I have a whole salmon in the freezer (quite a large one) - but would like some ideas on how to use it up. I am happy with the first meal being fillets for a main meal, but my 'fussy lot' are unlikely to want that more than once in a week. I am happy to make fishcakes with the leftovers - does anyone have any favourite ideas for one or two other meals?
Regards
Ann
Poached Salmon with Tomatoes and Purple Basil
Ingredients: 2 each salmon filets, 4 oz. butter (unsalted), 1 1/2 cups tomatoes (chopped), 1 cup stock and 1 1/2 cups basil (chopped).
Directions: REmove the skin from the filets. In a saute' pan, melt 1 ounce of butter, and add the fish, Cover the fish with fish stock and adjust the seasoning. Cover with buttered parchment paper, (buttered side down) then bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 minutes. Turn the fish and cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, remove the parchment paper, and let the pan sit for a minute. Remove the fish from the pan and drain on a napkin. Pass the fish stock through a strainer to another saute' pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce by one-third. Add the tomatoes and basil to the reduced liquid, heat through, and then ad 3 ounces of butter, salt and pepper, and whisk. Place the fish on a serving plate, spoon the sauce over the fish, and garnish with basil leaves.
salmon en croute - sister used to make this for us years ago - mmmmmmmm mouth is watering at the thought lol
1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green purée. Season well.
2. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (just a bit thinner than a £1 coin) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture onto the salmon. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don't have any thick lumps of pastry as these won't cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test whether the salmon is cooked, push a sharp knife through one of the cuts into the flesh, wait for 3 seconds then test it against the inside of your wrist; if it is hot, the salmon is cooked. Serve with the rest of the watercress purée as a sauce.
Extra special fish pie.
Make a creamy white sauce and mix it with salmon flakes, frozen prawns, anything you might have around like fried mushrooms, frozen peas/corn, sliced leeks (blanched quickly). Put into flattish casserole and cover with mashed potato, possibly topped with sliced tomatoes and a mixture of grated cheese and your own breadcrumbs* and put in medium oven for 30 mins then flash under the grill for crispness. It's very nice and easy.
* stale bread put into liquidiser then into plastic bag in freezer.
hi ann, why dont you get a very sharp knife and cut the size you need to do fillets off the fish and keep the rest frozzen
do the same in a few weeks,
no left overs, the family get salmon once a fortnight, they cant complain about that can they?
lbb
I always get a side of salmon, cut it into four portions, top it with plenty of green pesto and wrap each portion in a foil packet and bake for about 15 minutes, served with cous cous and a rocket salad, the boys love it and think I am the best Mum in the world for cooking a meal that unknown to them, takes me no longer than five minutes to prepare ;D
A good recipe for any off cuts is to cook them and flake the flesh, then mix it with creme frache, diced fresh tomatoes, a few broad beans if you have them, whatever fresh herbs you have and warm it through. Makes a lovely sauce for lingulne or any other pasta. It's one of those recipes that can be adapted to whatever you have in the fridge so never comes out exactly the same twice.
I dont like to "mess" with my salmon.
Just eat it plain with new potatoes and parsley sauce!
A good pasta sauce, dead easy, preferably with linguine (Barilla if you can get it):
Ingredients (I mix the quantities depending on how many servings and what's available:
Salmon steaks, skinned and chopped smallish
Leek - finely chopped
Flatleaf parsley - chopped
Basil - chopped
Tin tomatoes (or fresh if you have them) chopped
Butter
Seasoning
Gently fry leek in butter till soft, add other ingredients and cook gently till cooked through. Check seasoning. Serve with pasta. Quick, easy and lovely. :P :P :P :P :P :P :P
Thanks to you all - some great ideas - I'll be trying some of them out next week. Can't decide what to do first - but I'll let you know how I got on.
Regards
PS