Sak

Teriyaki Salmon Fillet

12.02.09 12:33
Section: Sak
Filed Under: Copyright - CC, Recipes

Here’s a dish I make about once a week. When it landed on my plate this last time, it looked so good, I decided that I had to share.

Teriyaki Salmon Fillet¹

Ingredients:

• 1/4 red onion.
• 1/4 green bell pepper.
• 1 fresh garlic clove.
• 6 or 8 Broccoli Florets.
• 1/2 Carrot.
• 1 6 to 8 oz. salmon fillet.
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil.

I really only use olive oil for most my cooking. I suppose a chefs the world over have just died a little inside, but it’s a financial thing. Instead of purchasing a dozen different oils for various dishes, I go with a single purchase of a nice sized jug of first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and call it good.

• 2 or 3 Tbsp. Teriyaki Glaze.

This may come in many different forms, varied by brand. I use the fairly ubiquitous Kikkoman.. You can also make your own if you’re feeling particularly adventurous..

• 1/3 Cup rice.
• 1/8 Cup water.

Preparation:

Start the rice, and get that going. While the rice is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients: mince the garlic, chop the bell pepper and onion; julienne cut the carrot.

Once the veggies have been brutalized, heat about a tablespoon of oil in a 9 or 10 inch skillet. We’re going to quickly sear one side of the salmon, and since it is probably wet be careful when adding it to the skillet. Too much oil and you’ll probably end up with a pattern of neat little splatter burns across your face, so use your best judgment depending on your pan size. We’re basically going for a nice, thin layer of oil across the bottom of the pan to keep the fish from sticking.

Since you’re only going to sear one side of the fillet, have a spatula ready and flip the salmon over after about 20 or 30 seconds. You may want to go a little less, or longer, depending on the cut.

Once the salmon has been rolled over, dump all of the vegetables into the pan and move them off the salmon around to the edges of the pan. Just the big stuff. It’s okay to leave some of the minced garlic sitting on top of the fish. Now coat the fillet with the teriyaki glaze. Your glaze may vary, but just make sure that it covers the whole salmon fillet, and runs off over the sides a bit. During the final phase of cooking, it’ll continue to run down into the bottom of the pan, so that’s okay.

Lastly, add about 1/8 Cup of water to the skillet. Don’t dump it over the top of the salmon, genius, or you’ll just wash off the glaze. Add the water around the edges of the pan, enough to create about an even 1/8 to 1/4 inch. This will also require a little guessing on your part. For a thicker cut of fish, you’ll probably want a little more water because you’ll be cooking a little longer. Once you’re done watering your skillet, cover that sucker.

Cooking time will also vary, but roughly 3 to 5 minutes. I never time mine, but learned from the occasional salmon fillet that came out a little too dry. You’re looking to cook off the majority, if not all of the water, to steam cook the meal. Take a peek after a couple minutes, and when you start to see little, funky, white globules appearing on top of the salmon you’re pretty much done. You should still end up with some of the glaze on the bottom of the pan, which gets dumped together with the veggies onto your pile of rice.

I remember once reading that computer programming is a lot like cooking. A good deal of trial and error in creating a recipe, writing the code, and getting it to a point that works. You can try eating your computer after you’ve written software for it, but it’s probably not going to be as tasty as a salmon fillet and steamed vegetables smothered in teriyaki. It most certainly won’t come out the other end feeling so great.

¹ Disclaimer: Much of what I make is cheap and easy bachelor chow, but might also work well if you’re looking for a quick fix lunch or dinner that you don’t want to have to worry too much about details regarding spices and preparation. Though I sometimes fantasize about having all the equipment, spices, and other implements of destruction that are necessary for an elite kitchen experience, I’m a terminally single-dude, so by the time I think about food it’s a little too late to deal with a long prep time. I’m hungry, dammit, and so I want to eat soon. These meals are fairly healthy, however, and can be improved upon depending on whether you can afford nicer ingredients—organics and so forth. I’ve also included measurements for ingredients as a guideline, but I don’t typically measure out my ingredients to specific quantities. Much of what I’ve discovered in these recipes is a result of being hungry, putting stuff into a pan, and noodling around with the measurements over multiple cooking sessions until I get something that works for me.