 at 10:26 am

        GTR is culinary shorthand for "Garlic + Thyme + Rosemary."

        Reply
    2. Lindsay Ingalls says

      May 07, 2018 at 11:12 pm

      This looks like such a wonderful experience!

      Reply
    3. Catherine @ To & Fro Fam says

      May 07, 2018 at 8:31 pm

      Hahaha your tweet is hilarious!

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        May 07, 2018 at 8:42 pm

        I try! ?

        Reply
    4. Hillary Harper says

      May 07, 2018 at 6:36 pm

      Such a great post! Great note about the fish only being seared one sided. We always sear fish skin side down until it's almost fully cooked at the end before flipping it for a minute but I like how he finished it in the oven!

      Reply
    5. Mimi says

      May 07, 2018 at 3:20 pm

      How wonderful! The fish is gorgeous and I love the potato purée! I remember when I first made a soup with russet potatoes and it turned out gloppy! Ew!

      Reply
    6. Catherine says

      May 07, 2018 at 12:42 pm

      What an elegant dish! This looks fabulous! The cooking class sounds so exciting and wonderful tips too...I especially love his philosophy!

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        May 07, 2018 at 2:23 pm

        I do, too!

        Reply
    7. Sharon says

      May 07, 2018 at 11:58 am

      I sure am 'eating with my eyes' on this post. The fish looks so tender and that sauce looks like a wonderful addition. I'm hungry just from looking at it.

      Reply
    8. Alisha Rodrigues says

      May 07, 2018 at 11:46 am

      Loving this post. It looks delicious, planning to make this for dinner tonight. Thanks for sharing this one with us.

      Reply
    9. Jennifer says

      May 07, 2018 at 11:42 am

      This was such a fun post read! I love that you guys took a cooking class. I really enjoyed his tips on cooking mushrooms...mine always end up soggy. Now I know why! Haha!! I'm sure that dish tasted as delicious is looks.

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        May 07, 2018 at 11:46 am

        I appreciated the mushroom tips as well! One of the things I liked most about this class was how much technique we learned tin the process.

        Reply
    10. Megan Joy says

      May 07, 2018 at 11:22 am

      Looks delicious! I wish I was a more seasoned cook that could work off of intuition in the kitchen, but sadly I still have to follow recipes to a T! 🙂

      Reply
    11. Suzy says

      May 07, 2018 at 11:03 am

      Wow! This looks great!

      Reply

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