Week 5: Poached Salmon, Scalloped Potatoes, Asparagus

Our potato dish was a side to go with some poached salmon and asparagus. We sliced the potatoes to 1/8 inch and par boiled them before placing them in a half pan, layering with bechamel sauce and cheese.

Ready for the oven

Finished result with the salmon

Prep: The potatoes took a longer than anticipated to finish. I would par boil them for longer next time. There were no problems making the bechamel sauce and layering was easy.

Presentation: Placing the cube of scalloped potatoes on a diagonal in a diamond shape helps add more of a dynamic element to the dish. If I were to make this again I'd place the asparagus lengthwise along the top and bottom of the potato/salmon border for greater cohesiveness instead of the corners of the dish.

Taste: The potatoes were well seasoned and the bechamel sauce with cheese adds a creamy richness to them. The asparagus got a little over-grilled, but were tender on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside, and well seasoned. The dill sauce was... interesting due to the type of yogurt that was pulled for class (Vanilla flavor). I would use plain Greek yogurt for next time. The fish was slightly overcooked and thus a little tougher texture wise. For next time I would pull the salmon from the poaching liquid sooner. I would also add a little more seasoning to the fish.

Overall: The plate looks fairly balanced in terms of color, and all the elements work well together.