This poached salmon salad is my rendition of my mother's favourite salad. The salmon is poached to tender perfection and chilled. Then it is served on a bright salad with strawberries, mandarin orange, mushrooms, and walnuts. And to top it all off, it is drizzled with my fresh strawberry vinaigrette. So delicious and healthy!
how to poach salmon
Poaching is cooking something in a simmering liquid. The result is very tender and infused with the flavours of the liquid you cooked it in. I used a nice sauvignon blanc (a dry white wine), water, fennel, shallots, fresh parsley, and whole black peppercorns. The salmon came out so flavourful that it didn't need any salt at all.
Once you bring all of the poaching ingredients to a boil, add the salmon, reduce the heat, and cover to let it simmer in the hot liquid for eight to nine minutes. Then you turn off the heat and let it sit for another five.
Remove the salmon and set on a plate to cool for fifteen minutes. You can now dispose of the poaching liquid and ingredients. Cover the salmon plate in plastic wrap and store in the fridge to chill. You can poach the salmon ahead of time, even the day before - making meal prep a breeze.
poached salmon salad
Time to put together the salad! For greens, I chose a bright, young, spring mix. If you're preferential to using all baby spinach leaves like my mother is, that's a great option too.
Next you're going to add the strawberries, mandarin orange, button mushrooms, and walnuts. For this salad, I like to plate the greens first and then strategically place the toppings, rather then tossing them together in a bowl.
You can whip up a batch of my fresh strawberry vinaigrette in just a few minutes. And it tastes amazing paired with this tender salmon! Juicy strawberry and black pepper.. what is there not to love about it?
Poached Salmon Salad with Fresh Strawberry Vinaigrette
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Salads
- Cuisine: American
Description
A healthy salad with tender, flavourful poached salmon and a juicy strawberry & black pepper vinaigrette.
Ingredients
Poached Salmon:
2 salmon fillets (approx. ¾ lb / 340 g each) *
1 ½ cups (355 ml) dry white wine **
1 shallot, sliced
½ fennel bulb, quartered
½ tbsp whole black peppercorns
a few sprigs fresh parsley
Salad:
6 cups (150 g) baby salad greens
1 cup (125 g) strawberries, sliced
1 cup (70 g) button mushrooms, sliced
4 ounces (113 g) mandarin oranges in juice, drained
¼ cup (25 g) walnuts
Instructions
Poaching the salmon:
In a pot that will be big enough to hold the salmon fillets, add the wine, fennel, shallots, peppercorns, and parsley. (Do not add the salmon yet.) Add three inches of water to the pot.
Bring the pot just to a boil. Add the salmon fillets, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 8-9 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes.
Remove the salmon and set on a plate. Let it rest for 15 minutes before covering it with plastic wrap and setting it in the fridge to chill. You can dispose of the poaching ingredients.
Making the salad:
Plate the salad greens, then top with strawberries, mandarin oranges, mushrooms, and walnuts.
Place a chilled salmon fillet on top.
Drizzle with fresh strawberry vinaigrette.
Notes
* Select a nice and fatty, boneless piece of salmon. I prefer Atlantic salmon for this, rather than Pacific.
** For wine, I used a sauvignon blanc.
Keywords: poached salmon, salmon salad
Great recipe! I had no idea strawberry and salmon could go so great together
Thanks! Yes, they're wonderful together.
My new favorite summer salad!
Awesome, thank you
I loved this. 5 stars!
Thank you!
Literally the best salad I ever had.
Omg that means so much. Thank you!
This is the best.
Thanks!
Scrumptous!!
Thanks! 🙂
This has go to be one of the best salads ever. Refreshing.
Thank you! 🙂
This delicious salad gave me hope that summer will come again. It does not get better than this.
Thank you ❤️ Hopefully, it's just around the corner..
This salad is top rate.
Thanks!