The recipe can be found here, and will not be reprinted on this site. The following photos and slight instruction-type descriptions will have to do and totally aren't descriptive enough to get a cease & desist from the Food Network. The recipe is originally from Emeril Lagasse, a first for me.

Here is a buttered saute pan containing champagne, shallots, dill, and S&P. I purchased the not-the-cheapest champagne at Albertson's, because I knew that the not-the-cheapest champagne would be cheaper than the-cheapest champange found at the Co-Op. I found out later that I was totally correct in this assumption, which gave me a bit of a superiority complex for 30 seconds, at which point I spent 20 minutes searching for vanilla beans, which brought me down a bit. No doubt, they were in the spice section the whole time.

Once the poaching liquid cooks a bit, the salmon is added. Though there were only 2 of us for dinner, I made 3 fillets, as the recipe calls for 4. The third fillet I ate for lunch today, and was still fantastic.

I spooned the liquid over the salmon every 3 minutes or so, in between prepping for the sauce. After a while, I just stuck the whole pan in the oven on warm while I finished the recipe. Amazingly, the salmon didn't overcook, and was pleasantly moist and flavorful when masticated for consumption and energy. This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.

Making the sauce: I had to do some stuff with a vanilla bean that I haven't done for a while, namely scraping the seeds out. I suggest getting the fattest vanilla bean you can for any recipe requesting one to do this kind of task, as it makes the scraping a million percent easier. Here, I've added the seeds, pod, and more shallots to even more chapmagne as the base of the sauce.

Once the above has been simmered down (summers, donna) to almost nothing, we add a crapload of heavy cream. I had a bit of an issue when, while not paying attention to the stove, and instead whisking Caesar dressing, it bubbled over the sides of the pan. Obviously, the burner was set too high for the "simmer". It made a big hissing noise, and I had to yelp and screech an explitive. Thankfully, Amy was in the bathroom, so she didn't get to see this bit of unprofessionalness from me. Also, the sauce was not ruined. But you have been warned.

After the sauce reduced a bit (though admittedly, probably not enough), it was strained into a bowl and some champange vinegar, as well as S&P, were whisked in. Amy and I were extremely hungry by then.

The salmon was served on a plate with the sauce over top and some dill sprigs for garnish. You can tell by the thin consistency that the sauce very well could have been reduced further, therefore not making a lake of the entire plate.

The whole process took maybe 40 minutes or so, and could have been condensed a bit if I would have had the braincells to cook the sauce at the same time as the poaching. The actual dish was fan-farking-tastic. The Champagne-Vanilla sauce lent a subtle sweetness to the salmon, which paired perfectly with the crispness of the champange. The dill sprigs on top provided dill overkill, so both Amy and I scraped it off before continuing to eat. As stated above, the salmon was tender, but not mushy at all (as it is rather hard to make salmon mushy). This is a recipe that I would definitely make again, especially for guests that eat fish. Though some of the ingredients were expensive, they were totally worth it. The taste was delicate and fulfilling; I couldn't imagine Emeril shouting "POW" at this salmon at all.

The salmon was served with a Hardcore Caesar salad.
A++ would buy again.