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The prime reason for poaching certain foods is to avoid an excess of fat and also to avoid embuing a dryness to the finished dish. Lighter meats, such as chicken and turkey can be poached, as can eggs, but my favourite food to poach is always fish. One of my personal favouorites is poached salmon, and this is how I like to cook it:

To feed two people,you will need:

Two fillets of salmon - no more than about 300 grams each in weight
A good sprig of fresh parsley
A small onion
Half a good sized red pepper (capsicum)
Some ground black pepper
A couple of drops of Thai fish sauce (optional)
A teaspoonful of olive oil
A cupful of skimmed milk (preferably fresh)

Method:

Unless you have filleted the fish yourself, 'tease' the salmon fillets with your fingers to eliminate any leftover bones. Remove any you find with your fingers or with a pair of sterilised forceps.

Chop the parsley and onion finely, and chop the red pepper into small cubes.

Put a teaspoonful of olive oil into a large frying pan, heat and add the chopped onion, stirring constantly until the onion is softened and just beginning to change colour. You will find that the moisture from the onion will obviate the need to use more than a teaspoon of olive oil, and as that particular oil is great at breaking down cholesterol, you needn't feel too bad about using it in your cooking.

Now throw in the chopped red pepper and keep stirring so that it softens a little.

Before the onion becomes too golden, pour in the skimmed milk slowly and reduce the heat so that it is just barely simmering. At this stage the addition of a couple of drops of Thai fish sauce will give the finished dish a certain piquancy and (if not overdone) just a touch of saltiness to bring out the flavour of the salmon.

Put the salmon fillets carefully into the liquid, and baste them constantly with the simmering liquid until they are quite pink with barely a hint of translucency about them. Note that wild salmon will always finish redder than farmed salmon.

You can serve the fillets as they are with some of the liquid, or you can put the liquid into a blender with a little (low fat)creme fraiche to make a thicker sauce if you so desire.

I like to serve the salmon on a bed of fresh spinach with some minted boiled baby potatoes, but the choice is yours. A low fat, healthy and very enjoyable meal which doesn't take more than half an hour to prepare and cook.

Learn more about this author, Colin Morley.
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