Poached Salmon With White Wine Butter
By: Sheri Wetherell
Published: Sunday, December 19, 2010 - 5:18pm

Ingredients




2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium shallots— finely chopped, 1 halved
Freshly ground pepper
2 3/4 cups dry white wine
2 lemon thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
4 6-ounces skinless salmon fillets
1 stick  cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Preparation

1 In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the chopped shallots and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat until softened, about 3 minutes. 2 Add 1/4 cup of the wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. 3 In a large, nonreactive saucepan, combine 2 cups of the wine with the thyme, bay leaf, the halved shallot and 2 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Season the salmon with salt, add the fillets to the saucepan and cook at a bare simmer over low heat, turning once, about 6 minutes. Transfer the salmon to a plate and pat dry with paper towels. Discard the poaching liquid. 4 Add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Season with salt. Top salmon with the butter sauce and serve.

Comments:
lloyd

something is missing in the recipe. Should step 4 be added to the skillet in step 1, and not the saucepan in step 3??
Sheri Wetherell

Hi Lloyd,
The liquid (and other ingredients) in step 3 is the poaching liquid, which is discarded after the salmon is cooked. The remaining wine used in step 4 is to make the wine butter sauce which is then poured over the salmon. I made a small edit to make it more clear. Hope that helps!
Christy

I'm confused about what to do with the shallots after step 1 & 2. Do I set it aside and add to the sauce in step 4? Does it go into the poaching liquid in step 3?