Today I poached my first piece of salmon. Hell, today I poached my first ANYTHING! What an achievement it felt like. Even though I love poached egg, it's quite unbelievable that I've never even tried that simple task before. Well, at least today I ventured new grounds and am now a de-virginised er...poacher! haha.
On the menu today: Poached salmon in Court Bouillon, with Beurre Blanc on the side and boiled organic potato and French beans. Also, for lunch tomorrow, I prepped some honey soy herb chicken wings and grilled them in my oven.
above: assortment of fresh herbs from the market to add natural healthy flavour to my meal.
This recipe was given to me by my dear cousin in Nottingham. He's a fine chef (going by the delicious pictures I've seen on FB) and I'm counting down till the day I get to sample his cuisine! He gave me this lovely easy poached fish recipe, together with several French sauces to go with it.
According to Wikipedia, Court Bouillon is a flavoured liquid for poaching food. Ingredients for my poach salmon was White Wine Vinegar (I bought a bottle from South Melbourne market), an onion finely sliced, some lemon slices, a couple of bay leaves and dill scattered in. Also, a sprinkling of whole peppercorns. His recipe had carrots, but I figured I'd prefer to infuse a herb and lemony flavour instead. Hope I'm not breaking any rules! As Erwin had instructed, I brought the mixture to a boil and then let it bubble gently for 10mins, this allowing the flavour to work its way into the liquids and then added the vinegar.
IMPORTANT SALMON-POACHING TIP: Take the Court Bouillon off heat first before slipping the salmon in gently. The fish will cook in the hot liquid so pop a lid on and trust that it will! I flipped my fillets over after ten mins, and while they were poaching also layered the onion/ lemon/ herbs over them to let the juices trickle in... (mm, at this point it started all smelling very delish!)
While my fish poached, I moved onto my chicken. I had prepared a marinade from dark soy, honey, ginger, garlic and a couple sprigs of assorted herbs (thyme and Bay leaves) and let my wings soak up the flavours for about three hours prior to cooking. I laid the wings out on a baking tray with all the marinade and popped it into the oven preheated at 180degrees. Ten minutes later, I flipped it over and baked for another 180degrees. I then drained all the marinade (which had since turned to a bubbly sauce of a thicker consistency and with natural oil from the chicken's fat) and brushed some over before popping the wings back in for ten more minutes. Again, flipped it one last time after and then poured sauce all over the now-crispy browned wings. Mmmmm! I find cooking chicken at lower temperatures for a longer period results in a fuller flavoured wing that retains its juices and crisps without burning.
All this time, I had boiled about eight organic potatoes bought last week from Gaswork's Farmers Market in Albert Park, and a handful of fresh French beans from the South Melbourne market. No need for extravagant seasonings, just cooked them in brine - water saturated or nearly saturated with a salt.
I also tried my hand at making Beurre Blanc which is basically a 'white butter' sauce. Was not too successful there because I am guilty of not... yes, terrible crime, using butter. Bah! We live and we learn - I'm definitely getting myself a lovely block of unsalted organic butter for my next attempt. Perhaps I shall try my hand at Bechamel next?
Here are the resulting pictures of my finished product. Salmon flakes away perfectly in individual pieces (not brittle and breaking away), with the exterior a light cooked pink, but once you cut in the colour deepens slightly and with a succulent texture. Sauce could be improved in terms of texture (I kept the shallots in so it doesn't seem broken up) and there's no way I could've gone wrong with the beans and spuds. In all, a very satisfying experience and one that I'd like to practice on a more often basis! 8/10 for efforts to myself!
Until my next post! X
2 comments:
Great website ! Well planned pre-cooking & the foods look delicious as it presented.
Thanks!! =) I'm trying to capture all my cooking expeditions so that when i'm old, grey and wrinkly I can click back and recall the days when my hands were steady enough to spend so much time in the kitchen!
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