Olive Oil Poached Wild Sockeye Salmon ‘w’ Citrus Butter Spinach

Olive Oil Poached Wild Sockeye Salmon ‘w’ Citrus Butter Spinach

Is that the longest title for a Stay@Home blog yet? Must be. Sounds all Chef-like haha. Love it. ChillaxBBQ Stay@Home Recipes #36 – Olive Oil Poached Wild Sockeye Salmon ‘w’ Citrus Butter Spinach was a bloody cracker for dinner tonight. I did do two other dishes as well, so I’ll ping those as side-dishes in here for you. Surprise…

The Alaska Guys got the creative juices flowing with their amazing Wild Sockeye Salmon, & Alaskan Prawns that were in my jamboree box I bought recently. & thanks to Orca Marketing, I had another Wagyu Sirloin in the fridge – something special for Jude Jude.

So by all rights, it is also a Bill Wallace Friendly dinner today. Let’s have a look, shall we? Here comes the behemoth titled recipe or two for today, ChillaxBBQ Stay@Home Recipes #36 – Olive Oil Poached Wild Sockeye Salmon ‘w’ Citrus Butter Spinach.

Olive Oil Poaching Salmon

What you are doing is cooking really low and slow, whilst retaining the moisture of the fish. You’re also subtly adding in flavours of your choice and cooking out the Albumin. What’s that I hear you ask? It’s the totally harmless white stuff that sites between the flakes of the Salmon. Albumin will get pushed out of the muscle fibres as it pushes, and will coagulate on the surface. This leaves just the beautiful flakes of meaty goodness. You can leave it, as I do, or scrape it all off. Makes for a good talking point when you come to serve, in my reckoning.

You will need;

• 3 Wild Sockeye Salmon fillets (you know where from…);
• Enough Olive oil to cover them in a deep pan as you will see in the picture above;
• Some fresh herbs – I used Thyme;
• Some cloves of garlic – still in the skins, just bash them with a flat knife to crush them a little and let the flavour eke out;
• A handful of black peppercorns;
• 1 fresh lemon for plating;
• Sea salt.

It’s so easy;

1. Add the fish fillets to a deep pan – of course, I am going hard on my beautiful copper-bottomed SCANPAN as she is perfect for this;
2. Add the Olive Oil until it covers the fish fillets comfortably;
3. Add in;
   • Sprinkle sea salt
   • Handful peppercorns
   • Fresh herbs
   • Crushed garlic
4. Put this on the heat at super-low – basically, you are poaching not frying. You should be able to put your finger in the oil at any time during the cooking process without it burning. Yep, that is your thermometer. If it burns it is too hot, so turn it down. Low and slow and warm;
5. After about 20-30 minutes it will be cooked – basically when the Albumin has all popped out like the picture below;
6. Take the fillets out, drain off the excess oil and pat down with kitchen towel;
7. Plate them up and serve with some fresh lemon wedges for a citrus hit if your dining guest so desire.

Looks stunning, and tastes the same. It’s a beauty of a way to cook your Salmon. Perfectly cooked, super-moist, tender and flavoursome. What more could you want? I think it looks amazing plated up. You could even serve straight from the pan to really show off. You could also add a little creme freche with some chopped chives mixed in as a nice little dip on the side of the plate. Up to you. Go crazy. But believe me, a cracking way to cook salmon is Olive Oil Poaching.

Spanish Style Alaskan Prawns

Incredible prawns from The Alaska Guys. Big fat buggers. Some fatter than others. Hold on a minute, that’s because they are pregnant females and come with a tonne of egg roe too. WOW. That’s unique. Something my diners called out as an amazing addition to look, flavour and texture. I’ll take it. I decided to cook this Spanish style as a starter. Cooked in a pan and also served in one. A nice bit of plating methinks.

You will need;

• Dozen or so Alaskan Ocean Prawns (you know where from haha);
• 2″ knob salted butter;
• 2 Tbsp smoked Paprika;
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic;
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice;
• Sea salt & cracked black pepper
• 2x slices of toasted bread;
• Knob of butter for plating – you could also stir through some chopped parsley for colour – if only the supermarket had any…

And we’re off;

1. Take out your frying pan and pop in the 2″ knob of butter and chopped garlic;
2. Fry that off until the garlic starts to brown a little;
3. Then in with;
   • The prawns
   • Paprika
   • Lemon juice
   • A good pinch of sea salt & cracked black pepper
4. Fry together until those prawns puff up nd turn nice and pink – should take about 15-20 minutes or so to bubble away in the liquor;
5. I plated that in a little saucepan (sauce and all), on a platter, with a stack of toast soldiers for dipping, and the final knob of butter to melt in;
6. I would have stirred in some chopped parsley before adding the butter at the end – that would have been awesome colour.

Citrus & Butter Spinach

1. Fry off a Tbsp of finely chopped garlic in a pan with a 2″ knob. of salted butter;
2. Add in a packet of fresh, baby spinach leaves;
3. Push that down with some tongs and mix through with the butter and garlic;
4. This will reduce in size quite quickly so keep it moving about;
5. Add in 2 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice and stir it through and season with a pinch of sea salt & cracked black pepper;
6. Plate up like the picture above and drop a little more butter on top to melt in;
7. Finish with a sprinkle of crunchy fried garlic that you. van buy at any supermarket;
8. YUMMO!!!

Bacon-Wrapped Wagyu Sirloin

For the little man, I had to bring out a special dish. Like me, Jude Jude is not an avid fish lover like the rest of the gang. So we have our very own little special treats as they slurp on their part of the dinner. And today for ChillaxBBQ Stay@Home Recipes #36 – Olive Oil Poached Wild Sockeye Salmon ‘w’ Citrus Butter Spinach, we got Bacon-Wrapped Wagyu Sirloin. So simple again, but so good AGAIN!!! A happy 6-year-old and 51-year-old.

And we’re off on our steak adventure;

1. Take your Wagyu Sirloin and give it a wee stab all over with your tenderizer;
2. Give a good sprinkle of sea salt & cracked black pepper on both sides;
3. Take a pack of streaky bacon and wrap the steak all over as you can sort of see in the picture;
4. Give the bacon a good sprinkle of cracked black pepper too;
5. On a baking tray and in the oven at 190 for about 20 minutes until the bacon has started to crisp up;
6. That should also equate to medium to medium-rare on the steak done-ness front;
7. For plating, I just slapped this onto a little wooden platter and took it to Sir’s (Jude) tableside and carved it then and there.

Wow, what a dinner ChillaxBBQ Stay@Home Recipes #36 – Olive Oil Poached Wild Sockeye Salmon ‘w’ Citrus Butter Spinach was. Thanks again to our partners for the amazing produce you guys keep on supplying. The Alaska Guys and Orca Marketing you make the cooking outcomes easier with such good produce chaps. I’ll be buying some more soon haha. You know my gang by now. That freezer does not stay full for long, and I also need it filled so I can claim to be doing #BillWallaceFriendly recipes… Lots for you to cook from today’s splendid array of food and recipes. Give them a crack; Olive Oil Poached Sockeye Salmon, Spanish-Syle Alaskan Prawns, Bacon-Wrapped Wagyu and Citrus & Butter Spinach!

ENJOY!!!