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Best of February – Teriyaki Salmon
Served with simple spinach and rice
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Serves 4
Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 40 minutes |
- 2 lbs. baby spinach, preferably organic
- 3-inches fresh ginger
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1-1/2 – 2 lbs. salmon fillet
- Sake
Shopping List
- Black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves
- Soy sauce or Tamari
- White sugar
- Sea salt
- Star anise
Pantry Items
- 9X13 baking dish
- Chef’s knife
- Large stockpot or pasta pot
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Medium saucepan
- Paring knife
- Sheet pan
- Spatula
- Strainer
- Tongs
- Wooden spoons
Tools
- Wine: Riesling always works well these flavors or you can drink the Sake
- Dessert: Ice Cream
Suggestions
- When you walk in the door
- Rinse and check the salmon fillet for bones, remove any you find and put in the fridge
- Preheat the broiler, adjust the rack
- Get out Pantry Items
- Get out Tools
- Assemble the ingredients
- Open the wine and refrigerate it
- Prep
- Peel and mince the ginger
- Peel and mince the garlic
- Measure 2/3 cup soy sauce or tamari (you can use a little less tamari because it’s more intense than soy sauce) and pour it into a non-reactive baking dish.
- Add 1/4 cup sake and 2 tsps. white sugar.
- Stir in the ginger and the garlic.
- Cut the salmon fillet into 4 equal pieces, and put them in the teriyaki marinade. Turn them, and refrigerate.
- Rinse the spinach.
- Rinse the rice really, really well.
- Start Cooking
- Put the rice in the medium saucepan and pour 2 cups water and 1 tsp. salt over it. Add 2 star anise, put it on high heat. When it boils, reduce the heat so the rice is boiling slowly and let it cook until you can see bubble holes in the top of it, for about 10 minutes.
- Get someone to set the table.
- Put the spinach in the pasta pot – there’s a lot of it, but it will cook right down!
- Cut the lemon into 6 pieces.
- Turn the salmon in the marinade.
- Check the rice. If you see bubble holes, cover the rice and cook it for 10 minutes.
- Oil the sheet pan.
- Remove the salmon from the marinade and pat it dry. Set it on the sheet pan and put it under the broiler for 6 minutes.
- If the rice has cooked for 10 minutes, remove it from the heat. Don’t even look at it – it needs to plump undisturbed.
- Put the pan with the spinach in it over medium-high heat. As it cooks, turn it with tongs until it is wilted but still bright green, about 5 minutes.
- Check the salmon. Cut into a piece and bend back the knife to look into it – if it is opaque it’s cooked. If it’s still pretty pink, leave it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.
- The spinach will be cooked, so turn it into the strainer and press on it to get rid of as much liquid as possible. Leave it in the strainer and press on it when you think of it.
- Check the salmon. It’s cooked, and if it isn’t quite opaque, it will finish cooking on the way to the table. You can remove it from the broiler. Turn off the broiler.
- The rice is cooked, so you can put it on a platter (remove and discard the star-anise), put the salmon on top, and arrange the spinach around the salmon and rice. Squeeze 2 pieces of lemon over the spinach and garnish the platter with the other 4 pieces of lemon.
- Take the platter to the table with soy sauce or tamari, and the wine! Dinner is ready.
