How do you make your salmon? Pan-fired? BBQ? Smoked? Do you ever poach? I tried poaching a while ago and haven’t done it in a while, purely because life got in the way and I’ve gotten too busy to experiment in the kitchen. I struggle to follow a recipe, something always needs to change, even a little. Most of the cooking is off the cuff. On a recent glamping trip, had to freeze some of the salmon pieces as they wouldn’t otherwise last the week. So one day I poached them…

NB: There’s no picture for this one, as the phone went for a little swim the day before.

The place we were staying in had wild herbs all around, so collected some wild thyme, fennel, and St John’s Wart, together with some lemon juice and zest (half a lemon), salt and peppercorns brought them to a gentle simmer. Reduced. Added the salmon, and allowed the salmon to defrost and slowly poach.

Once done, remove the salmon pieces from the water but do not drain the water. Put the salmon aside to cool a little.

Using the same water, stems and bits strained out, add your pasta and bring to al dente. While the pasta is cooking, remove the salmon skin and separate in to smaller pieces.

Serve over the pasta, with a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil and a couple of fronds of fennel. A simple, one-pot dish that’s quick and delicious. Alternately, add a little stir-through sauce to the pasta and then top off with the salmon.