Thai Poached Salmon with Watermelon Feta Salad
Wow! The flavors in this are fantastic. Hat tip to Serious Eats for the poached fish inspiration and NYT Food for the watermelon salad idea.
You’ll need a large skillet with a lid for this one.
You want to prep all of your ingredients ahead of time for this one. For the lime peel, just use a sharp knife and peel about half of a small lime and cut the peel into strips to add to the poaching liquid during cooking.
I’d suggest taking your fish out of the fridge 30-45 minutes prior to cooking to give it time to come up to room temp.
I used salmon, but cod or halibut would also work great.
When I tested the recipe I served it without rice or noodles. The sauce with this is incredible and I’ll be serving it Sunday with cauliflower rice or possibly jasmine rice.
To save time on the salad prep, you could buy pre cubed melon. But cutting a melon really isn’t much of a hassle and you’ll have melon left to enjoy. Either way, you’re going to have an incredibly tasty, refreshing meal!
Kitchen Essentials
Here’s a list of some of the essential items you are going to need for this recipe as well as other items that I very highly recommend.
For this recipe:
- Large skillet with a lid
Other highly recommended items:
- Food thermometers:
- Cutting boards:
- Mineral oil for cutting boards:
AuthorJim BrownSalmon Poached in coconut milk with jalapeños, lime juice, lemon grass, & ginger - this dish is incredible and one you'll get addicted to.
Kitchen Essentials
- Large skillet with a lid
Prep
You want to prep all of your ingredients ahead of time for this one. For the lime peel, just use a sharp knife and peel about half of a small lime and cut the peel into strips to add to the poaching liquid during cooking.
I'd suggest taking your fish out of the fridge 30-45 minutes prior to cooking to give it time to come up to room temp.
To save time on the salad prep, you could buy pre-cubed melon. But cutting a melon really isn't much of a hassle and you'll have melon left to enjoy.
Ingredients
I'd suggest taking the fish out of the fridge 30-45 min ahead of time to let it begin to come up to room temp.
We want to make the watermelon feta salad first so it will be ready when the fish is done.
This is just a matter of assembling the ingredients. I bought a whole seedless watermelon and just used part of it for this recipe, but pre cut / cubed watermelon is also an option.
Instead of 2 large tomatoes, I used about a cup and a half of cherry tomatoes - cut into pieces.
This is definitely a recipe that you can estimate the quantities, but I'd hesitate at getting too heavy handed with the olives - you want them as a counter point to the freshness of the watermelon, tomatoes & cukes - you don't want them to overpower the lighter notes of the salad.
I used a pretty thick piece of salmon and took it almost directly from being on ice to putting it into the poaching liquid. As a result it took closer to 20 minutes to cook instead of the much shorter time than I was expecting. I'd suggest pulling your fish out of the fridge 30-45 minutes prior to cooking.
Heat the avocado or coconut oil in a large, straight-sided skillet on medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the shallots, garlic and peppers. We're just want to give this a couple of minutes to soften them up and to begin moving the shallots to translucent, but WE DON'T WANT TO BURN THE GARLIC.
Add the coconut milk, the fish sauce, lime peel, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro sprigs & basil sprigs. Salt & pepper the fish and then nestle the fish in the broth. The fish will be partially submerged. Reduce the heat to simmer and put a lid on the skillet.
Check the temp of the fish in 5-6 minutes. You're looking for about 130-135. My first time to make this, mine took closer to 20-25 minutes but I had a thick piece of salmon and it went from ice to skillet with no time to come closer to room temp.
When fish reaches 130-135 remove from skillet and place serving size pieces into serving bowls.
Stir lime juice into the broth and add salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with cilantro, basil leaves and wedges of lime.
This would go great with cauliflower rice or jasmine rice.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
