Salmon with a foaming chive cream sauce

It's another fish recipe.  And another recipe using the rather good wild alaskan salmon from Sainsburys.  Trig recently posted a recipe using the Waitrose version of the fish.  

What's so good about this salmon then?  Well firstly from a purely visual perspective, it is beautiful - a very deep pink, almost red, rather than the insipid orange-pink of farmed salmon.  It is also wonderfully firm and dense - much meatier than we're used to.  And finally, it has a great flavour - deeper and more refined than its farmed cousin.

This recipe is based on a Rick Stein one - only he uses champagne to give a really light and foamy sauce. Not running to champagne every night of the week (sadly), this one uses white wine and whipped cream.  Whipping the cream before adding to make the sauce gives a lovely light and airy texture - going very well with the salmon.  Garnished with crispy fried red onion rings and a blob of chive cream and served with runner beans and rice, there were some lovely textures all going well together in this recipe.  Mashed or crushed potatoes would give a different balance to the meal, but on the night we fancied rice.

If you check out Trig's recipe above, you'll see that he recommends a light dusting of flour on the skin of the fish, making it lovely and crisp - a great tip. 

Salmon with a foaming chive cream sauce
(serves 2)

2 thick fillets or pavés of wild salmon
Sea salt and pepper
200ml fish stock
2 strips lemon zest
3 sprigs thyme
1 shallot, peeled and halved
About 6 black peppercorns
100ml dry white wine + 1 teaspoon
Juice of half a lemon
A pinch of sugar
Small knob of butter
5tbsp double cream
2 teaspoons snipped chives
1 tomato, skinned, seeded and in small dice

Season the fish and set aside.  Put the stock, lemon zest, thyme and shallot in a small pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to about a third of the original volume.  Strain the solids and return to the pan.  Add the wine, lemon juice and a pinch of sugar.

In a bowl, whip the cream to soft, floppy, airy peaks with the teaspoon of wine.  Gently fold in the chives. 

Meanwhile, fry the salmon in a very little neurtral oil, skin-side down until the skin is nicely crisp and the salmon almost cooked.  Turn, remove the pan from the heat - the fish will continue to finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan.

Bring the stock back to a simmer and whisk in the butter.  Add the tomato and return to the simmer.  Very gently fold the cream - holding back a couple of spoonfuls for garnish - being careful not to lose all the air.  Serve - rice/potato, fish, crispy red onion rings, sauce, blob of cream... eat...

tags: fish  

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