In this recipe we use fennel for both the sauce and for the side dish of baked vegetables. However, those averse to fennel are welcome to omit it or replace it with some other chewy vegetable, as I bet the dish would still be great.Main course
Place the salmon steaks in an ovenproof dish. Scatter the shallots, fennel, bay leaf, and parsley on the top. (Next time I would use a sachet for the aromatics to make it easier to remove them.) Pour in white wine, cover, and bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes, so the fish is cooked. Remove the steaks and keep them warm.
Sauce
Strain off the cooking liquid into a small saucepan -- ideally a responsive one -- and reduce it until it coats a spoon. Take off the heat, add beaten egg yolks to the pan, and start working in the butter pieces. Put the pan back on ultra-low heat and whisk in the remaining butter piece by piece. Remove from the heat, add a couple teaspoons of the cooked fennel to the sauce, and season to taste, particularly with lemon juice.
When plating, spoon the sauce over the fish and garnish with fennel sprigs.
- salmon steaks
- 2-3 shallots, chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, chopped
- parsley, chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2-3 egg yolks, beaten
- 1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- fennel sprigs
Side dish
Trim the fennel bulb and cut into quarters. Bring a large pan of water to a boil, and cook the fennel with celery for 10 minutes. Spread the fennel, the celery, and the tomatoes in a large baking dish. Mix the strained tomato and thyme together and pour the mixture over the fennel. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 375F/170C degrees for 20 minutes or so.
- 3 fennel bulbs
- 3 celery sticks, cut into short sticks
- tomatoes, fresh or sun dried
- 1 cup pureed tomatoes
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese