Salmon Tamarind Glaze with Corn Salad

Filed under Vegetables + Salads, Fish · Print This Post

Here’s one thing I rarely cook or eat: salmon. Now, salmon is a perfectly good fish but I think I’ve been traumatized with the way they prepare it at weddings. Salmon is like shrimp: a few minutes too much and it’s overcooked, dry and devoid of taste. But I haven’t given up on it. I know that just like any other fish, it will taste good if cooked properly. Besides, after devouring a lot of smoked salmon while I was in Vancouver, I knew I had to play with it some more in the kitchen.

It’s July 4th and corn should be on everyone’s grills this weekend, but they’re more expensive this year because of flooding in the Midwest and drought in the South. According to the Des Moines Register, the corn will come eventually, but maybe not for a few weeks. For now, we all have to eat corn from Georgia and Florida.

This recipe requires a tamarind concentrate you can buy from your Asian market. If you have access to fresh and ripe tamarinds, all you have to do is soak them in hot water to soften them. Put the pulp through a sieve to extract the juice, discarding skins, seeds and fibers.

Ingredients:
4 salmon fillets, patted dry with a paper towel
4 ears of fresh corn, skin and silk peeled off
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
half a red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup of tamarind concentrate
2 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps fish sauce
a splash of sherry vinegar
1 red chile, deseeded, chopped
juice of half a lime
oil, salt, pepper

1. Make the tamarind glaze. In a small bowl, mix the tamarind concentrate (or extracted juice if using real tamarinds) with the brown sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, chile, and lime juice, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
2. Rub the flesh side of the salmon with salt and pepper the brush the glaze over them. Store in the fridge until ready to cook.
3. In the meantime, assemble the corn salad. Using a sharp knife, cut off the corn kernels from the cob and into a salad bowl. Toss with the cilantro, red bell pepper, red onion, lime juice and sherry vinegar. Feel free to adjust the liquids according to your taste.
4. Cook the fish. Heat a nonstick skillet with some oil over medium-high fire. When oil is smoking just a tad bit, gently place the salmon skin side down. Let them cook for 5 minutes without moving them to get a crispy skin. Using a heat-resistant spatula, turn the salmon over and cook the flesh side with tamarind glaze for an extra 3 minutes. Brush the skin side with leftover glaze. Carefully remove to a plate and serve with some of the corn salad.

Related post/s:
Serve smoked salmon with watercress
Trout would be awesome with this recipe, too
I got my tamarind concentrate from Asia Food Market

Comments

Fish Braised in Sundried Tomatoes

Filed under Fish · Print This Post

Anna sent me a pack of sundried tomatoes from her recent trip to Argentina so I went searching for recipes using them as the main ingredient. There were a lot of proven recipes for spreads and pastes, so I stuck with one of them and just used it on fish I bought for my weekly omakase bento at work. The heavy cream was rather random but I needed to dilute the tomatoes’ saltiness without losing the consistency of the braising sauce. It was also the only thing I had handy in the fridge. Toss with some basil chiffonade and serve with an unsalted orzo and you should be all set.

Any white fish will do here. Cod will be excellent, but a lower-priced Swai is good, too. And you know what? I spread the sundried tomato paste on a portobello mushroom and grilled that for the vegetarian in the group, and he liked it, too.

Ingredients:
4 fish fillets
a splash of heavy cream
a handful of sundried tomatoes, soaked in hot water for at least 15 minutes, patted dry with a paper towel
a handful of basil leaves
3 cloves of garlic
a splash of sherry vinegar
oil, salt, pepper

1. Make sundried tomato paste. Using a food processor, pulse tomatoes, garlic and basil, adding some oil until you reach the consistency of paste. Season with pepper. Transfer to a container.
2. Lightly salt the fish. (The tomatoes will add more saltiness.) Sprinkle some pepper, too. Using a spatula, spread some of the paste onto the fish.
3. Heat some oil in a large skillet. Add the tomato-covered fish and cook for about 3 minutes per side, uncovered. Lower the heat and add the heavy cream. Gently scrape off the bits and pieces under the fish, cover and steam for an extra 5 minutes. Uncover and transfer the fish to a plate.

Related post/s:
Fish using fresh tomatoes
Part of my Mother Hen project: omakase bento #12

Comments