Salmon with Herb & Garlic Cream Sauce

Here's a lovely way to serve the world's most popular fish – smothered in a cream sauce that's lifted with a good hit of fresh herbs. The luscious sauce is a sensational match with the rich, oily flesh of the salmon. And the best part? You'll be done in 15 minutes flat!
Fresh herbs – the sauce by itself already has enough flavour in it to serve it plain, but adding fresh herbs really lifts it. I wanted to give this salmon sauce a fine dining bent, so I opted for a tarragon and chervil combination for the base recipe. Both these herbs are commonly used in French cuisine, and it lends the sauce a “sophisticated” flavour. Tarragon has a mild aniseed / vanilla flavour, and chervil (also known as French parsley), is like a more delicate version of everyday parsley with a very subtle aniseed note. And just to keep us grounded, I added a bit of normal parsley too.

Ingredients

Salmon
2 salmon fillets
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Creamy Garlic Sauce:
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
125ml dry white wine
125ml chicken or vegetable stock
250ml thickened cream
50g parmesan, finely grated
1½ tbsp dill
½ tbsp parsley
squirt of lemon juice

Method

Salmon:
Pat salmon dry, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a large non stick pan over medium high heat. Add salmon, presentation side down, and cook for 3 minutes until golden brown.
Turn salmon and cook the other side for another 2 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 49°C / 120°F (for medium-rare, recommended) or until cooked to your taste.
When it's almost cooked, add the butter. Melt, then spoon over the salmon a few times.
Remove the salmon and keep it warm, loosely tented with foil. Loose being the operative word here – don't tightly seal the foil, the salmon will sweat too much and you'll lose that lovely touch of crispiness on the surface.
Creamy Sauce:
In the same skillet with all that buttery goodness remaining, sauté the garlic for 20 seconds or until light golden.
Add white wine, turn up heat to high. Bring to simmer while stirring base of the pan to dissolve all the golden bits into the sauce. Cook 1 minute or until it most evaporates and the wine-y smell is gone.
Add cream and chicken stock, then simmer on medium heat for 2 – 3 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened.
Stir through parmesan (this will thicken sauce more), then the herbs. Taste sauce and see if more salt and pepper is needed.
Serve salmon with Creamy Sauce, ensuring there's something on the plate to soak up all that amazing sauce! Mashed Potato rates highly.
Other herb combinations:
  • 2 tsp tarragon leaves + 2 tsp chervil + 2 tsp parsley
  • 1 tbsp each chives and parsley (as the chives will bring freshness but not that much flavour)
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