Karin's Week Ten Recipe: Salmon with Rosemary Sauce

This week, salmon was on sale, and we haven't had fish in a bit, so I thought this would be a good week to look for a fish recipe. Interestingly enough, there is apparently not a huge call for doing things to salmon other than baking or pan-frying. After checking the Joy of Cooking, Julia Child (vol 1 & 2), Martha Stewart, and various ethnic cookbooks with little success, I ended up with a recipe from Betty Crocker again, this time from the 40th Anniversary Cookbook.

Salmon with Rosemary Sauce

1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves
4 fresh parsley sprigs (I used dried, about 2 tsp)
3 peppercorns (I had a 4 peppercorn blend, so used 3 of 4 varieties)
1/4 lemon
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth (I used the organic kind from a box, as it's much healthier)
1 lb salmon or other fatty fish
1/2 c half-and-half (Did not have this, so used 1/4c cream and 1/4c 1% milk)
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp salt (I used 3 twists of the grinder)

**All spices in this recipe were from Penzey's, so an excellent substitute for fresh.

Place first 4 ingredients into a cheesecloth bag and tie securely. (I could not find my cheesecloth, even after excavating our basement storage, so didn't tie them up nicely.) Heat broth and cheesecloth bag to boiling in 10-inch skillet; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 5 min. If fish fillets are large, cut into 4 serving pieces. Place fish into skillet; add water to cover. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5-10 minutes until fish flakes easily with fork. Remove fish to warm serving platter. Reserve 1/3 c broth mixture. Discard cheesecloth bag and remaining broth.

Mix half-and-half and cornstarch. Heat mixture, reserved broth, 1 tsp rosemary and the salt to coiling in skillet over medium heat. Boil and stir 1 minute. Pour over fish.

This was a very quick and tasty way to cook fish. I hadn't really done a poached fish before. I also decided that the cheesecloth was not particularly necessary, as you put more spice leaves into the sauce anyways, so floaty things were not a big concern. I did remove the lemon and peppercorns when discarding the broth. This version of salmon got a thumbs up on taste and ease of prep. I will probably make this again sometime, as it's a nice change from my normal salmon prep methods.