Recipe video above. This quick, creamy Salmon Sauce gets a fine dining touch with the addition of fresh tarragon and chervil. It's simply an excellent, easy salmon recipe for all those times when you want a touch of luxury with minimal effort!
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Marinating time20 minutesmins
Course: Mains, Starters
Cuisine: Western
Keyword: Creamy herb and garlic salmon sauce, pan seared salmon, salmon sauce, sauce for salmon
Season: Pat salmon dry, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Pan-sear: Heat oil in a large non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add salmon, presentation side down, and cook for 3 minutes until golden brown.
Flip: Turn salmon and cook the other side for another 2 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 49°C / 120°F (for medium-rare, recommended) or until cooked to your taste (Note 5).
Butter baste: When it's almost cooked, add the butter. Melt, then spoon over the salmon a few times.
Rest: Remove salmon onto plate, and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.
Creamy Salmon Sauce:
Sauté garlic: Add garlic and stir for 20 seconds or until light golden.
Reduce wine: Add white wine, turn up heat to high. Bring to simmer while stirring base of the pan to dissolve all the golden bits into the sauce. Cook 1 minute or until it most evaporates and the wine-y smell is gone.
Thicken cream & stock: Add cream and chicken stock, then simmer on medium heat for 2 - 3 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened.
Add parmesan & herbs: Stir through parmesan (this will thicken sauce more), then the herbs. Taste sauce and see if more salt and pepper is needed.
Serve: Serve salmon with Creamy Sauce, ensuring there's something on the plate to soak up all that amazing sauce! Mashed Potato rates highly. See above video for list of suggestions (including side salads).
Notes
* See Note 4 for other herb options1. Salmon - Trout is a fabulous alternative to salmon. And to be honest, this sauce will work with virtually any fish suited to pan searing, I'm just partial to using salmon.Skin on - either cook Crispy Skin Salmon then serve skin side up with this sauce, or just cook normally with the skin on, serve it flesh side up and eat the salmon off the skin or peel the skin off before serving.2. Wine is optional, it adds more depth of flavour into the sauce and used for deglazing the pan (ie dissolving the tasty golden bits left in the skillet from browning the prawns into the sauce = free flavour!)I use sauvignon blanc or pinot gris (because they're my drinking wines!). Anything that's not overly fruity (like some rieslings) or too woody (like some chardonnays) will be fine.3. Parmesan - you need to grate your own to ensure that it melts. Store-bought pre-grated in any form (sandy, or fine batons) just doesn't melt properly in sauces. When measuring, remember that freshly grated is aerated so the volume will look far greater than the weight, so you need to pack the cup down lightly (ie 50g / 2oz freshly grated parmesan = over 1 cup in volume, but 1/2 cup lightly packed in.4. Other herb combinations that would work really well:
1 1/2 tbsp dill + 1/2 tbsp parsley (I'd add a squirt of lemon here too)
1 tbsp each chives and parsley (as the chives will bring freshness but not that much flavour)
5. Internal temperature of cooked salmon:
Rare - 43°C / 110°F
Medium rare (recommended) - 49°C / 120°F
Medium - 54°C / 130°F
6. Storage and leftovers - cooked salmon can be kept up to 3 days. Reheat gently on low heat in the microwave. Careful to ensure the salmon doesn'tcook further and become overcooked.7. Nutrition per serving, assuming all sauce is consumed (which of course it will be, using anything suitable for mopping!).Shave off 110 calories by using light thickened cream instead, skip the butter and reduce parmesan to 1/4 cup (25g). Won't have the same luxurious mouthfeel, but the flavour will be there!