Foil-baked Salmon served with English Parsley Sauce

An English parsley sauce has, in many ways, become a forgotten delicacy. It's excellent served with boiled gammon or any baked fish or, as shown here, it's supremely good served as a partner to fresh salmon.

Serves 4

Foil-baked Salmon served with English Parsley Sauce

Ingredients
4 salmon steaks weighing about 6 oz (175 g) each
a few parsley stalks
4 small bay leaves
4 slices lemon
4 dessertspoons dry white wine
salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the parsley sauce:
4 heaped tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
a few parsley stalks, chopped
15 fl oz (425 ml) milk
1 bay leaf
1 slice onion, ¼ in (5 mm) thick
1 blade mace
10 whole black peppercorns
¾ oz (20 g) plain flour
1½ oz (40 g) butter
1 tablespoon single cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method

First take a sheet of foil large enough to wrap the steaks in, and lay it over a shallow baking tin. Wipe the pieces of salmon with kitchen paper and place on the foil. Then place the parsley stalks, bay leaf and a slice of lemon over each steak and season with salt and pepper. Then, finally, sprinkle the wine over, bring the foil up either side, then pleat it, fold it over and seal it at the sides. All this can be done in advance, but when you need to cook the salmon, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C) and bake the salmon on a high-ish oven shelf for 20 minutes exactly. Then, before serving the fish, slip off the skin using a sharp knife to make a cut, and just pull it off all around.

For the sauce, place the milk and the next five ingredients in a saucepan, bring everything slowly up to simmering point, then pour the mixture into a bowl and leave it aside to get completely cold. When you're ready to make the sauce, strain the milk back into the saucepan, discarding the flavourings, then add the flour and butter and bring everything gradually up to simmering point, whisking continuously with a balloon whisk, until the sauce has thickened. Then turn the heat down to its lowest possible setting and let the sauce cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. When you're ready to serve the sauce, add the parsley, cream and lemon juice. Taste and add seasoning. Then serve in a warm jug to pour over the fish.

_This recipe is taken from Delia Smith's Winter Collection_.

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