This may well be my favorite salmon recipe of all times. It tastes delicious, looks beautiful and is a cinch to make. Because of the brown sugar in the marinade the fish develops a gorgeous and fabulous tasting exterior while, as long as it is cooked properly, the interior is tender and moist. The typical rule of cooking fish is that a 1″ piece of fish requires 10 minutes of cooking time. Thinner that that – shave off a couple of minutes. Thicker? Add a few more.
And don’t be scared by the wasabi – the fish is not at all ‘hot’. The delicious Ginger-Garlic Mayonnaise is the only part of the dish where, if you want it to be, it can be hot. However, you would need to add more Wasabi than then the recipe below calls for if you want to heat things up. Still a bit nervous? Use less Wasabi than the recipe calls for.
The Asian Vinaigrette is used both to marinate the fish and to dress the salad (once it is made you divide it so that you have some dedicated to the fish and some to the salad) – that’s a time saver!
Wasabi Salmon (adapted from Cooking Light magazine)
Serves 4
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 minced shallots
- 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
- 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 3 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
- 1.5 tsp. wasabi paste
- 1.5 lbs. salmon
Ginger-Garlic Mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
- 1 tsp. wasabi paste
- 3/5 tsp. grated, peeled fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
Remaining Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 4 cups baby spinach leaves
- To prepare fish, combine rice vinegar, shallots, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and wasabi paste in a bowl. Place 3/4 cup mixture in a large zip-top plastic bag and put remaining mixture aside. Add fish to bag, seal and marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes, turning once.
- To prepare ginger-garlic mayonnaise, combine all ingredients. (Can be done 1 day in advance)
- Preheat broiler.
- Remove fish from bag; discard shallot mixture in bag. Place fish on broiler pan, broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove from oven.
- Combine the reserved shallot mixture and sesame oil in a large bowl. Add spinach, toss well.
- Divide dressed spinach among four plates. Cut fish into 4 servings and place a serving atop spinach. Serve!
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Oh, I am definitely making this soon… we are huge salmon-fans AND wasabi-addicts!