Crème Fraîche Braised Salmon and Peas

Salmon is one of my family's favorite fish to eat and I'm always looking for new ways to cook it. Since my boyfriend loves sauces and particularly French style ones, I was thrilled to find this one. Not only was it incredibly delicious, but fast and easy to boot!

If you can, make your own crème fraîche, it's ridiculously expensive if you can find it in a store and so easy to make at home; you pour a tablespoon or so of buttermilk into a jar with heavy cream and cover it and let it sit out on the counter for 24 to 36 hours until it thickens. Then refrigerate and voila! crème fraîche! It's the key to this dish and you'll be surprised how you'll find other ways to use your creation - with fresh fruit, swirled into or on top of pancakes, anywhere you'd use sour cream, because that's what it is!

The original recipe called for fava beans along with the peas, but I skipped them and simply served it with the best broccoli you've ever had (use this recipe, it's the truth!) and definitely mashed potatoes. A real winner, 5 star dish in our house!

Crème Fraîche Braised Salmon and Peas (from BBC)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 green onions, thinly sliced (or 1 small leek, or 1 shallot)
1 cup fish stock
2/3 cup crème fraîche
2 tablespoons frozen peas
4 skinless salmon fillets
slices of green part of green onions for garnish

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan with a lid. Cook the onion for 5-10 mins until soft but not colored, then pour in the stock. Simmer for a few minutes until reduced slightly then add the crème fraîche and season. Cook for 1 minute more.

Add the salmon fillets to the pan and turn down to a simmer and cover. Cook for 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon. You'll notice salmon begin to turn a lighter color. Add peas when salmon is still raw looking in the middle and cook another 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and spoon peas and sauce over salmon and serve with mashed potatoes and your choice of vegetable.
I made broccoli from this recipe.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches with Malted Buttercream at Eats Well With Others
Baked Polenta Fries at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice
Stir Fried Asparagus with Coconut at ECurry!