Light Supper

Poached Salmon with Saffron and Dill Risotto

My last blog post being some time ago, a few things have changed. One of them is that I have attended three courses at Ashburton Cookery School and Ashburton Chefs Academy.

The photo is of a plate of Poached Salmon with Saffron and Dill Risotto, the first dish I cooked on an Intermediate Cookery Week in 2015. The last course I attended was Food Photography earlier this year, after which I thought I'd revisit some of the recipes by way of a photography project.

The picture isn't mocked up or enhanced in any way, but since I was cooking specifically for the shoot I decided on a few shortcuts. The main one was that instead of wine and stock, I used plain water. This was an interesting way to have it reinforced that wine is used to de-glaze: I found that the spatula caught rather more on the base of the pan than when I cooked the dish actually to eat.

When I took the four-week Certificate in Professional Culinary Skills course last Spring, we made a similar dish: Saffron Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and Pears. On both courses we learned that one can prepare risotto ahead of time by adding only half of the liquor and cooling the dish, then adding the remaining liquor in time for service. I'm now a volunteer chef at a drop-in centre for the homeless, and like to prepare what I can in advance, but I must confess that a risotto is still a bit too 'busy' a dish to consider.