Maple-Grilled Salmon

It's been two months since I had any fish. Although I don't crave for it but I thought I would cook fish as my "return to kitchen" signature.

The method calls for grilling, which I don't have. If you do, good for you. Otherwise, do as I did:

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Lightly oil baking sheet and place fillet skin side down. Put baking sheet to second top rack and let broil until the fish flake easily.
   
3. Remove from the oven and place on a hot skillet. Brush the fish with marinade and cook until it becomes a syrupy glaze.
   

I was going to garnish the salmon with orange slices but I can't find fresh oranges in the store and had to resort to fresh orange juice instead. What a bummer. It would have been pretty.

Ingredients:
(yields 2 servings)

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Pour the first three ingredients into a large zip-lock bag. Add fish. Seal and marinate in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 200C.

3. Remove fish from bag, reserving the marinade. Pour marinade into a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 5 minutes).

4. Lightly oil the surface of a grill and place fish on top with the skin side down. Grill until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting occasionally with marinade. Remove fish from the grill; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Baked Salmon with Lemon Butter Caper

One skill I'm yet to develop as a cook is to buy quantify things. I'm such an idiot comes to estimation. I'm always afraid of not having enough. Hence, there's always extra ingredients. That's exactly what happened to the salmon fillets that I bought for the superbly delicious Almond Crusted Salmond Fillet with Lemon Leek Cream Sauce. Seriously, I was calculating and analysing while I stood looking at the various sizes of salmon. I spent long enough time in front of the fish monger that he was seriously getting annoyed. Still, I came home with one too many fillet. It was lucky that I had the foresight to seek Adrian's advise before I went ahead and cook. Although that dinner was a real kick.
The extra salmon fillet was already in marination when I had it figured. But I trusted Adrian that it would do no harm freezing it. A week later, I took it out and make a Lemon Butter Caper sauce to go with it. It's still good. Not as good as the Almond Crusted Salmon though. Having said that, I do like the combination of lemon and caper with the fillet. I didn't have lemon and used big lime instead. It worked fine.

Ingredients:

• 2 (5 ounce) salmon fillets
• salt and pepper
• 4 lemon slices
• Lemon Caper Butter (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and oiled lightly.
3. Place salmon fillets on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper. Place 2 lemon slices on top of each fillet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and tent with aluminum foil for 10 more minutes. Fish will continue to cook during this time. It will flake easily when done.
4. Remove lemon slices and discard. Gently slide a turner or serving spatula between the skin and the flesh of the fillet to remove the skin, it should separate very easily. Transfer fillet to a serving platter and spoon lemon caper butter over the top.

Lemon Caper Butter

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons capers drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• juice of 1/2 of a lemon
• salt and fresh cracked pepper

1. In a small sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.
2. Once butter has melted add garlic, capers, lemon zest and lemon juice. Cook for 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

It's definitely on top of my personal best

I was going to make this dinner for our special day tomorrow. But I changed my mind and made it today instead - I have a bigger ambition for tomorrow night. I knew it would be good just by imagining the taste. Indeed. It's so good that I'm kind of regretted of not having to keep it for tomorrow night. After all, tomorrow's dinner is a whole new territory I have been shying from.
Anyway, back to tonight's dinner. I had a Herbed Goat Cheese with Mushroom Relish as appetizer, a Broccoli Salad and Almond Crusted Salmon Fillet with Lemon Leek Cream Sauce as main.
They are all very good recipes to be fair. However, the salmon fillet was so good that it stole the limelight from the other two.

Herbed Goat Cheese with Mushroom Relish

I like how the flan looked when I tipped it over. The mushroom relish with sun dried tomatoes also acted as visual aid to the presentation. I would add more goat cheese next time just for personal preference.

Ingredients:
(make 6 muffin-sized flans)
4 ounces goat cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons chopped herbs (I used parsley and basil)

4 ounces baby bella mushrooms (I used shiitake), chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
3 - 4 sun dried tomatoes , chopped
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly oil muffin tray (I used ramekin).
2. In a bowl, mix together cheese, ricotta, eggs and herbs.
3. Spoon cheese mixture into tray and bake for 25 minutes until puffy and golden brown. Let cool.
4. Sautee mushrooms till fragrant. Add sundried tomatoes and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Tip flan out from the tray/ ramekin. Spoon mushroom relish over cooled flan.

Broccoli Salad
I feel sorry for this dish. It really is one of the best broccoli salads. It's a shame that it faded into the background over the overwhelmingly good Salmon Fillet. It actually has a pretty insane name - One of the Best Salad in the World Ever! Instead of using sugar, I substituted with Agave nectar. I roasted the raw cashew nuts that I had but I suspect salted cashew nuts (as called by the recipe) were the real deal in this recipe.


Almond Crusted Salmon Fillet with Lemon Leek Cream Sauce

Because I seldom eat fish, and also because I am skeptical of most cooked fish at restaurants, when I cook fish, it's got to be special. I thought this recipe sounded good when I read it. That's an underestimation - not only does it sound good but look and taste GOOD! The almond crust was crispy and it just went perfect with the lemony leek cream sauce. "This is insanely good" to quote from Adrian. Not convinced? How about "It makes me want to kneel down, pause and savor the taste". More testimonial? "Definitely one of the best dishes I have had". Enough said.

Ingredients:
2 Large salmon fillets
1 Cup slivered almonds
1/8 cup bread crumbs
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon butter
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter
1 large leek, root and green top removed, slice the remaining part thinly
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt butter over medium low heat. Add leek and let cook for 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C.
3. Place fillets on a baking sheet with the skin side down. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Drizzle juice of 1/2 a lemon over the fillets and let sit.
4. In a food processor, blend together almonds, breadcrumbs, garlic cloves and butter.
5. Spread almond mixture over fillets, pressing firmly to adhere.
6. Place the baking sheet on the top second rack of oven. Let broil for about 12 - 15 minutes until browned.
7. Once the leeks are softened and cooked through, add juice of 1 lemon followed by cream. Stir over low heat. The cream will thicken and reduce in half.
8. When the salmons are cooked, pull them out from the oven, gently lift to plate.
9. Top salmon with lemon leek cream sauce. Serve immediately.