Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Poached salmon with blueberry balsamic sauce



Every so often, Tom makes noises about needing to eat more fish for the good fats and other general health benefits.

He has not made those noises in ... oh... 6 or so months.

He really doesn't like fish, especially when he could eat chicken or beef or beans or eggs.  Are there any other protein sources I missed?  Well, he'd prefer those, too.

All the same, he's getting fish tonight!  I'm such an awful wife.  But really, I do it out of love. Salmon is in fact good for you. I happen to LOVE it.  The luxurious mouthfeel, the unique flavor, the lovely color..... Add that to the fact that the blueberries in my fridge were screaming at me because of my neglect, and the fact that I had been eyeing this blueberry over salmon idea on food gawker, and this dinner was going to happen in only a matter of time.

It is also in keeping with my lazy chef ideas.  I literally tossed the blueberries, balsamic and rosemary into a pot, turned it on low, and walked back upstairs to chillax.

The sauce is delicious.  It's tart and complex-- the rosemary really takes it to a level of haute cuisine often missing my my kitchen.  I got the idea for salmon with blueberry balsamic sauce from this beautiful photo, but the rosemary came from Driscolls, purveyor of blueberries.  I served my salmon with steamed broccoli drizzled with garlic butter, and I had plenty of leftover blueberry sauce to use in a vinaigrette!

1 c blueberries
3/4 c balsamic
1 spring rosemary

1 large salmon filet
1/2 c sparkling wine (or other white)
1/2 c water
1 T butter

1) Dump first three ingredients into a pot, turn on the heat, and ignore it for 15 minutes.  Fish out sprig of rosemary.
2) Put wine and water into skillet.  Heat on medium high for five minutes.  Gently slide fish in and put butter on top.  Bring to a low boil and cook 10-15 minutes or until fish is firm but tender.
3) Place dish on plates and ladle sauce over it.

cost: blueberries, $1; balsamic, .5; rosemary, .25; salmon, $2; sparkling wine, $1; butter, .12.  Total: 4.87 or 2.44 per person.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this...every other blueberry sauce I found is so complicated.

    We've started buying steelhead trout rather than salmon and substituting for any salmon recipe. It's smaller, same color, good nutrients and is not as strong flavor wise and is usually less expensive. Our favorite way to make it is planked on the grill - I use maple planks rather than cedar and buy a rub from The Spice House in Chicago called Gateway to the North. Just soak the planks, heat, put the fish on skin side down after it has been sprinkled liberally with the rub. ~ 12 minutes and OMG! I pre-slice the fish but not through the skin and the pieces are perfect and slide right off the skin.

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