Smoked Salmon Filets with Lapsang Souchong Cream Sauce

Name: Smoked Salmon Filets with Lapsang Souchong Cream Sauce
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: ½ cup/120 milliliters low-sodium soy sauce; 2 to 3 fresh sage leaves; 3-inch/7-centimeter piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped; 6 large (or 12 small) water-packed artichoke hearts (fresh artichoke hearts can be used by blanching them in salted water for about 5 minutes or until tender); 4 scallions, trimmed to include three inches of the green tops; Salt and white pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon/3 grams dried thyme; 1 large clove garlic, peeled and crushed; 1 cup/250 milliliters crème fraîche; 2 tablespoons/28 grams Lapsang Souchong tea leaves; 1 tablespoon/15 milliliters olive oil; 2 teaspoons/8 grams brown sugar; 2 to 2½ pounds/1 kilogram (approximately) side of filet of fresh salmon; 2 cups/500 milliliters vegetable or fish stock; 2 cups/500 milliliters water

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Cooking with Tea

By Robert Wemischner and Diana Rosen

Published 2000

About

The sweet taste of smoking and the classic earthiness of Lapsang Souchong blend seamlessly in this fish recipe for all seasons. The result is a complexly flavored dish in a soft palette of colors: the pale celadon of the sage leaves and artichoke hearts against the blush of coral from the salmon.

Ingredients

2 to 2½ pounds/1 kilogram (approximately) side of filet of fresh salmon
Salt and white pepper to taste

Fish course
Pescatarian

Method

Salt and pepper the salmon and cut into 6 pieces. This recipe uses two different techniques to cook the salmon. First, we use the smoking mixture noted, adding the thyme to augment the seasoning slightly. Smoke the salmon in a wok for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside. Next, heat the olive oil in a heavy, large pan until almost