Saturday, February 16, 2013

Whole Poached Salmon


Friday 15 February
The blog shows that we haven't made this since 2009, probably because Kroger's hasn't had whole salmon on sale as often as they used to.  But now Lenten sales are abundant.  Rather than buy the tired fillets on show, Barbara persuaded the nice guy at the fish counter to go back and winkle out the only whole (unfortunately headless) salmon, a big buster of almost 7 pounds.  She dragged it home, and Holt cut four steaks off the front to freeze for later, and the tail from which to make a quick fish fumet for future chowder.
We made it in our (really Julia's) classic manner.


Here are the ingredients, all laid out.


Holt has a wonderful time dicing the mirepoix really small.  Then they are sautéed, and go into the bottom of our poacher, on top of the lift-off interior part. 


Keeps the fish raised above the liquid, so it steams rather than boiling and doesn't overcook.


There was a sprig of winter thyme for the cavity, but in the sauce we used cubes of tarragon that Barbara had forethoughtfully chopped up last season and frozen in oil in ice cube trays.  Here's the sauce boiling down in the pan, and also the fish fumet in its small pot.  You can see the salmon and the extra mirepoix on the board in the background.


And here's the final plate, with the mirepoix added to the sauce and mounted with cream.  If there's any left over (unlikely, really), it goes really well in the salmon chowder that will be our first feast on the remains (salmon cakes are the second, and after that, we're lucky if we have anything left for a salmon salad).  Really, it's worth making a whole salmon to enjoy it for the entire week.

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