Salmon with Mirin-Brown Sugar Glaze

I really love the guy who works the fish counter at our local market.  If you're going to cook fish, this is the guy you want to be friends with.  He even tells me when the seafood deliveries are made so I always get the freshest fish.  (I'm kind of picky about fish being ultra fresh, but you have to be careful.)

When I arrived at the seafood counter he asked what I was cooking today, which he always asks since he sees me in the store almost every day.  I gave him a rundown of the recipe and he searched through the case of salmon that had just been delivered and found fillets that were the perfect thickness for this recipe.

A beautiful piece of salmon like this only needs a few ingredients to become a delicious meal.  So, for this dish we went with an Asian-inspired sauce using mirin, which is a rice wine somewhat similar to sake.  The mirin adds a layer of sweetness to the fish without masking the delicate salmon flavor.

 

This is a really easy dish to prepare.  A quick 10 minutes in the marinade and about 10 minutes of cooking time and dinner is ready.

We served the salmon with a new Brown Rice Medley we found at Trader Joe's.  This rice blend contains long grain brown rice, black barley and daikon radish seeds and has a really great flavor.  The daikon seeds were very interesting and added a nice crunch to the blend and as a bonus, the mirin sauce tasted great serve over this rice. 

4  6 oz  Salmon Fillets, thick portions if possible, skin removed
Salt and Ground Black Pepper
4 TB  Mirin Sweet Rice Wine
3 TB  Brown Sugar
4 TB  Soy Sauce
2 TB  Rice Vinegar
1 Green Onion, chopped

Lightly season the salmon with salt and pepper, then set aside.

Use a large Ziploc plastic bag to mix the marinade.  Combine the mirin, brown sugar and soy sauce in the bag, mixing until the brown sugar is dissolved.  Place the salmon fillets in the bag and marinate for 10 minutes, turning over once after 5 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add a swirl of olive oil to the pan, heat until warm, then add the salmon fillets to the pan, top side down.  Cook for about 4 - 5 minutes or until browned, then turn the salmon over and cook 3 - 4 minutes longer or until browned on the bottom.  (You may need to adjust the cooking time a bit depending on the thickness of the fish.)

Transfer salmon to a serving plate and keep warm.  Add the rice vinegar to the pan and continue to stir until the sauce reduces slightly and thickens.  Pour the glaze over the salmon and serve with steamed rice and edamame.  The sauce is also excellent spooned over the rice.  Enjoy!!