February 22, 2016 Lunch – PPI Noodles with spinach, Huitlacoche, onions, and confit pork, Dinner – poached Salmon with Dill Sauce and steamed Asparagus and sugar snap peas

February 22, 2016 Lunch – PPI Noodles with spinach, Huitlacoche, onions, and confit pork,  Dinner – poached Salmon with Dill Sauce and steamed Asparagus and sugar snap peas

I was  hungry by 11:00 and wanted to eat the PPI Noodles with pork confit from the other evening.  I enjoyed them and ate 1 ½ plates of them, leaving ½ plate for this evening’s meal.  When Suzette arrived I took out the thawed chicken, but before removing it from its cryovac she reminded me that we had bought a whole fresh salmon at Costco.  We instantly decided to poach the whole salmon.  I fetched it and put it and the poaching pan and cleaned it and put it into the pan.  Suzette added the last of the Savenniers white wine and opened a bottle of Spanish Marques de Riscal Rueda and added some salt and pepper and water to make a medium.  I cut three slices of butter and three slices of lemon and put sprigs of dill with them into the cavity.  Suzette fetched four or five sprigs of lemon thyme from the dining room herb pot Janis gave us at Thanksgiving that we added to the cavity and we poached the fish for 45 minutes.  

While the fish was poaching I went on line to find a recipe for dill sauce.  All the recipes were variations of sour cream based sauces, so I put a cup of the fresh sour cream we bought on Saturday into a bowl and added 1 T. of lemon juice, 1 tsp. of chopped capers, 1/3 cup finely minced fresh dill, 3 t. Finely chopped onion, 1 clove finely chopped garlic, 1 T. horseradish, ½ T. Olive oil, and ½ T. Dijon mustard.  I stirred the ingredients together and put the bowl into the fridge.

I the de- stemmed the sugar snap peas and cut the tough ends off the remaining 20 or so asparagus and put them into the steamer with water. 

After 45 minutes we checked the salmon by cutting into it and found that it was not fully cooked even thigh the level of the poaching medium was more than half way up the fish.  We decided it needed more time poaching, so we removed the piece of fish we had tested and returned the poaching pan to the oven to continue cooking at 375 degrees.  When I asked how long we should cook it, suzette said, “Let it cook, You can under poach a fish, but you can never over poach a fish.”  That is the thing I like most about poaching, although I like my fish slightly undercooked so the juices in the flesh are still intact.

   Suzette's plate sans the noodles and sauce

Suzette then microwaved the piece of fish we had removed, which was about ½ of on side of the fish with the PPI noodles and I opened and poured the 2014  Sanrocchetto Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, which turned out to be breathtakingly dry, and quite lemony, which went well with the fish.  The sauce was a little sour so after we finished eating I added about ¼ cup of fresh Kirtland’s Greek style yogurt to the remaining 1/3 cup of sauce to move it even closer to Tzatziki in spirit and ingredients.

We have a lot of salmon left and a few asparagus, so I see myself eating a lovely salmon and asparagus salad with the dill sauce.  I have a faint recollection of eating a poached salmon and dill sauce for the first time in London on my family vacation to Europe in 1960.  I think the restaurant was quite famous.  Perhaps it was Scott’s.  Anyway I have gained a greater appreciation for poached fish since then.

The Verdicchio opened up a bit after it sat open and warmed a bit and became quite lovely.  Tomorrow evening we will probably roast the chicken with tarragon and lemon and drink the Rueda with it. 

Here are the wines:

After dinner we ate bowls of vanilla ice cream with Hershey’s chocolate sauce (I poured a dash of rum onto my ice cream) while we watched the Antiques Roadshow.  

Bon Appetit