Recipe: Wasabi & Honey Glazed Salmon with Herb Buttered Mushrooms

We lucked out and picked up two portions of salmon for about $5 each this weekend, so I marinated them and pan fried for a healthy dinner.



I started with the salmon first, since it needed time to marinate. This can be done the night before, or about an hour before you intend to cook the salmon.

Ingredients
1/4 c olive oil
3 T soy sauce (light)
1 1/2 T honey
1 T brown or yellow sugar (I prefer brown, but only had yellow sugar)
2 T rice vinegar
2 T dijon mustard
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t wasabi powder

About 900 grams / 2 lbs of fresh sockeye salmon fillet portions, skin on

Method
In a non reactive bowl or lidded container, combine all ingredients except for salmon. Stir or whisk to disolve the sugar and wasabi powder, and to incorporate the mustard. Add the salmon and allow to marinate overnight, or approximately one hour.

When ready to cook, heat a tablespoon of canola oil in a wok or pan over medium heat. Cook salmon, skin side down for approximately two minutes. Flip salmon over with a spatula and finish for five to seven minutes on other side, or until salmon is pink and cooked through.

Optionally, you could flip the salmon over and finish in an oven set to 400ºF for about three to five minutes.

I served my salmon with some fried tofu, a generous sprinkling of dukkah (it was really nice with the salmon!), and a side of sauteed mushrooms with bell pepper.

Ahh, herb-buttered mushrooms. Its pretty much the favourite vegetable sidedish for all my major family "western food" functions. Trust me, the photos do not do it justice.

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1/4 onion, sliced
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
8-12 good sized mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t oregano
salt & pepper
2 T white wine
~1 T butter

Method
In a wok or a pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onion, separating with a wooden spoon and stirring until onion is opaque. Add minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more, stirring to prevent burning.

Add mushrooms and cook, stirring and tossing pan for about 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and cook 2 minutes more. Season with thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.



Add white wine (I used a cheapie, Night Harvest 2008 Sauvignon Blanc) and allow to reduce, stirring contents of pan. Remove from heat and monte au beurre with tablespoon of butter.

Weekday Dinners: Moules Mariniere, Chickpea Frites, and Dukkah!

We love our freezer. It holds such goodies like black cod, back ribs, homemade spring rolls, and on this particular occasion, frozen New Zealand mussels!

I know that fresh mussels are always better, but M and I are usually too busy on the weekdays to shop for an assortment of food other than fresh vegetables or such, so this was handy to have around.



I also had been looking for an excuse to prepare Sara's Chickpea Fries. What else goes with mussels? Fries of course!

I had prepared the mixture for the chickpea fries ahead of time, and fried them prior to preparing the mussels.

For the mussels, I simply sauteed shallots and garlic in a pan, deglaised with white wine, deglaised with a small amount of seafood stock, added the thawed mussels and some diced bell pepper, covered with a lid, and allowed to cook for another 3-5 minutes. I then removed from the heat, stired to bring up all the juices and cooking liquid, garnished with chopped parsley, and plated.

The cooking rich liquid was later added to a seafood soup. Yum!



The dukkah recipe I used was from Allrecipes. It actually tasted a little bland the first day, but after storing in a jar in the fridge for a day, the flavours developed and tasted really good with leftover chickpea fries, in meatballs, and on tortilla chips dipped in a little bit of olive oil!

Photos can be found at my flickr photo set.

Related Sources:
Allrecipes Dukkah Recipe.
Sara's Chickpea Fries.