Poaching the Salmon

• Put the salmon, skin side down in a skillet. Add enough water to cover the salmon.
• Cut a small yellow onion in quarters and add it to the water.
• Poach the fish in a warm water bath until it splits open and is cooked through. It will turn a lot lighter in color. It should take about 15 minutes.
• If you are not familiar with poaching, which is slowly cooking in a hot water bath, we have a lot more on that with pictures in the post.
• Remove the fish with a spatula and put it on a plate. Strain the poaching water into a bowl or large measuring cup. Straining will get the onion out and some of the white fish residue in the water. You will have about 4 cups. We are going to use the broth to make the cream sauce. If you didn't get 4 cups of broth supplement with water.
• With two forks, flake the salmon off the skin and set it aside. You can throw the skin away.

Making a Roux

• After cleaning the skillet used for poaching, melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat.
• When the butter is melted add the flour and start stirring them together with a wooden spoon. Stir constantly until the butter and flour are completely incorporated and you have a thick buttery paste. We have more on making the roux in our post.

Making the white sauce

• This is called a cream sauce but it has no dairy in it, It is actually a white sauce.
• Slowly add the salmon poaching broth to the roux. Use only ⅓ of the liquid each time you add it to the roux and fully incorporate it before adding the next ⅓ and the final ⅓. Add the salt and pepper. Stir constantly. This is how you will get a smooth delicious buttery sauce.

Add salmon and peas

• Add the salmon and peas to the cream sauce and continue to cook on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes until salmon and peas are up to temperature and the flavors are incorporated. Don't let the sauce boil.

Serve over toast, crackers, noodles or mashed potatoes