Salmon with Pea and Tarragon Sauce

Sautéed Salmon with Pea and Tarragon Sauce
Sautéed Salmon with Pea and Tarragon Sauce

This is just an idea I had to teach the students in my latest cookery class that a few humble ingredients can make a stunning lunch time dish. You can even save money with a little planning. I serve the salmon on crushed baby potatoes and the sauce would you believe is made from chicken stock and frozen peas!

In the UK, unfortunately, buying fresh seafood from a supermarket is hard to do since many of the UK’s stores closed their seafood counters during the height of Covid.  There are currently only two UK supermarket chains that still have a fresh seafood counters, Morrisons and the other being Waitrose’s.  So I try to buy my seafood from my local Morrisons when I can, to help support them.  I often buy a whole salmon and cut it into 10-12 portions myself, then freeze the portions and this way I’ve got decent quality salmon any day I want.  This method will always give me a better quality than buying frozen salmon portions that were not good quality or fresh in the first place.  The other bad alternative is fish that are packed under atmosphere, this is fresh fish that has the oxygen removed when packaged to increase the shelf life, which to me is the worst of all worlds. Firstly, the quality is very hit and miss and even a chef cannot always tell until the portion of fish is unwrapped. The oxygen is replaced by Nitrogen (N2) and or carbon dioxide (CO2), but if the fish was not at the peak of freshness when packed it will be a stale piece of fish.  The “extended shelf life date” is often too unrealistically long.  Worst of all is the fact that supermarkets are using packed under atmosphere to boost profits with no thought for the carbon dioxide they are using in an age of global warming.

It is always easier to tell if fish is fresh if you are able to buy the whole fish. Look for clear eyes, bright red gills and an iridescent sheen to the skin.

Syosaku and Salmon Small

Sauteed Salmon with Pea and Tarragon Sauce and Crushed Potatoes©Kevin Ashton 2024

Serves 2

2 x 140 gram fresh salmon

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

300 g Frozen Peas thawed

300 ml Chicken or fish stock

5 g Fresh Tarragon finely chopped

½ Tbs level cornflour

150 g parsnips Cut into thin even pieces

50g Grated padano (optional)

325 g Baby potatoes

Method:

  1. Blend the peas with 200 ml of cold chicken stock. When you have smooth mixture (after about 4-5 minutes), blend in the remaining 100 ml of chicken stock.
  2. Strain the pea mixture through a fine strainer pushing through as much of the pea pulp as possible. You should have only 120g left of the pulp left in the strainer.
  3. Reserve 50 ml of pea mixture and stir in the cornflour and 1TBsp olive oil, making sure you have no lumps.
  4. Put the rest of the strained pea sauce into a non-stick saucepan, but do not heat yet.
  5. Cut the baby potatoes in half if needed and and cook until tender in boiling salted water. Then keep warm.
  6. Whilst the potatoes are cooking blanch the parsnips for 3 minutes in boiling water, cool and drain.
  7. Fry the parsnips in a non-stick frying pan using 1Tbsp olive oil, season and turn until brown then transfer to a bowl and sprinkle on the cheese and keep warm.
  8. Heat up the pea sauce and bring to a simmer, then stir in the cornflour mixture and keep stirring to prevent lumps. Turn the heat down, add the tarragon and keep warm.
  9. Preheat oven to 180C
  10. Wipe out frying pan and heat the last 1 Tbsp of olive oil on a medium heat.
  11. Pat the salmon on paper towel to make sure it is dry, then place in the hot pan flesh side down. Seal all sides of the salmon and season with salt and pepper. Once brown transfer the salmon to the oven and cook until it is around 65 C then remove.

To Serve:

Drain the cooked potatoes, add more salt and pepper if needed and crush lightly then fill a    2 ½ inch cookie cutter on each bowl.

Spoon the pea sauce around the crushed potatoes and carefully remove the cookie cutter.

Gently place the salmon on top of the potatoes and serve the cheesy parsnips on the side. Decorate with a few extra tarragon leaves.

Chefs Notes:

As the autumn turned to winter I decided this year to bring my tarragon plant indoors and see if It would continue to grow and it did and is flourishing.  So much so that I have been able to use it in my recipes 3-4 times recently.  Whenever you grow herbs indoors keep in mind that the flavour will not be as intense as herbs grown outdoors in the sunshine. So in this recipe I used 5 grams of tarragon but in the summertime 3 grams would be enough.

Inexpensive Cooking Lessons:

I’m looking for a few extra people for my Tuesday and Wednesday classes.  Just £10 a month if you sign up before February 29th, 2024.  Just £10 a month gives you access to  2 classes a month.  Classes times are 10am-12pm GMT.  Each two hour class includes a live demonstration, lots of chances to ask questions in a friendly relaxed atmosphere. You will be sent a copy of the recipe so you can try it for yourself.  No long commitment, just pay for the  month you wish to join classes.  Cooking real food is not only good for your health it is good for your mental health too.

49 thoughts on “Salmon with Pea and Tarragon Sauce”

    1. Hi Dawn and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
      Besides the creative side of making recipes, I’ve come to really enjoy replying to all the interesting comments and feedback.

      It’s really interesting to hear the different shopping experiences people have in other places or countries. I know that Arizona is a very arid state but I thought in the states with good distribution, that produce in supermarkets would be pretty standard? Are there any good farmers markets close to you and are they much more expensive?
      Best Wishes
      Kevin 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. What a beautiful and easy dish. We don’t eat a lot of parsnips (my nickname when I was in high school because my last name was Parsons), but I do like them. And of course, my favorite – salmon. We get a box of fresh frozen salmon, halibut, and white fish from Alaska every other month to satisfy our fish cravings. Much less expensive than the local stores, which do have a variety of fish but wow! the prices.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Hi Noelle, Always good to here from you and so glad you liked my idea for an easy and light salamon recipe.

      I’m intrigued to know more about your Alaska seafood deal? Do they ship to everywhere in the US? Is the mix of seafood your choice?

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      1. We buy from the Wild Alaskan Company. The charges with shipping are around $140 dollars per shipment, You can choose what you want but our choice is salmon, halibut, and whitefish. The salmon selection is Sockeye Salmon
        King Salmon, Coho Salmon, Keta Salmon, Smoked Salmon, Salmon Caviar and Lox which can added to your cart. We get a box of twelve proportioned and fresh frozen pieces of fish every other month or so. The fish is delicious – fresh and moist. The ship all over the US – so much easier for us than hit or miss at the store., And they have a 4.8 rating out of 5.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Elvira, for your kind and warm wishes I will pass them on to Sophie also.
      The knife was given to me from Syosaku Japan, it’s handmade and a pleasure to use.

      We are busy as usual, but enjoying life, simple things like time and meals spent with family and friends.

      I hope your 2024 has started well?
      Best Wishes
      Kevin

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Always a pleasure visit your blog and reading your interesting post.
        Thanks Kevin for your kind comment. Thats very nice from Syosaku.

        Keep busy it’s a way to keep younger and healthy. Great for you lovely couple with lovely friends and family.
        If you are cooking everybody wants to eat your dishes.

        Thank you it is, and sure this is going to be an awesome 2024 for all! All the best.
        Elvira

        Liked by 1 person

      1. You’re so very welcome Kevin. Oh I just play and make it fast and easy. I did post one on my blog which was fun.
        🤩
        Btw If you get a chance to vote for me for AUTHOR OF THE YEAR, I’d appreciate it unless your loyalty lies with someone else. Thanks for the consideration l❤️

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Charlie, Always good to hear from yo uand hope we can speak soon, I sent you an email to your Cooking Secrets For email address. Whats the seafood availablity in Milwaukee like?

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    1. Hello and welcome to my blog. The sauce on the salmon is made from Olive Oil, Frozen Peas that are thawed out, Chicken stock and Fresh Tarragon finely chopped. The sauce is thicken slightly using cornflour (cornstarch).

      I know you can buy fresh tarragon at Woolworths in South Africa, here is a link.
      https://www.woolworths.co.za/prod/_/A-6009184280455#:~:text=Fresh%20Tarragon%2020%20g%20%7C%20Woolworths.co.za

      Best Wishes Kevin

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