Normandy-style fish – apple cider, spring onions, cream – is one of the oldest ways I know to poach something gently, and it sits at the comfort-food end of what I cook. This is an autumn or winter dish for me: the cream and butter want cooler weather, and a slow stovetop poach suits the kind of cooking I gravitate to once the nights draw in. I use Ōra King Salmon here because it’s traceable, farmed responsibly in the Marlborough Sounds, and I won’t use Tasmanian Atlantic salmon – the two aren’t the same fish. Ōra King’s higher fat content is also part of why it suits this method: a leaner fish needs more care at 75°C, while the fat here gives you more latitude. I use a dry Adelaide Hills apple cider, Tweedvale cream, and build the sauce as a velouté from the poaching liquid – everything in this dish stays South Australian.
⏱️ Preparation Time: 15 minutes
🍳 Cooking Time: 20 minutes
🍽️ Serves: 6
👩🍳 Cooking Method: Induction or Gas stovetop, Steam Oven or Combi Oven
📝 Ingredients:
- 900gm Ōra King Salmon, skin removed, cut into 6 portions (150gm per person)
- 4 spring onions, white and pale green parts finely sliced, dark green tops reserved for garnish
- 50gm unsalted butter (20gm for the spring onion base, 30gm reserved for the roux)
- 15gm plain flour
- 500ml Adelaide Hills dry cider (375ml for poaching, 100ml reserved for the velouté)
- 100ml Tweedvale cream
- A few drops of lemon juice
- Sea salt and white pepper to taste
👩🍳 Method:
- Melt 20gm of the butter in a wide, heavy-based pan over a medium-low heat, induction setting 4 or a low-medium gas flame. Add the sliced white and pale green spring onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes until softened but not coloured.
- Lay the Ōra King salmon portions on top of the spring onion base. Season with sea salt and white pepper. Pour 375ml (+/-) of the cider around the fish – it should come about three-quarters of the way up the portions, not cover them completely.
- Cut a circle of baking paper to fit the pan and make a small hole in the centre. Lay the cartouche directly on the surface of the liquid – the hole allows a controlled amount of steam to escape and the liquid to reduce gently as the fish poaches.
- Bring the cider up to a gentle simmer (75°C – gentle movement, no surface bubbles), induction setting 5 or a low-medium gas flame, then poach for 10-12 minutes. As soon as the fish is in and the temperature is steady, start the velouté in a separate pan – both finish at the same time.
- Alternatively, warm the spring onion and cider mixture to around 75°C on the stovetop pouring into a solid (unperforated) steam oven tray with the Ōra King salmon. Set the steam oven or combi oven to 75°C and poach for 10-12 minutes.
- To make the velouté: melt the remaining 30gm of butter in a separate small pan over a medium heat, induction setting 5 or a medium gas flame. Add the 15gm of flour and stir continuously for 2-3 minutes until the roux smells nutty but hasn’t coloured.
- The Ōra King salmon is ready at an internal temperature of 48-52°C, when the flesh turns opaque and just yields under light pressure – check the thickest portion first. Carefully lift the portions onto a warm plate, spoon a little of the poaching liquid over them, and lay the cartouche back on top while you finish the sauce. Rest for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the warm poaching liquid into the roux gradually, whisking constantly. Add the reserved 100ml of cider and continue to whisk over a medium heat until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon – 2-3 minutes.
- Add the cream, stir through, and warm for 1 minute. Add a few drops of lemon juice and taste for seasoning.
- Spoon the velouté generously over each salmon portion and finish with the reserved dark green spring onion tops or chives, sliced fine.
🥣 Serving Suggestions:
- Kipfler or chat potatoes steamed until tender (a knife comes out cleanly), then dressed immediately with salt, fresh thyme and extra virgin olive oil while still hot.
- Green beans and baby carrots steamed at the same time (5-7 minutes), refreshed in cold water, and reheated to serve.
- A chilled Adelaide Hills Chardonnay sits well with the cider velouté.
📝 Notes:
- Start the roux as soon as the salmon is in the pan and the temperature is steady – both finish at roughly the same time, keeping the cook to 20 minutes.
- The cartouche controls how much steam escapes during poaching. A tight lid traps moisture and steams the fish rather than poaching it. The small hole in the centre matters.
- Cook the roux for the full 2-3 minutes before adding any liquid – undercooked flour leaves a raw taste in the finished sauce that reducing won’t fix.
- Add the poaching liquid to the roux gradually and whisk constantly – adding it too fast is what causes lumps.
- Barramundi or Bearded Rock Cod work in place of the salmon if Ōra King Salmon isn’t available check internal temperature from 8 minutes for a leaner fish.
🧊Storage:
Fridge Friendly Instructions:
The velouté can be made slightly ahead and held warm, but the salmon is best served immediately – it overcooks quickly under any kind of reheat.
Leftovers are better served cold over a salad the next day. Store in a glass container for up to 1 day.
Freezer Friendly Instructions:
Not suitable for freezing – the cream sauce will separate on thawing.
🥗Nutritional – 6 servings:
- Calories – 398
- Kilojoules – 1,666
- Total Fat – 26gm
- Saturated fat – 11gm
- Monounsaturated Fat – 9gm
- Polyunsaturated Fat – 3gm
- Trans Fat – 0gm
- Cholesterol – 108mg
- Sodium – 340mg
- Potassium – 540mg
- Total Carbohydrate – 8gm
- Dietary Fibre – 0gm
- Sugars – 2gm
- Protein – 33gm
- Vitamin A – 12%
- Vitamin C – 5%
- Calcium – 5%
- Iron – 6%
