Poached Salmon with Cucumber ‘Scales’ ~ this healthy poached salmon makes a stunning presentation for any special occasion ~ and it’s easy to do!
My friend Judith and I were winding our way through the aisles of Costco yesterday, filing our cart with lots of over-sized stuff… we’d put something in our cart, only to think better of it a few minutes later and replace it with something else just as unnecessary. But when we reached the food section, things got serious. 2 dozen sonic toothbrush heads?….not so much, but 2 pounds of glossy salmon fillets, you bet.
She told me about the time her sister-in-law served salmon this way, and I got intrigued. This is just for a lark. It’s not AT ALL hard to do, and it makes cold salmon look elegant. Think Mother’s Day, or a light summer dinner for the two of you. Salmon is one of the few fish that I think tastes just as good hot or cold. It’s perfect for hot weather because you can poach it in the cool of the morning, and serve it straight from the fridge at night. This is a pretty dish, so it lends itself to special occasions, but it’s so easy that you can do it just for fun.
The one thing you will need for this dish is a MANDOLIN SLICER. You know I’ve harped on this subject many times, you need a mandolin slicer. There are so many fabulous things that you can only make with one of these inexpensive tools…homemade chips, paper thin rounds of lemon and other citrus, and these cucumber ‘scales’. While the salmon is poaching you can bang out the scales in a matter of seconds. You want to slice them really thinly so they are flexible enough to lay across the fish and conform to its shape. I used small Persian pickling cucumbers, but you could also use the seedless variety that comes shrink-wrapped in plastic. Regular cucumbers will probably be too large for this.
Aside from being pretty, this tastes really great, too, the soft flaky salmon is really refreshing with the light crunch of the cucumber. All it needs is a squeeze of lemon, and maybe a simple sauce of yogurt, dill and lemon. Tarter sauce will do in a pinch.
Poached Salmon with Cucumber Scales
Ingredients
- 1 - 1 1/2 pound salmon fillet
- 2-3 lemons, thinly sliced
- several small pickling cucumbers or 1 seedless cucumber
- fresh parsley or dill sprigs
Instructions
- Set the oven to 400F
- Rinse the salmon and lay out in a baking pan long enough to accommodate it. Add cold water to the pan, to almost but not quite cover the fish. Add one sliced lemon to the water, and cover the pan with foil. Cook for 30 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through.
- Drain the fish and chill.
- After the fish has chilled, slice the cucumbers into paper thin slices. The slices have to be thin enough to be flexible, so they will conform to the shape of the fish. Use the thinnest setting on the mandolin. I recommend slicing just a few pieces to start with, and check to see if you've got the right thickness. No need to peel the cucumbers.
- To layer the 'scales', begin at the tail end and working upwards. Lay them in an alternating, overlapping pattern, just like fish scales!
- Serve the fish cold, with wedges of lemon.
Notes
Whatever you do, don’t get too wrapped up in trying to make the scales perfect, or tying to create a literal ‘fish’ on your platter. Think of the scales as a pretty design element, because the more you try to make it look like a realistic fish, the more it will resemble a giant pineapple. (I speak from experience) Just go with the flow, add a little parsley and a few lemon slices around the edges, and it will be delicious.
OMG, your salmon is out-of-this-world gorgeous. It belongs on fancy brunch table in a swanky restaurant. You are so right about the mandolin. It is an essential tool and I have one in both of my kitchens. One is easier to use than the other though, so I leave the fancier one for my husband to use 🙂
Sam