Smoked Salmon Filets with Lapsang Souchong Cream Sauce

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

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