Fold under thin ends
Can coat differently for taste
Ready for the oven
POACHED SALMON WITH LEMON-CAPER HERB SAUCE
Serves 4
2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1 leek, trimmed, well washed, cut into 1/4-inch rounds or 1/4 slice onion
1/2 lemon, cut into 1/4-inch rounds (zest first for sauce)
1 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander (or fennel seeds)
2 tablespoons coarse salt (or 2 chicken boulion cubes)
3/4 cup dry white wine
4 – 6 to 8 ounce salmon steaks, cut 1-inch thick
3 Tbsp soft butter
Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the pan by tracing around the lid.
Combine carrots, leeks, lemon slices, dill, powders, bay leaf, peppercorns, coriander, salt or boullion, and wine in a 12" pan. Add enough water so the liquid reaches a depth of 1 1/2 inches. About 6 cups.
Bring to a boil; lower to medium, cook for 5 – 10 minutes; reduce heat to barely simmering. Add salmon, cover with the parchment paper. Put the lid on over that. Remove from heat and let sit in hot liquid 8 minutes and cook until flesh is firm but still moist and red in the center. Transfer the fish to a plate and spread on the butter (use lite butter if you want, but do not skip this step or the fish won’t be as good and moist); cover with plastic wrap. Let sit 5 minutes.
Serve with Lemon-Caper Herb Sauce.
LEMON CAPER HERB SAUCE
1/2 cup sour cream
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (or a tad less)
2 tbsp (or more) capers, drained, coarsely chopped ***
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped parsley (or 1 Tbsp dried)
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped tarragon (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use.
***The capers make it salty. If you are making this sauce in the morning or the day before, use less capers. It gets saltier as it sits. You can also rinse the capers before using to reduce saltiness.
Sturgeon can be a difficult fish to cook. It doesn’t have much flavor on it’s own. It also gets very tough quite easily. One very positive aspects is that it has NO bones!!
Today I am marinating a batch in a soy sauce mix and a different batch in an oil and vinegar dressing. Then I am going to wrap it in bacon and pan fry until the bacon is crisp. We’ll see what I get!
Well here are my results: I wasn’t happy with the oil and vinegar dressing marinade. It tasted okay, but the fish was dry and tough, strangely enough. My husband thinks the vinegar in the dressing is what toughened it. The soy sauce marinade was really good. The fish was firm, but not tough. Wrapping it in the bacon made it very flavorful, though I can see that some might find it a little salty. An argument could be made for using a lower sodium bacon and low sodium soy sauce.
Cooking With Game 