Asian Zing Salmon

Salmon is a fish people either love or they hate. I love salmon. In any form. On sushi, grilled, fried, sautéed, baked, it's all good. If you knew me back in 2012 you know that I loved to bake my salmon. I seasoned it whatever why and just threw it in the oven and let it be. As I got older and my adventurism grew, I found that sautéing salmon is actually 100 times better than in the oven. On the stove top, it does not dry out, keeps all it's flavor, and the skin peels right off. 

I have about 20 different sauces I can put on a salmon. I make variations of this exact recipe all the time depending on what I have at home. That's the good thing about salmon, it tastes good with about anything you put on it. 

Some variations you can use for this sauce is adding honey, adding something spicy such as red pepper, or leaving out the lime or ginger. Basically, as long as you have a base, the sugar, and some seasoning you can't really mess it up. 

I love fresh ginger. It tastes amazing in a variety of dishes. If you don't want to buy fresh ginger, there is "slightly dried" ginger in a container you can find in your produce department by the herbs. Tastes almost as good as fresh and keeps longer in the fridge. My other go to is the pre-minced garlic you find here. I use garlic in EVERYTHING, and mincing garlic is honestly a bitch, I don't blame you for cheating and buying pre minced, as long as it's fresh. 

Now, I know cooking salmon on the stove can be a bit scary, but honestly, it's fool proof. The trick is to buy fresh salmon that still has the skin on it. The skin acts as a barrier and prevents the salmon from drying out. 

Frist, you want to season the flesh on the salmon well with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add some spice if you like. You put the salmon flesh down in the oiled pan on medium high heat and cook for about 7 minutes until a crispy top forms. Then you flip to skin side down and and cook another 7 minutes or until cooked threw. The skin prevents the salmon from drying out and then peel RIGHT off in the end. It's perfect. Plus your salmon is crispy and everyone loves crispy.

I pair my salmon with rice and broccoli normally. Feel free to add whichever you want with it. But the good thing about broccoli is you can preheat your oven to 425, place the broccoli on a baking sheet, cover with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you cook on the top rack for 20-25 minutes the broccoli is perfectly done and crispy. It's so easy and you can basically forget about it as you cook other things. 

The trick to getting this sauce the perfect consistency is letting it reduce. You want to add it to the pan and then let it come to a boil for about 3 minutes before you reduce the heat. This way the extra liquid is cooked off and you get a great thick sauce to spread over the salmon. 

Don't worry, It's really hard to mess this up. Enjoy cooking

Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:4 pieces of fresh salmon (skin on)
Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder to taste
2 tbs Soy Sauce
2 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Juice from 1/2 Lime
1 tsp Ginger
1 Tbs Minced Garlic
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1/2 Tbs Olive Oil (more for cooking)

 

1. Pat salmon dry with paper towels. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside.
2. In small bowel, add 1/4 cups brown sugar, Worcestershire, Soy sauce, lime juice, olive oil, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir well incorporating all the brown sugar. 
3. In a large saute pan, heat a large drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Place salmon season side down (skin side up) in pan. Let sit for 7 minutes until crust has formed. Flip salmon and cook for another 7 minutes or until salmon is cooked through. 
   
4. Remove salmon from pan and set aside. Wipe out pan.
5. Heat same pan over medium heat and add sauce mixture. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat and add salmon flesh side down (skin side up) back to pan. 
6. Allow sauce to reduce for about 2-3 minutes. Flip salmon and continue to let reduce for another 2-3 minute until sauce reaches a thicker texture. Spoon sauce from pan over the tops of salmon until covered. 
7. Plate salmon and pour remaining sauce over salmon. Top with fresh parsley or cilantro.