Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Salmon with Escarole

Despite the soy sauce and sesame oil, this tasted thoroughly European. Maybe it was all the olive oil I used. (It sounds like those flavors should clash, and if I had thought about it before I started, I would have done something different, but I'm glad that I didn't.) This only took 30 or 40 minutes, and it serves one. It could be scaled up as much as you'd like without any trouble.

  • 1 salmon fillet
  • escarole--use twice as much as you think you'd like
  • 4 cloves garlic (yes, for one serving)
  • 2 tbs. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. sesame oil
  • Olive oil
  • salt, pepper

Mince the garlic and sautee it in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. (How much olive oil? Since I spent my formative years eating the escarole at Sam's (238 Court St., Brooklyn, NY), which is equal parts oil and escarole, I don't think it's possible to use too much.) Wash the escarole; don't bother to dry it. Add it to the skillet along with the soy sauce. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover the skillet, and stir every few minutes.

Heat up a pan that can be put in the oven with olive oil for a few minutes, and turn on the broiler. Dry the salmon. Season it with salt and pepper (not too much salt, but lots of pepper). When the oil is quite hot, put the fish in the pan skin side up. After two minutes, move it under the broiler--it should be about four inches away. It should be done in 2-5 minutes. While it's broiling, uncover the escarole and turn the heat up. When the salmon is done, take it out of the oven. Add the sesame oil and some pepper to the greens and put them on a plate. Put the fish on top. Pour the liquid from the skillet with the greens on top of the fish and serve.

I'm not sure if this is the right way to go about cooking salmon. The idea (stolen from Mark Bittman, of course) is to make the skin crisp. It worked, but as my salmon fillet still had scales, it didn't do me much good.