Poached sockeye salmon with yoghurt dill sauce |
I love it
when a plan comes together. (Much as I hate to admit it, I think this quote
comes from the original television show The
A Team. Very highbrow.)
Chef Mark
Bittman writes a regular food column for the New York Times Sunday magazine.
The columns are fun because he usually picks one food item and shows
multiple ways of preparing it, in a format that is nearly a spreadsheet. Even if you never end up making any of the
dishes, the recipes provide all sorts of interesting ideas.
Recently he
wrote about salmon—specifically Pacific wild salmon (Atlantic salmon is
endangered now). Pacific species include
king/Chinook, sockeye and coho, which Bittman says far surpass any of the pink
fleshy farm-raised salmon in flavor. Not
so much in availability, I've found, but I'm not going to repeat my rant about
why I can't get decent fish when I live 20 miles from an ocean. This comes from
the other side of the country anyway.
Yes, my
local market does carry both farm-raised salmon (fresh) and sockeye salmon
(frozen then thawed, but at least it's American and wild-caught). There are clearly trade-offs.
Sockeye salmon filet (about one pound) |
The wild
salmon has less fat, so requires a bit more attention in cooking. It's also finer grained and darker in color,
and the filets tend to be thinner (at least at our market). But one of Bittman's suggestions made a lot
of sense to me, and since the summer sockeye salmon season is short (say that
fast a few times), it's good to have a recipe that doesn't require heating up
your kitchen to make it. (And I'll confess that I have little luck with
grilling fish—it usually sticks to the grill and falls apart.)
It fits! |
You've
noticed I've been dithering on about antique cookware recently. Well, I'm not done quite yet. Having found an easy summer salmon recipe, I
realized: (1) I have a vintage French
fish poacher (that I bought from a guy selling stuff by the side of the road—he
thought it was a toolbox and I paid $5 for it), and (2) Adora, my new stove,
has a central burner that is exactly the same size and shape as my fish
poacher, and I hadn't even tested it yet.
Obviously this was meant to be!
Adora's burner (there's a grill for it too) |
Poached Sockeye Salmon (courtesy of Mark Bittman)
Note: for my husband and myself, we usually buy
about a pound of fish, as a single filet.
One salmon
filet, skin-on – approximately 1 lb. (make sure you check carefully for
bones—there may be a line of slender ones running the length of the filet, but
pliers work just fine to remove them)
1 cup soy
sauce
Unpeeled
ginger, sliced (an inch-long, maybe, depending on how wide it is)
Scallion
tops (the green part) – no need to chop
Place your
filet in a pot or pan that will hold it flat.
(no liquid yet) |
Barely
cover the fish with water. Then add the
soy sauce, ginger slices and salmon tops.
Cover and
bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for one minute. The total timing on this is hard to predict,
since it will vary with your pan and your burner. In any case, do not overcook your fish!
Turn off
the heat, and let the salmon sit in the hot liquid until it is tender, about 10
minutes.
Carefully
drain your fish. Bittman says you can
chill it for a day in the refrigerator, or you can eat it warm or room
temperature, garnished with sliced scallions and a light sprinkling of sesame
oil (not too much—that stuff is strong). The poaching gives the fish a nice
subtle flavor and keeps it from drying out.
The salmon filet, poached |
You can
also serve it with a flavored mayonnaise (add some tarragon and lemon juice, or
cilantro and lime juice—keep it quick and light).
And enjoy
one of the short-lived pleasures of late summer!
Coming October 1 |
Wow your stove burner is amazing! I love Mark Bittman too, this sounds like a classic recipe.
ReplyDeleteSounds fabulous, Sheila. My new stove (which arrives on Labor Day!) has the same central burner. I think I need to find a fish-poaching pan...
ReplyDeleteI have stove envy! Yours looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou say to "add the soy sauce, ginger slices and salmon tops." I'm sure you mean the scallions tops. Isn't amazing how we see what we expect to see? Proof reading is a challenge.
The fish looks lovely.
I adore salmon. This one is a keeper! Thanks for sharing. What a nice cover for the next in your apple series!
ReplyDeleteDaryl / Avery
Adora sounds like a very well thought out range! I have to tell you that I envy your fish poacher. $5? That's the deal of the century!
ReplyDelete~Krista