Salmon in Cream Sauce

The fish

1. For really tasty salmon in cream sauce, the fish must be perfectly fresh, so take the trouble to smell it before you buy. Ideally the fillet is boneless, even in thickness, and has a piece of scaleless skin on one side. The skin helps most to keep the fillet from falling apart while frying.

2. If the fillet has a thin belly part, it is better to cut it off and save it for fish pasta –it makes an exceptionally good breakfast, and I love it.

   If you are cooking steaks, which are pieces of salmon cut across the body together with the backbone and rib bones, trim off the fins as much as you can. They are unnecessary and only get in the way in the dish.

   

3. Cut the piece of fillet lengthwise into four pieces, roughly square in cross section at the thickest part.

4. In a small dish, mix the salt, black pepper and sweet paprika. Sprinkle the mixture over the pieces of fish to taste and leave for 10-15 minutes.

   

5. While the fish sits in the spices, prepare the dish. Salmon in cream sauce bakes best in a clay or ceramic pan: pour hot water into it for 5-10 minutes, then pour the water out. The water soaks into the pores and keeps the pan from being damaged by the heat. If you don’t have clay cookware, use a baking dish made of heatproof glass.

6. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan, or pour in the same amount of olive oil, as you prefer. When the fat is hot, carefully lay the pieces of fish in it.

7. Fry the fillet over medium heat for 2-2.5 minutes on each side, until browned all over. Turn the fish very carefully with two spatulas or grill tongs, because it easily loses its shape.

   

8. Carefully transfer the fried pieces of salmon to the baking pan, skin side down. Leave small gaps between the pieces of fish.

   

Cream sauce

1. The sauce is made in the same pan, in the fat left after frying the fish.

2. Peel a few cloves of garlic, crush them with the flat of a knife and chop finely.

3. Remove the seeds and white membranes from a little red hot pepper and chop finely.

4. Fry the pepper and garlic in the remaining fat over low heat until fragrant. Never let the garlic burn.

   

5. Pour a cup (200 ml) of heavy cream into the pan.

   For pastry creams we usually use 30-33% cream. For the sauce, even a lower fat content of 20-25% will do.

6. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, add a little sweet paprika, which improves the color of the sauce, and 0.5 tsp of a dried mix of aromatic herbs. Quite good mixes are sold under names like “Italian”, “Provençal” and “Mediterranean”.

   

7. Bring the cream sauce to a boil and reduce the heat. Heat the cream for 5-7 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly, then taste it. Add more salt if needed.

   

Baking and serving

1. Pour the cream sauce over the pieces of salmon in the clay pan. An important point: lift each piece of fish slightly with a fork so the sauce runs underneath. Also spoon sauce over each piece.

   

2. Put the clay pan into a cold oven and set it to 180-190°C. Clay and ceramic don’t tolerate sudden temperature changes, so heat them together with the oven.

3. Bake the salmon for 20-25 minutes, until golden. Any fish bakes quickly, but you need to judge doneness by eye. If you can, spoon the sauce over the salmon every 3-4 minutes, which improves both the look and the juiciness of the dish.

   During cooking the sauce can thicken considerably and even soak into the fish. Either way, there won’t be a lot of it in the finished dish. Don’t bake the fish too long or it will lose its juiciness. There’s no need to fear burning: in clay cookware that is practically impossible, especially in such a short time.

4. As soon as the fish is done, take it out of the oven.

   

5. Put the pieces of fish on a serving plate, pour over the remaining sauce and sprinkle with finely chopped herbs, just a little. Serve the salmon while it’s hot.

   By and large, this dish doesn’t need a side dish. But if you like, serve soft mashed potatoes in a separate plate or bowl.