Salmon Sauces Dinner Plan Offers Diners A Variety Of Flavors, Choices
A friend described a dinner party at which the host served salmon with a choice of sauces. The idea inspired this menu, which provides two sauces and a further choice - the salmon can be served hot or cold.
The accompaniments are easy: rice with mushrooms, and tomato halves topped with seasoned bread crumbs and broiled.
The dessert is Coupe Alexandre, a raspberry-topped ice cream dessert that was served years ago at the famous (now-defunct) Hollywood restaurant Perino’s.
Game plan
Morning of dinner: Prepare Cucumber-Lemon Sauce and refrigerate. Prepare Mustard-Dill Sauce and refrigerate. Poach salmon steaks, if serving cold. Prepare raspberry sauce for Coupe Alexandre.
One hour before dinner: Cook rice and keep warm.
Thirty minutes before dinner: Poach salmon, if serving hot. Reheat Mustard-Dill Sauce or bring to room temperature. Broil tomato halves.
After main course: Make coffee. Whip cream and assemble Coupe Alexandre.
Poached Salmon
1 quart water
1/2 cup white wine
1 small onion, quartered and sliced lengthwise
1 teaspoon salt
10 peppercorns
4 (6-ounce) salmon steaks
Cucumber-Lemon and/or Mustard-Dill Sauce (recipes follow)
Combine water, wine, onion, salt and peppercorns in large skillet. Bring to boil.
Add salmon steaks and return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until salmon flakes easily when tested with fork, about 10 minutes.
Remove steaks and drain. Serve with Lemon-Cucumber and/or Mustard-Dill Sauce.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutrition information per serving, without sauce: 221 calories, 652 milligrams sodium, 75 milligrams cholesterol, 9 grams fat (37 percent fat calories), 2 grams carbohydrate, 27 grams protein.
Cucumber-Lemon Sauce
This sauce is thick, almost like tartar sauce.
1 large cucumber, peeled and seeded
Salt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced onion
Shred cucumber and sprinkle lightly with salt. Let stand 30 minutes. Drain, squeezing to remove excess liquid.
Place cucumber in bowl. Add mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon peel, lemon juice and onion and stir to blend. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Yield: 1 cup.
Nutrition information per 1-tablespoon serving: 25 calories, 65 milligrams sodium, 3 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams fat (72 percent fat calories), 2 grams carbohydrate, no protein.
Mustard-Dill Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup half and half
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh dill weed
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash white pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Melt butter in small saucepan. Add onion and cook just until softened.
Stir in flour, then half and half, mustard, dill, salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture thickens. Stir in lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yield: 1 cup.
Nutrition information per 1-tablespoon serving: 37 calories, 117 milligrams sodium, 9 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams fat (73 percent fat calories), 1 gram carbohydrate, 1 gram protein.
Mushroom Rice
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup long-grain rice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken stock
Cook mushrooms in butter in large heavy saucepan until tender and any liquid is absorbed.
Add rice, salt and chicken stock and stir. Bring to boil, cover tightly and cook over very low heat until rice is tender and stock absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 215 calories, 1,009 milligrams sodium, 8 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams fat (17 percent fat calories), 38 grams carbohydrate, 6 grams protein.
Coupe Alexandre
1 (10-ounce) package frozen raspberries
1-1/2 tablespoons kirsch
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 pint vanilla ice cream
1/2 pint raspberry sherbet
4 almond macaroons, crushed
Thaw raspberries; stir in kirsch and refrigerate.
Just before serving, whip cream. In individual dessert bowls or footed dessert glasses, place scoops of vanilla ice cream and raspberry sherbet side by side. Spoon some of raspberry mixture in center.
Top with whipped cream, then sprinkle with macaroon crumbs. Serve remaining raspberries in sauce boat.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 340 calories, 65 milligrams sodium, 66 milligrams cholesterol, 17 grams fat (45 percent fat calories), 44 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein.