Poached Salmon with Cucumber Sauce

I love serving this cold for a light summertime dinner or a special lunch.

For the sauce:
1 lb Cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 tb White wine vinegar
1 ts Salt
1 sm Onion, grated
1 c Sour cream
3 tb Lemon juice
3 tb Snipped fresh dill
Salt and pepper to taste

For the fish:
4 Salmon filets, about 1/3 lb each
1 qt Water
2 ts Salt
3 tb White wine vinegar

For the garnish:
Snipped fresh dill

Sauce:
Grate cucumber and toss with vinegar and salt in a colander. Set aside for 30 minutes to drain. With your hands squeeze juices from cucumber. Combine cucumber in a mixing bowl with remaining sauce ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Salmon:
Skin salmon filets and remove bones. Fill a wide saucepan with water, about 3 inches deep. For one quart of water, add 2 teaspoons salt and 3 tablespoons vinegar; adjust proportions accordingly for more or less water. Bring to a boil. Carefully add salmon to pan and adjust heat until water is just below simmering -- it should shiver, and not quite bubble. Cook until fish has turned from translucent to opaque and feels springy to touch, about 8 minutes.

Remove salmon with a spatula and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. At this point you can refrigerate the salmon, covered, for up to 24 hours, or you can just let it cool a few minutes and serve at room temperature. Transfer to serving platter, pour sauce over and garnish with dill sprigs.

Serves 4.

Courtesy of the Virtuous Recipes Archive.