Lagered Teriyaki Salmon with Blood Oranges

It was a beautiful day in Toronto! Spring is just around the corner and April is sneaking up on us – so my thoughts are naturally turning to lighter fare. The idea is to shed the layer of warmth that comforted me during the months of winter hibernation;) Time to break out the running shoes and wait for the abundance of the Ontario summer months. Smart people can and preserve bits of summer to enjoy them throughout the year. This girl was not so savvy so I will have to rely on importing my sunshine from Italy.

This is blood orange season. There are 24 varieties of blood oranges – the most common are: Moro, Tarocco and the Sanguinello. The Tarocco is the sweetest and most delicate – with an abundance of vitamin C. Love me some blood oranges! So – here is my recipe.

Lagered Teriyaki Salmon with Blood Orange and Green Bean Salad Ingredients:

Sauce/Salmon
1 large clove of garlic grated finely
1/2 inch of fresh ginger grated finely
2 tsp of grape seed oil
1/2 cup of lager (I used Corona)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp raw honey
1 lb of wild salmon (scaled)

Salad
2 Blood Oranges
Rind of one blood orange
1 lb Green Beans

Dressing
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Sea Salt to taste

Directions
Sauce: Make the sauce first. In a cast iron pan on medium heat gently fry the garlic and ginger for one minute. Turn up the heat to medium high and then add the lager. You want to cook off the alcohol and then add the soy sauce & honey and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and bring to a simmer – stirring constantly and cook until thickened (about 10 – 15 minutes). This is a relatively quick process and you want to make you sure you don’t burn the sugars in the sauce. It should taste caramelized not blackened;) Put the sauce to the side.

Salad: Boil the green beans until just tender (not over done) in salted water. Drain in a colander and put on a paper towel to dry. This is important because you don’t want any residual water to make them sloppy. Grate the rind of one orange and put into a small dressing container and add maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt. Segment the oranges and cut into manageable pieces. Right before you serve the salmon put the green beans and the blood oranges into a bowl and drizzle with the dressing. You don’t need much of the dressing. Serve immediately.

Salmon Prep: Searing a piece of salmon is pretty straight forward. Scale the salmon (use a chef’s knife and run it against the scales to remove) and then blot it with a paper towel until it is dry – salt to taste. Bring the clean cast iron pan and a tablespoon of grape seed oil to medium high. When the pan is HOT place the salted salmon steak down – skin side first. The key is to leave the salmon steak alone and let it cook until it’s almost done. For a typical 1 inch thick steak this will take about five – 6 minutes – or when you start to see the outside areas of the salmon turn an opaque pink colour. Then quickly flip and leave for about 30 seconds longer. You should be left with crispy skin and perfectly cooked meat. Don’t cook the salmon for too long. Well done salmon loses something.

Plating: Put the salad on the plate with the salmon. Then spoon a bit of the teriyaki sauce over the crisp skin. We chose to serve this dish with rice.

Pink Floyd Apples and Oranges