Poached Salmon (Oven or Stove)

PALEO/GLUTEN FREE/COCONUT OIL/DAIRY FREE

This is our favorite meal…well my husband’s favorite meal, and one of my many favorites. I figured out the recipe on my own over a year ago when I had frozen salmon portions that I didn’t have time to thaw. I didn’t actually know what I was doing was called ‘poaching’, because I had never purposely poached anything before. (Felt pretty dumb in the moment I discovered what poaching was.) My mom had actually taught me this technique years ago with veggies, referring to it as steaming. Steaming is in a way an accurate description since the food being cooked wasn’t all the way submerged, and the portions on tops are cooked by the steam.

This dish can be made in the oven or on the stove. The oven is best when you are cooking half a fileted salmon not cut into portions. The stove is great for a couple of smaller pieces, and takes less time than the oven.

We usually serve this over a bed of rice (normally brown, but sometimes sticky white). If I have asparagus or broccoli in the fridge I’ll place it on top of the salmon portions and let them get steamed while the salmon cooks. 

Ingredients

Oven Poached

- Half salmon fillet with skin, thawed (If the salmon is slightly frozen that’s okay. Just make sure the salmon is fully cooked when done. I usually get half fillets at Wal Mart, but the package didn’t have an ingredient list, so I wasn’t sure if the Salmon was actually wild, and that it didn’t have extra preservatives. I recently discovered a well priced, fillet at King Soopers that is wild and doesn’t have any additives, so that’s what I’ve been using.)

- 2 cups water, or enough to submerge salmon half way up

- 2 tbs lemon juice, 1 medium-large lemon

- 1 tbs garlic powder, optional

- 1 tbs onion powder, optional

- 2 tbs dried parsley

- salt and pepper to taste

Stove Poached

- 1-4 salmon portions, frozen or thawed (I purchase my fillet portions at Costco. They are pricier than the half fillets, but easy enough to throw one on the stove in the morning for my husband’s lunch if there isn’t enough leftovers from the night before.)

- 2 cups water, or enough to submerge salmon half way up

- 2 tbs lemon juice, 1 medium-large lemon

- 1 tbs garlic powder, optional

- 1 tbs onion powder, optional

- 2 tbs dried parsley

- salt and pepper to taste

If cooking with veggies

- 1lb asparagus, full stalks (minus the bottoms of course) or 2-3 cups broccoli (I get frozen organic broccoli from Costco that comes in separate pouches. I usually use one of these pouches. Costco also has large bags of asparagus. I usually use a whole one of these.)

Recipe

Oven Poached

1. Turn on oven broiler.
2. Place salmon skin side down in a deep baking dish (about 2 inches). (The salmon ends can curl up a little on the side, but you don’t want any of it folding over more than an ¼ inch. Placing it at an angle helps.)
3. Add enough water to dish to about half way up the salmon.
4. Squeeze lemon juice over salmon and into water.
5. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients over the salmon, adding a little salt to the water as well.
6. If cooking with veggies place them over the salmon.
7. Broil for 30 minutes, or until salmon is no longer pink in the middle. If cooking from frozen cook a little longer.
8. Serve with your favorite rice, or over a salad.

Stove Poached

1. Place salmon skin side down in a large pan.
2. Add enough water to dish to about half way up the salmon.
3. Squeeze lemon juice over salmon and into water.
4. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients over the salmon, adding a little salt to the water as well.
5. If cooking with veggies place them over the salmon.
6. Cover and cook on high until water begins to boil and then change heat setting to medium/high for duration. From thawed cooking time should take 10-15 minutes. From frozen cooking time should take 15-25min.
7. Serve with your favorite rice, or over a salad.

Original Recipe Link – This one’s all mine.