Asian glazed salmon with vegetable rice noodles and garlic fried pak choi

July 16, 2019

Salmon and Asian food, a match made in heaven or at least, it had the potential to be. This was a nice dinner, but it wasn't awesome. I had expected awesome. Perhaps I have started to expect too much from our dinners. After all, most of what I cook are every day meals, something to keep us alive at the end of the day. Perhaps not every meal has to be spectacular. I should learn to settle for nice and that's what this was.

The salmon fillets were bought frozen and of the cheaper kind. That's ok when they are to be cooked in a sauce or turned into a bake or burger of some kind. Should I want to cook simply seasoned salmon fillets, I splash out and get the fresh higher end fish. Funnily enough, even though I freeze the fresh fillets when I get home, they still come out tastier then the ones bought frozen. Don't ask me why. It's a mystery.

Because these fish fillets were to be smothered in a glaze, I went for the frozen stuff this time. Some people like to cook fish from frozen, but I never do as they tend to leak an endless amount of water. I suppose it is the ice particles defrosting. These were taken out and defrosted prior to placing in the marinade.

The recipe called for salmon and I was only too happy to go along with that, considering the disappointing white fish dinners I have cooked lately. If white fish is your thing, I'm sure you can use that instead of salmon. You can probably use pretty much any fish. You could even use the marinade for chicken or pork, but of course you need to adapt the cooking time.

To make a proper meal out of it, I chose one portion of rice noodles and plenty of vegetables, some of which were mixed with the noodles and some that were cooked in their own right. The recipe called it Asian salmon, but with the trimmings, I would like to dedicate the meal to Japan.

It was quick to cook, but the fish needed to marinate for 30 minutes or longer. I used that time to prepare the vegetables and clear up the kitchen, hang the washing up and hoover. There is always something to do in a house. Don't stand and stare at the fish while it is marinating. Just don't. It will feel like a lifetime and the hoovering won't get done.

Below is the recipe for the fish, but I will also share guidelines to the trimmings I made. They were based on whatever I found in the vegetable drawer in the fridge. For a meal you enjoy, pick what you like and slice it fine before stir frying and season as you please. No pressure.

To make the Asian glazed salmon, you need:

500-600 g salmon fillets

1 tsp ginger, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1. Get all the fishy ingredients out and arm yourself with a sharp knife.

2. Finely chop the ginger and garlic and mix with the three sauces to make the marinade.

3. Place the salmon fillets in a shallow bowl and let them soak in the marinade for at least 30 minutes.

4. While the fish is marinating, prepare the vegetables for the side dishes.

Slice, chop, do what's needed for your options.

I decided on stir fried savoy cabbage, red pepper and baby corn,

alongside pak choi, which was to be cooked with sliced garlic.

5. Place the fish on a mesh above an oven tray and spoon the remaining glaze over the fillets.

The recipe suggested grilling the fillets in the oven rather than using the baking heat, as the salmon would come out a lot better. I followed the advice and it the fish did cook nicely. It was meant to be only just cooked, so 10 minutes at 200 degrees was enough.

As you can see, I placed the fish on a mesh above a tin foil lined tray and this saved a fair amount of time washing up. I very rarely have an exposed tray when grilling food in the oven. Although I quite enjoy washing up, I can't bear burnt oven trays and the smell... Don't get me started about the smell.

6. While the salmon is in the oven, stir fry the vegetables, if this is what you are having.

I prefer a bite left in them, so it didn't take too long. Although there was plenty of seasoning on the fish, I thought the vegetables needed something and used soy sauce and lemon juice.

7. Add the cooked rice noodles to the stir fried vegetables and mix well.

8. Set the noodle mix aside and cover to keep warm.

9. Fry the sliced garlic for a few seconds. Don't let them brown, or they will burn while you cook the pak choi. Trust be. Been there, done that, chomped on burnt garlic. Not nice.

10. Almost straight away, add the pak choi. You can slice it if you want
to or tear off the individual leaves, as I did. It will taste the same.

11. By now the salmon should be ready.

12. Behold the beauty of the glazed salmon. This made my mouth water and I couldn't wait to tuck in.

13. Tell the pak choi to hurry up. You can eat this vegetable raw, so it is a question of personal preference how long you wan to cook it for. Note some of the garlic slices turning dark, almost burnt.