Save Us Some Salmon
By Anonymous in Food on Sep 7, 2005 1:53AM
Hey everyone, if you’re like Chicagoist, you’ve noticed the days are getting shorter, a portend of our slippery decent into winter and into heartier food. However, we are not really ready for super-hearty stews and soups, just something leaning in that direction. Poached salmon with mushrooms, tarragon, and cream is just what we need.
Chicagoist is in the process of going through all of those glossy cookbooks we buy then shelve...this recipe is from a great book called Solo Suppers by Joyce Goldstein. The recipes are for one person (hence the solo!), and we can just multiply by the number of people we are having over for dinner to make sure there is enough to go around. This is delicious, creamy, but not too heavy.
Poached Salmon with Mushrooms, Tarragon, and Cream
2 T. unsalted butter
4 oz. fresh mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
1 ½ C. dry white wine, dry white vermouth, or part wine and part water
1 salmon fillet, about 6 ounces, skinned
1/3 C. heavy cream (if you don’t have heavy cream on hand, you can use 1/3 C. milk and 1 T. flour...not quite the same texture/flavor, but will work in a pinch)
1 T. chopped fresh tarragon or 1 t. dried tarragon
Salt & pepper to taste
In a skillet, melt the butter and sauté the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and salt & pepper to taste. In another pan, deep enough to poach the salmon, pour in the wine and let begin to simmer before you add the salmon. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking the salmon 8-12 minutes depending on thickness (if it’s a piece that is thin at the ends and thick in the middle, you may want to cut in half). Remove the salmon from the pan, reserving the liquid.
To the reserved liquid, add the cream and the tarragon, keeping on low heat. Stir constantly and the liquid will thicken as it reduces. Add the mushrooms and when completely warmed through, pour over the salmon. We smothered our salmon with this, it was so tasty. Lucky salmon
As this is a little rich, keep the sides simple...peas, beans, or corn with just light seasoning. A great finish is something we did with the Peaches in Sauternes we made a few weeks ago. Seeing how it was not going to last the week (very ripe peaches), we blended in a food processor, poured into a 9 x 12 pan and put in the freezer. When it was frozen, we took out and scraped with a fork to make a nice granita. Nothing like a sno-cone for adults!