Technically speaking what we are making today is salmone al cartoccio, but the finished result is just like poached salmon. Plus, this method is way less messy and quick.
What to expect: The poached salmon cooked this way is soft, flakey, and tastes delicious. The mixed aroma of white wine, garlic and parsley is an Italian classic that will never disappoint you.
How to Poach Salmon
To poach salmon you would heat up a liquid in a pan, then add the raw salmon, and then pour the remaining liquid on top of the salmon.
You could use simple water, or milk, or even stock.
The fish should take about 10 minutes to cook, so they say. I’d rather cook it for a little longer.
Instead of messing up a pan with fish, and having the fish odour linger all over your kitchen, if not the entire house, you can opt for poaching salmon in the oven.
Here’s how to make poached salmon in the oven:
Follow the Cartoccio method, with the only difference that you will be adding more liquid than with your usual cartoccio.
Choose your liquids. Good pairings could be extra virgin olive oil and white wine, or extra virgin olive oil and cream, balsamic vinegar of Modena and extra virgin olive oil, and tomato juice and extra virgin olive oil.
Use a foil to contain the liquid. That way, you reduce the mess, make it easy to serve, and give the fish a closed environment; that will make it even softer.
Poached Salmon in the Oven Recipe
Here’s our Italian poached salmon in the oven. As you can see it features very few ingredients, making it a very quick and healthy recipe to make.
As usual, feel free to follow the steps on your screen or print out the recipe card.
The key ingredients are the salmon of course, the extra virgin olive oil, and the white wine. You should use high quality oil and wine to get the best results. I suggest Belmorso EVOO or Novello if in season (you can check here).
Peel, wash and cut your potatoes into large chunks.
Add the potatoes to cook in a small pot.
I am using some brussels sprouts we cooked the day before, but if you don't have any pre-cooked, go ahead and wash them and boil them along your potatoes.
Peel and finely chop your garlic. Add to a bowl.
Finely chop your parsley and add it with the garlic.
Wash your salmon and lay each slice on an individual sheet of cooking foil.
Generously season each slice with salt and pepper.
Top each slice with half of the garlic parsley mix; spread evenly across the entire slice.
Drizzle each slice with Belmorso EVOO.
Add the white wine on top.
Close the foil surround each slice of salmon, and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. I pre-heated mine for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
In the meantime, you can wash the dishes and finish preparing your salad.
To make the salad simply add the potatoes and brussels sprouts in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with Belmorso EVOO and add two teaspoons mayonnaise.
Once your poached salmon is ready, you can serve it with the salad you just made. Buon appetito; it's delicious and nutritious.
Notes
If you are short on time, feel free to skip the 30 minutes marinating time in the fridge and cook your salmon right away. That will cut down the total time for this recipe to 45 minutes.
What to serve with poached salmon?
The potatoes and brussels sprouts recipe we shared in the recipe above is the perfect side dish to poached salmon, healthy but with a little bit of carbs.
However, if that’s not what you are in the mood of, here are a few other suggestions from our blog.
If you crave sweet food after your dinner but would rather keep it healthy, have you tried drizzling a little Flavoured Balsamic of Modena on top of your low calorie ice cream or Greek yogurt?