Poached Salmon with Butter Lemon Caper Sauce

My mom continuously raves about the salmon from Costco. The bummer is, my family always thinks salmon is too fishy tasting. Well, I think I have found the perfect recipe to change their minds. Poaching salmon is quick, easy and some how eliminates that sometimes fishy salmon flavor. Seriously. With the help of my fantastic co-worker, chef extraordinaire Rob Palmer, serve this poached salmon with a lovely butter lemon caper sauce.

Another fantastic aspect of poached salmon is it is great the next day, chilled on a bed of greens. I am not a huge fan of reheating fish (yes, I know many of you have strong opinions about THAT person who stinks up the office kitchen with fish leftovers... SARAH WU). My absolute favorite guilty pleasure is the Poached Salmon Salad at the Ritz in Newport Beach. That with a glass of chard and crusty sourdough bread - HEAVEN. I think their salad is topped with a dollop of hollandaise though - anything with hollandaise sauce is fantastically decadent and special. Check out this quick video on how to make hollandaise sauce on YouTube.

So if you've shunned salmon previously, give it another go!

Menu:

• Poached salmon with butter lemon caper sauce
• Steamed asparagus
• Sticky rice

Poached Salmon (serves 4)
Ingredients:
Yellow Onion, sliced
Juice from 1/2 Lemon
4 Salmon fillets
Dill (fresh or dried)

Sauce
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
2 T capers
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:

• If you have a poaching pan, use that. If not, I used a steamer.
• Fill 1/4 of the pot water, sliced onion and lemon juice
• Bring to a boil
• Place steaming basket and dill, salmon fillets in pot
• Steam/poach for 15 min
• To make the sauce, heat the butter on medium high heat until clarified
• Soak capers in water and drain (removes the salt)
• Once the foam in the butter dissolves and you start to see it brown, remove the pot from the heat
• Add capers and lemon juice
• Spoon lemon caper sauce over each fillet
• Serve with steamed asparagus and sticky rice

Fun plating tip: Top steamed asparagus with a lemon curl. Fill a ramekin (small custard cup)with the sticky rice and then flip it upside down on each plate. The ramekin will shape the rice so it looks like a small castle. Height, interest and flavor.