Catfish Out of Water

It's the beginning of lent this week. That's not ordinarily something that I would notice. I didn't grow up practicing lent and I wasn't in an area where it was largely observed. Although, living in Wisconsin now? Any excuse for a fish fry is absolutely a holiday worth paying attention to! I've just moved into the city as well and am likely influenced by the unmistakable scent of fried fish in the air. So, I've absolutely come home with salmon today and am endeavoring to make a salmon stir fry. Now, I know that that's not exactly a fish fry. But it would almost be blasphemous to deep fry a salmon! So, I'm opting for a Lemon-baked Salmon with Tamari and Rice Wine Rice.

I contemplated actually frying to rice. Although fried rice is predominantly just taking pre-cooked rice and pre-cooked fish and then then tossing them into a skillet with oil. Which seems a little bit redundant after going to all of the work to cook them in the first place! Although salmon only takes about 15 minutes in the oven with a couple of lemons, olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper. And all that rice requires is chopping up vegetables and tossing them into a rice cooker. To reheat this dish for leftovers, though? Perhaps I actually will fry it with some eggs.

Gallery

Variations of Rice Wine Salmon

I'm particularly fond of seafood with rice. From fish fries to fried rice and paella with brown rice and shrimp. I oftentimes call this a salad. But really the word "salad," isn't nearly enough to describe what seafood and rice actually entails. Or we really need to rethink the colloquial definition of a salad because these are absolutely entire meals!

Salad w/ Catfish, Calabaza Squash Rice, & Avocado

Paella w/ Brown Rice, Saffron, & Shrimp

Salad w/ Wine Poached Salmon & Saffron Rice

Salad w/ Baked Salmon & Tamari, Rice Wine Rice

This Rice Wine Salmon Salad consists of broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, shallots, jalapeños, garlic, turmeric, tamari, and rice wine rice. All of which is topped off with a lemon and olive oil-baked salmon and just a dash of salt and pepper. It's a surprisingly simple dish to toss together, only requiring about 15 minutes of prep time. Then, let the oven and the rice cooker do their thing! Before voila, a freshly cooked meal that looks far more impressive to make than it actually is.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Resting Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Chinese, Japanese

Servings 8 servings

Equipment

• Rice Cooker
• Cast Iron Griddle or Baking Sheet

Ingredients

  

Rice Wine Rice

• 1 broccoli diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 2 carrots sliced
• 1/2 shallot minced
• 2 red jalapeños minced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric minced
• 1/2 c. rice cooking wine
• 1/2 c. tamari
• 2 c. brown Jasmine rice
• 6 c. water

Salmon

• 1 fillet salmon (I used 2.5 pounds for a full 8 servings)
• dollop olive oil
• dash salt
• dash pepper
• 2 lemons sliced

Instructions

 

Cook Rice

• Add all of the ingredients into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger vegetables and then add the smaller ingredients, followed by the rice and water.

  This cooks the larger vegetables on the bottom, while dispersing the flavor profiles in the middle. Although with some mixing, this really doesn't matter all that much. Everything will eventually cook together!
• Press the cook button on the rice cooker. It should take about 45 minutes to cook.

  Alternatively you can simmer on the stove. Add all of the ingredients to a pot, bring uncovered to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cook covered for about 15 minutes, or until the sweet squash and rice are tender. Turn off heat, add lid, and let sit another 5-10 minutes.
• When the rice is fully cooked, let sit for 10 minutes, and then fluff with a wooden spoon and serve.

  Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom!

Bake Salmon

• While the salmon is cooking, preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
• Meanwhile, let the salmon rest until it reaches room temperature.

  I usually let it sit while the oven preheats. However, for particularly large fillet's, you may need to remove the salmon from the oven before you preheat it.
• Place salmon, skin side down, on a baking sheet.

  I use a pretty well seasoned cast iron griddle, so I don't add any oil beforehand. If you're using an actual baking sheet, though, you're probably going to want to oil the pan to keep the salmon from sticking.
• Lightly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with sliced lemons.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes for smaller salmon fillets and about 15-20 minutes for larger ones. The salmon should flake easily with a fork.

  The general rule of thumb is to bake for 4-6 minutes per half inch of salmon. Although I've never gotten out a ruler and measured the thickness of fish! Nor do I find this the most helpful way to cook seafood. No two fillets, even of the same size, are going to cook in exactly the same amount of time. It's better to look for the color changing to a lighter pink hue and it flakes with a fork.
• Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Serve warm or let cool completely and serve at room temperature. Salmon is equally delicious out of the oven or later on.

Assemble Salad

• Add about 1/2 cup of rice to a plate and top with a slice of salmon. The 2.5 pound salmon that I used will make about 8 similarly-sized servings. Although you can easily cut both the amount of salmon and ingredients for the rice in half if you don't need this many!

  Both salmon and rice do keep fairly well. I used quite a bit of mine for leftovers throughout the week. You can also sautée the rice and fish for salmon fried rice as a fun way to reheat the dish and make it fun and new the next day.

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

• For more information on baking salmon, check out my articles on The Fundamentals of Oven Baked Salmon and Barbecue Salmon. I'm particularly fond of cooking on a well-seasoned cast iron griddle because you don't need additional oil or foil to to keep it from sticking. But there are certainly ways around this if you don't want to dedicate an entire cast iron pan to fish! Cooking salmon is also more of an art than a science. No two filets are going to cook in the exact same amount of time and there are definitely some tips and tricks to nailing the cook on fish.
• I also have a more in-depth article on Brown Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Rice Wine and tips and tricks on The Fundamentals of Cooking Rice. Rice is surprisingly more difficult to cook in a rice cooker than the name would suggest and there are a multitude of simple solutions for common problems, like overcooking and becoming mushy or drying out. There are also some solutions for remedying these issues after the fact, instead of starting over!