Receta Poached Salmon with Saffron Sauce and Mussels
One night, not too long ago, Andrew asked for something light for dinner. I shouldn’t have been all that surprised because as the blog has been laden with cold weather comfort food, so has our table. I love the indulgence of these winter recipes but I get the point. So I found a recipe from Saveur Magazine that had all the elements of a classic winter meal. There’s the rich flavor of poached salmon and it sits in a lovely sauce redolent with saffron and fennel and enough butter to make it silken. The mussels float on top adding to the stew-like feeling I got from this dish. I confess that I don’t often use Saffron and until this recipe, I would have to say that I was a little disappointed every time I did. For
an ingredient that is, by weight, likely the most expensive item in the entire
arsenal of spices we keep, its underperformance was shocking. This time I got it right in two ways: I bought the saffron at Trader Joe’s which
sells it for the bargain basement price of 5.99 for .020 oz. That’s still a lot of money but when it
performs as it does in this recipe, it’s well worth the splurge.
Crocus SativusSaffron
comes from the Crocus bulb but a very specific crocus called Crocus sativus or
more commonly, the Saffron Crocus. Only
the plant’s stigmas, the tiny shoots in the center of the flower, are used to
make saffron and since the crocus only bears up to four flowers, it’s wildly
expensive by weight. One staggering fact
I learned was that in order to produce a single pound or 450 grams of Saffron
you must harvest 50,000 to 70,000 flowers.
Saffron has been cultivated in
Greece since at least the 7th Century BC. It’s thought to be a great deal older than
that, dating from the Bronze Age. Later it was traded in Eurasia and brought to
parts of North Africa, North America and Oceania. Today Iran accounts for fully 90 percent of
the world’s saffron production. Trader
Joe’s Saffron is imported from Spain.
The more vivid the crimson color of saffron threads, the better it is
considered to be. It has a very subtle taste
but it is prized for its color. If you
can’t spring for Saffron, safflower, annatto and turmeric have all been pressed
into service as culinary substitutes giving the saffron color if not the subtle
hay-like sweetness the genuine article brings to your dish.
As
to the salmon, Saveur’s recipe called for Norwegian salmon. My fishmonger has the most extraordinary
variety of salmon hailing from fish farms and wild caught from Canada to
Scotland to Alaska and Denmark which is where the fish I bought hailed
from. Poaching salmon gives it a
luxurious tenderness that grilling doesn’t.
It’s a very easy dish to achieve on a weeknight as it takes under 30
minutes to put together. Here is the
recipe:
Recipe for Poached Salmon with Saffron Sauce and Mussels
Serves 4. Takes under 30 minutes to
make.
⅛ tsp.
crushed saffron threads (about 12 threads)
½ cup minced
fennel bulb, fronds reserved
4 (6-oz.)
skinless, boneless Norwegian salmon filets
Kosher
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tbsp.
dry white vermouth
1 tbsp.
minced fresh chives
1 tbsp.
minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tbsp.
minced fresh tarragon leaves
1. Heat
oven to 225. Combine saffron and 1½ cups warm water in a small bowl; set aside.
- Grease a 10" straight-sided skillet with 1 tbsp. butter. Arrange fennel
- and shallots in bottom of skillet. Season salmon with salt and pepper; arrange
- in skillet. Scatter mussels around filets; pour the reserved saffron liquid and
- the wine around the salmon. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to
- medium-low, and cook until the mussels open, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from
- heat; set aside, covered, to let steam until salmon is cooked through, about 3
- more minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer fish and mussels to a baking
sheet, and transfer baking sheet to oven.
2. Return skillet to high heat; add vermouth and bring to a boil.
Whisk in remaining butter 1 tbsp. at a time. Remove pan from heat and stir in
chives, parsley, and tarragon. Season broth with salt.
3. Divide fish and mussels
between 4 bowls and spoon broth over top. Garnish fish with reserved fennel
fronds.