pan-fried salmon

pan-fried salmon, caper salad and teriyaki mushrooms over rice

This is one of my daughter’s favorite dinners. In my opinion, eating a delicious meal has a lot to do with the combination of dishes you eat together. And this combination of a great savory salmon with a tangy, sweet & spicy caper salad and then smoothed out by teriyaki mushrooms with rice is just amazingly good. I always believe in pairing foods that are salty with sweet, heavy meats with fresh and tangy salads, hot spicy dishes with more mild, savory dishes.

When cooking a whole meal, a thing to keep in mind is the order of things you do to cook the 3 dishes. Cookbooks never tell you what is the best way to order things when you are cooking more than one dish. You want the warm/hot dishes to be hot and the cold dishes to be cold for foods to taste its best.

So here’s what I do:

wash and cook the rice
prepare the salmon (season it and let it sit)
prepare the caper salad but never dress the salad until you are ready to eat. Dressing the salad too early will wilt the greens and make it all soggy.
cut up mushrooms/onions and get the teriyaki sauce ready (use store brand or make your own – teriyaki mushrooms over rice recipe)
put two frying pans on the stove, turn on the heat and then cook salmon in one pan and teriyaki mushrooms/onions in the other.
when the two hot dishes (salmon, mushrooms) are done, now it’s time to yell “Dinner is ready!!” then plate the rice, mushrooms, salmon and then quickly toss the salad and plate it.

Enjoy!

Easy pan fried Salmon

7 oz good fresh salmon (per serving)
salt and pepper (Lemon Pepper is also good)
1 tsp of olive oil

Some grocery stores sell salmon in 70z pieces as one serving. Or you may end up buying a bigger fillet if you have more people to feed. Just make sure the salmon is cut into smaller pieces to ensure it’s cooked all the way.

My tips on salmon – Overcooking salmon is the most common mistake that even some restaurants make. I think the best way to eat salmon is to have a crispy crust on the outside and have it moist and flaky in the inside. Salmon gets mushy and pasty if you overcook it. So always err on the side of cooking less than more. Just like steak, salmon will cook a little more on its own even after you take it off the heat.

Seasoned salmon picture — Salmon seasoned with lemon pepper

Warm a large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Place the salmon in the pan with the skin-side up. Cook until golden brown on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn the salmon over and cook until it feels firm to the touch and the skin is crisp about 3 minutes more.

See picture of cooked salmon on my salmon dinner post.