Smokin' Sunday

We decided to try poaching salmon with smoke for dinner. It was a recipe in my latest Cuisine at Home magazine and sounded intriguing. We started by lining a pot with aluminum foil and placed some apple wood chips in an even layer on the bottom. The pot then went over high heat, covered and we waited 4-6 minutes for smoke to appear. The chips were stirred and smoked for another minute before we added chopped carrots, onion, celery, garlic, coriander seeds, a bay leaf and a dried chile pepper. This mixture was allowed to smoke for another 5 minutes.

The pot was deglazed with water and then the foil was removed and discarded. The smoky stock was brought to a boil and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes before being strained. The strained stock went into the pot over low heat and salt, vinegar, fresh orange juice, and fresh lime juice were added. Salmon fillets were poached in this smoky court bouillon until just cooked through. The salmon was removed and diced tomatoes, canned black beans, and honey were added to the bouillon.

Our side dish was Hominy Hummus. A can of yellow hominy was drained and rinsed before being warmed in the smoky court bouillon. The warm hominy was removed with a slotted spoon to the food processor and pureed with sour cream, fresh orange zest, fresh orange juice, vegetable oil, ground cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.


The presentation on this dish was a little strange - some of the smoky bouillon with the tomatoes and black beans went into a bowl, a smoked salmon fillet was added and a serving of hominy hummus was spooned next to the fillet. We loved the flavor of the smoky salmon and look forward to trying that process again. There was way too much broth in our bowls, so we both ended up draining some of it out. The hummus was fine but not something I will crave again.

We rounded out dinner with a Creamy Triple Lemon Pie. The crust was made with Lemon Snaps reduced to crumbs with sugar and lemon zest added and held together with some unsalted melted butter. The crust was baked to a golden brown and allowed to cool slightly.

Meanwhile the filling was made by beating egg yolks until light and fluffy before adding sweetened condensed milk and mixing again until light and fluffy. Some fresh lemon juice and fresh grated lemon zest helped to intensify the lemon flavor on this layer. The filling went into the cooled crust and baked for about 10 minutes until just set. Once cooled, the pie was refrigerated until serving time. A slice was served with whipped cream which was sweetened with powdered sugar and flavored with lemon zest and vanilla extract. The crust, the filling and the whipped cream each had either lemon juice, lemon zest or both to round out the lemon theme of this dessert.