Are you looking for something comforting yet in-keeping with a healthy diet? I suggest you try a bowl of poached spicy salmon. It is umm umm good I tell you. Its warming, nourishing and so tasty.
This poached spicy salmon sits in a tasty broth. To make sure your completed dish is flavorful and tasty you need a good vegetable broth as a base, no salt or strong distinctive flavors. I made my own, but I will not suggest you do the same, but do check out The Kitchn’s vegetable stock taste test for advice on a good vegetable broth.
Instead of salmon fillets I used salmon steaks, boneless salmon steaks, nice meaty hunks of fish. You can use bone-in salmon steaks or thick cut fillets if they’re easier to obtain. The balance of the ingredients are fennel, potatoes, scallions and rice vinegar, and if you like spicy, one red cherry, habanero or scotch bonnet chili. Try to use very fresh ingredients, so as to provide as much nourishment as flavor. My scallions could’ve been in a better state, but I made them work.
I used a red cherry chili in this recipe. I’ve never cooked with cherry chillies before, I discovered them at Whole Foods, so I was looking for a recipe to add them to. If you enjoy spicy food, give them a try, if you can find them of course. They have a nice kick to them and their bright color really makes your food pop, they’re so pretty. They should be sliced to release the flavor and heat, and I suggest you shake off 50% of the seeds to temper that heat, but if you want “smack your mama” heat, you can include all of the seeds.
My father used to make a very spicy version of this poached spicy salmon for his Saturday afternoon sports extravaganzas. He used to make a big vat of it and settle into the sofa while he watched wrestling and horse-racing. It was my job to pick his winners! I used to sit in his lap, or when I got older, tucked right underneath him. I’d pick the horses with the cute names and really bad odds. I doubt very much that my father actually bet on the horses I picked, but he always made it seem as if he did, and strangely they were always winners. My father passed a few year ago, but I have some great memories, and this recipe and our Saturday afternoons is one of them.
Poached Spicy Salmon
Ingredients
- 3 medium-large Idaho potatoes
- 2 boneless salmon steaks
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/4 pint vegetable broth
- 1 fennel bulb
- 6 scallions
- 1 red cherry chili or favorite alternative
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
To Serve
- Cucumber slices
Equipment & Utensils
- Large saucepan with cover
Instructions
- Peel potatoes and cut into quarters and cover with cold water and set aside.
- Season salmon steaks with 1/2 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.
- In a large saucepan, heat vegetable broth on high heat until almost boiled.
- Cut fennel bulb in quarters and place in broth.
- Trim scallions, cut into four and add to broth.
- Slice chili into thin slices and shake off 50% of its seeds and add to broth.
- Add vinegar, stir broth and its ingredients and lower heat to simmer.
- Cover and cook for 10-15 mins until fennel softens.
- Drain potatoes and add to broth and then add 1/2 tsp salt.
- Raise heat to high and once broth begins to boil, lower heat to a simmer and cover pan cook until potatoes are almost cooked. You should be able to pierce the potatoes with a fork, but the center of each potato should still be firm.
- Add seasoned salmon steaks, carefully placing them among the ingredients.
- Cover pan and allow salmon steaks to poach until they become opaque.
- Finally season broth with salt to taste.
- Serve immediately with cucumber
