Sole Poached in Sake, Shrimp Salad, and Asparagus Wrapped in Lox: Tasty Seafood Trio
Putting a healthy and tasty meal together doesn’t have to be time-consuming or a struggle. For this dinner, I used store-bought, pre-cooked salad shrimp, store-bought Green Goddess dressing, and store-bought lox to augment the sole that I poached in some sake.
The entire meal took me less than 30 minutes to assemble, and was a tasty, healthy and light spring meal that offered a break from the monotony of heavy meals.
I usually poach fish in wine, but I was inspired to try poaching the fish in a sake that was slightly sweet to see if the sake would impart the same silky sweet flavor to the fish, which would then lend itself to being served cold as a meal that was more salad-like. The delicate sole did take on some of the flavor of the sake and was delicious served cold on top of some cucumber slices that were cold-pickled in a mixture of water, cider vinegar, salt and a touch of sugar.
The rest of the meal was quick and simple to prepare, and the only other cooking involved poaching the asparagus and rinsing them in cold water. To make the shrimp salad, I simply combined the store-bought cooked salad shrimp with some Green Goddess salad dressing and added some chopped chives.
I served the poached fish as well as the shrimp salad on top of the pickled cucumber slices, wrapped each piece of asparagus with a piece of lox, and dinner was ready! The finishing touch on the poached fish was a sprinkle of dried seaweed flakes and sesame seeds.
Sole Poached in Sake, Shrimp Salad, and Asparagus Wrapped in Lox: Tasty Seafood Trio
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 bottle semi-sweet sake
- 2 sole fillets
- 1 English cucumber
- 4-5 cups (.95-1.2 l.) water
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml.) cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml.) salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml.) sugar
- ½ to 1 pound (227-454 g.) cooked salad shrimp
- 4-6 tablespoons (60-90 ml.) of Green Goddess or Thousand Island salad dressing
- 12 asparagus spears, trimmed and poached in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, then rinsed in cold water and refrigerated
- 12 slices of lox or cold-smoked salmon
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml.) chopped chives (optional)
- Seaweed flakes and sesame seeds (optional)
Method
- In a shallow pan, heat sake over medium heat until it starts to boil, lower to simmer and gently poach fish fillets for 3-4 minutes until cooked. Remove fish to plate, cover and refrigerate.
- Peel and slice English cucumbers and place in a medium bowl. Add 4-5 cups water (enough to cover the cucumber), cider vinegar, salt and sugar and stir. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
- Combine cooked salad shrimp with salad dressing, cover and refrigerate for an hour.
- When ready to assemble meal, wrap each spear of chilled asparagus with a slice of lox or cold-smoked salmon
- Drain pickling mixture from cucumber slices and arrange several overlapping slices on each dinner plate, scoop some shrimp salad onto the center of each arrangement, and top with some chopped chives.
- Create another circle of cucumber slices on each dish, then break up the poached fish fillets, arrange pieces on each circle and top with seaweed flakes and sesame seeds.
Enjoy!
— Vic
Category: Seafood
About the Author (Author Profile)
Victor Panichkul is a journalist and writer by training; a cook, wine lover and photographer by passion; and a lover of the outdoors since moving to Oregon more than 6 years ago. He is a native of Bangkok, Thailand.
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