before poaching                             after poaching                     ready to eat

I love fresh salmon and when I find some well priced, I buy it immediately. I was really lucky to have found this King Salmon for the same price as the North Atlantic variety–$6.99/lb. What a deal!!!! I have many recipes for salmon but there are two which I prefer: oven roasted and this recipe which is oven poached. Both are simple and easy to prepare yet make for a very elegant looking and tasting dish. As such it is a fine one to serve for guests.

 

I many times serve my poached salmon with couscous or roasted fingerling potatoes (see my blog for vegetable roasting recipes) as shown in the third food picture above; they took about 20 minutes to get done in the 450 oven so see how easy this dinner can be because you can roast them during the same time that you oven poach the salmon. Sometimes I’ll serve this dish with our wonderful Hagerman fresh corn which I so easily cook in the microwave (see my blog for the easy recipe). For the greens I really love making my Lemon Lovers’ Asparagus recipe (also found on my blog) which features roasted asparagus and freshly cut and roasted lemon slices.

 

You can use any kind of nice looking and fresh salmon fillets but the King Salmon makes for a very fine dish indeed. You can roast fewer fillets or more so for instance for one fillet in a smaller baking dish, I reduce the specified amounts of wine, water, etc. mentioned below to 1/2 of what the recipe calls for. As well, because my fillet (shown in picture) is one luxurious inch thick and measures 4” X 4”, it took about 13 minutes instead of 10 minutes to poach. So, take this all in consideration if you poach fewer or more fillets and as well as to the thickness and size of each one. The trick here I think is to keep a close eye on it all. You definitely don’t want an overdone fillet. Lastly, this is a dish that does not have to be steaming hot when served. It is fine served at medium hot temperatures or even at room or cold temps.

 

In conclusion, I think that this is an easy meal to serve for just yourself or for a crowd of people without sweating the preparation because actually you can make it well before you serve it and serve it at room temp.

 

Ingredients for the salmon poaching:

1. Four 6-8 oz. salmon fillets with the skin. I lift the salmon off the skin with a metal spatula.
2. For 4 filets, use 2/3 C. white wine or white dry vermouth. Adjust the amount for less or more filets.
3. 1/4 C. water –once again adjust if necessary
4. Salt to taste
5. 1 Tblsp. chopped FRESH dill and some more for presentation purposes
6. 2 scallions, thinly sliced
7. Lemon wedges for décor and individual use if desired

Directions for the oven poaching of the salmon:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Smear olive oil on a 7 X 11 nonreactive (glass, Pyrex, etc.) dish
3. Place the fillets, skin side down, into your dish. Pour the wine and water over them, season lightly with salt and sprinkle the 1 Tblsp. dill and the scallions on top.
4. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and place in the preheated oven.
5. Bake until just cooked through and flaky usually about 10 minutes however, if your fillets are quite thin, you might check after 5-7 minutes. Be sure not to cook them too long. Even if they look a bit underdone, remember, they will cook a bit longer when out of the oven.

Ingredients for the Dill Sauce:

1. 1/4 C. sour cream
2. 1/2 Tsp. Dijon mustard
3. 1 Tsp. lemon juice
4. 1 Tsp. chopped FRESH dill
5. Ground black pepper to taste

Directions for the Dill Sauce:

1. In a small bowl place the above ingredients and stir well.
2. I place a generous dollop of the sauce on top of the salmon, but if you wish you could pass the sauce around and let people serve themselves. In that case, I do put some extra chopped fresh dill on top of the salmon for the presentation.

 

Margot is a self-taught enthusiastic & passionate cook. Having been an inn-keeper for 5 years at her own inn, she accumulated a lot of good recipes which she loves to share.

 

Be sure to take a minute to visit Margot’s blog http://blog.tempinnkeeper.com for over 200 more simple and delicious recipes. You also can call Margot for personal cooking help or hosting for small B&B kinds of food gatherings. Margot’s phone number is: 208-721-3551. Friend Margot on Facebook and also find her on Linkedin,Twitter,Pinterest and other social sites.

 

Pat’s picture above of her oven poached Copper river salmon

 6/18/14  email from Pat below:

Hi Margot

Did your poached salmon with my Copper river salmon. It was outstanding !!!

Will do again in SV

Yummy. Pat