Salmon is a light and refreshing summer staple that goes well with just about any side dish. Rick Stein complements this rich source of Omega-3 fatty acids with a mayonnaise, new potatoes, and cucumber salad. This salmon recipe, which serves four, comes from Rick’s famous 1997 cookbook, Fruits of the Sea. He prefers to serve the salmon slightly pink to keep it moist, and poaching is key to achieving this texture.
Ingredients:
* Four x 170g salmon fillets
* 750g new potatoes
* Three sprig mint
* One cucumber
* One tbsp white wine vinegar
* Mayonnaise
* Salt
For the court-bouillon:
* Six fresh bay leaves
* One tsp black peppercorns
* One carrot, sliced
* One small onion, sliced
* Two tbsp salt
* Four tbsp white wine vinegar
* Three litres water
Instructions:
Combine the ingredients for the court-bouillon in a large saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Gently add the salmon fillets and cook for 5-6 minutes, depending on their thickness, until the fish is fully opaque. Avoid boiling the liquid to prevent the fish from becoming tough.
While the salmon is cooking, boil the potatoes in salted water with one of the mint sprigs until they are tender. Drain them and keep them warm.
Peel the cucumber and slice it as thinly as possible, ideally using a mandolin. Give the leaves from the remaining mint sprigs a chop and combine them with the cucumber, white wine vinegar, and a pinch of salt.
Serve the salmon with the new potatoes, mayonnaise, and cucumber salad.
