4th of July Salmon With Egg Sauce
This traditional New England recipe is a staple for Fourth of July celebrations. It involves poaching salmon steaks in a fragrant broth with onion, peppercorns, bay leaf and dill. The fish is then served warm, draped with a homemade egg sauce. This creamy sauce is made from a roux, enriched with the salmon poaching liquid, chicken broth and cream, then finished with cooked vegetables, chopped hard-boiled eggs and fresh dill. The entire dish takes about 45 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, halved
- 5 peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 whole sprigs dill (plus additional sprigs for garnish)
- 4 salmon steaks, cut about 1-inch thick (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup poaching liquid, reserved from poached salmon recipe
- 3/4 cup canned chicken broth, divided
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 dash salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper (preferably white pepper)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot (about half of a small carrot)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (about half of a small onion)
- 2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Method
- Place 3 cups of water in a very large skillet and bring it to a boil. Add the halved onion, peppercorns, bay leaf and 4 dill sprigs. Lay the salmon steaks in the skillet in one layer, ensuring they are submerged, adding more water if needed.
- Bring the liquid back to a simmer, then lower the heat, cover the skillet and let the fish cook until it is opaque all the way through, which will take 8 to 10 minutes.
- Use a slotted spatula to transfer the salmon to a platter, cover it loosely with foil to retain warmth and set aside the poaching liquid for later use.
- Proceed to prepare the egg sauce using the following steps.
- For serving, ladle the finished egg sauce over the warm salmon steaks and add a fresh dill sprig to each one if you like.
- To make the egg sauce, first bring 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat, add the chopped carrot and onion and cook for about 10 minutes until the carrot is tender, then drain the vegetables and discard the broth.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk the flour into the melted butter until combined.
- Pour in the 1/2 cup of reserved salmon poaching liquid, the remaining 1/4 cup of chicken broth and the cream, stirring constantly.
- Increase the heat and cook the mixture, stirring continually, until it reaches a boil, which should take about 1 minute.
- Whisk the salt, pepper and the cooked carrot and onion into the sauce. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes, stirring now and then.
- Finally, fold in the chopped hard-boiled eggs and the chopped fresh dill gently. The sauce yields approximately 2 cups.
Nutrition (per serving)
Sodium501900 mg
Recipe details
CategorySauces
AuthorAlan in SW Florida