White Wine Poached Salmon with Fondant Potatoes and Horseradish Sauce

Brief Note: There is a little bit of background to the recipe included today on this blog. This morning, I chanced upon an article on Helium - by a writer called Justin Thyme - with regard to cooking and how in many ways it is becoming a lost art form. The article link is included below, as anyone interested in cooking may find it thought-provoking. Essentially, it inspired me to think about what I haven't cooked for a long time and fondant potatoes was something which soon came to mind. I can't remember when I last prepared them and certainly have never included them before on this blog, so today I revisited an old cooking technique and the result is what follows.

Cooking is Becoming a Lost Art, by Justin Thyme

Ingredients for One Person

1 fresh salmon fillet
3/4 pint of white wine*
3/4 pint of cold water*
2 medium potatoes
4oz butter
4fl oz fresh chicken stock
Handful of fresh rocket leaves
1/2 tsp freshly chopped dill plus sprigs for garnish
2 tsp horseradish sauce
Salt and white pepper

*Please note that it is very difficult to be precise with the liquid quantities. This will vary not only dependant upon the size of your salmon fillet but on the size of your pot. Essentially, you need enough liquid to cover the salmon and I like to use 50% wine and 50% water.

The salmon in this recipe is being poached in what is largely residual heat. The salmon is added to a pot, seasoned with salt and white pepper and covered with the cold water and wine. The pot is put on a high heat until the liquid only just reaches boiling point. The heat is then switched off completely, the pot covered and the salmon left to poach as the liquid cools. This could perhaps be done while preparing breakfast and left covered to cool throughout the day, leaving only the potatoes to be prepared at the end of a hard working day. This is also an excellent way of cooking a whole salmon or trout, though a fish poacher/fish kettle would be required in such an instance, rather than a simple pot.

Fondant potatoes for many people are considered to be a rather chefy dish, served only at top restaurants and not something to be attempted at home. Surprisingly, however, fondant potatoes are incredibly easy to make and unworthy of this reputation.

The two medium potatoes are peeled in a way as to form fairly uniform barrel shapes. I have then halved each of them to make the potatoes a little more than an inch thick. The butter should be placed in a pot to melt, seasoned with salt and white pepper and only when you can hear that the loud sputtering has stopped should the potatoes be carefully added with cooking tongs. They should be cooked in this way for seven or eight minutes each side, until beautifully golden.

Great care is required when adding the chicken stock to the pot as the liquid is likely to splash back considerably. Add the chopped dill also at this stage, cover the pot and leave to simmer for fifteen minutes. After this time, a metal skewer or fork should be used to carefully test that the potatoes are soft through the centre and thus ready to serve.

While the fondant potatoes are completing cooking, the salmon should carefully be removed from the poaching liquor with a fish slice and laid on a bed made of the fresh rocket leaves.

The fondant potatoes should be removed from the pot to some fresh kitchen towel to drain, before being added to the plate. The dish can be served as is, the horseradish sauce being optional, but for those who have never tried it, horseradish sauce does go incredibly well with salmon. Either way, garnish with the fresh dill sprigs and serve - ideally, with a chilled glass of the remaining white wine.