Winter in February is hard, not at all snowy nor subzero temperatures as in Belgium it is sort of grey, wet and gloomy all the time. It really affects my mood and I am constantly craving comfort food and cake. To combat food fatigue, I ve a few simple, seasonal dishes coming up these next weeks to change up your winter routine.
It is all about flavour sure but also realistically about having time and energy to cook. Poaching fish only takes 8 minutes and pretty much all ingredients come from your cupboard or pantry such as white wine, capers and juniper or bay berries.
Serve any winter veg as a side: for earthy flavours add beetroot ( goes really well with salmon) or fresh shaved fennel or Belgian endive.
Serve with a pulse, grain or seed like lentils, freekeh or quinoa.
You can use fresh lemon to spritz over the fish or like me if you preserved some lemons ( recipe HERE) in salt you can use some to blitz into a sauce. Make sure to rinse the salt off the preserves first.
My poached salmon with capers and fennel
Yield 4 portions
Ingredients
- deboned salmon filet with skin about 800 gr ( 200 gr per person)
- 200 ml white wine
- 200 ml water
- 2 tablespoons juniper or bay berries
- 3 tablespoons capers
- 1 fennel
- salt and pepper
- splash of olive oil
- 1 lemon or preserved lemons ( see recipe on the blog)
Instructions
- In a deep tray or pan place the fish skin down, season with salt and pepper. Add the water, wine and berries till fish is just about covered.
- Cook on the stove top over high to medium heat for about 8 minutes. Check if salmon is cooked through by sticking a metal skewer in the middle. Let the fish rest in the liquid for a few minutes, than remove.
- Shave the fennel paper thin with a mandolin and toss in the cooking liquid and layer on a serving plate, add a splash of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Top with cooked salmon. Sprinkle the capers over the salon and add the fennel shoots .
- If you have fresh lemons, serve with lemon slices. If you ve made preserved lemons (recipe on the blog). Rinse the lemons thoroughly to remove the salt. Blitz in a blender the rinsed lemon with some olive oil and fennel shoots. Serve with the poached salmon.
Notes
on www.leeksandhighheels.com by Sandra Slawinski
Written and photographed by Sandra Slawinski without commercial deals. I used my tray, jar, bowl & napkin Dille en Kamille – small white bowl made by my mama
