Japanese flavors are among the highest and most powerful in the world. They shock and wow in ways that other cuisines just cannot always reach. If you have a fancy dinner coming up and want to impress, this dish is not technically challenging, the sauce is just mixing ingredients together, and your guests will be highly impressed because of the natural flavors that Japanese foods contains.
Seared Salmon Steaks
serves 4
800 g salmon skin off
2-4 T sunflower oil
pepper NO salt
1-2 green onions -VERY thinly sliced.
Miso Mayonnaise
100 g Japanese mayonnaise
1/2 t wasabi paste
1 T toasted sesame oil
1/2 t soy sauce
20 g Shizo shinzu yellow miso paste
pepper NO salt
To make the miso mayonnaise, you will first need to mix the miso with the sesame oil, soy sauce & wasabi paste in a large bowl. You want to break up the wasabi and the miso paste so that you see no more lumps. I add small amounts of the Japanese mayo to help it thin out as necessary. Whisk it into submission, don't be scared. Then add the rest of the mayonnaise & pepper.
For this dish, I cut the salmon in mini "steaks" that are about 1 inch thick. To achieve this, if buying fish from a normal grocery store, I buy 4 portions at about 200 g each. When I get home I cut off the skin, if it has it. You also must cut off all of the grey parts as well. Then with what once was the skin side on the bottom of the cutting board, I cut straight through the middle of the fish, making 2 thinner pieces from the one piece. If I buy my fish at the fish monger, then I as for 8 100 g steaks and take them home with no work to be done myself. Having the pieces so thin, ensures that you only need to cook them a minute or two on both sides and they are DONE!
If you have never skinned and cleaned a piece of fish yourself, it can be intimidating, so go buy the fish from a monger, and later learn how to do it yourself, if you desire.
Season the fish only with pepper.
You can choose what veggies and sides to serve along with the fish if you like, but it's also completely ok to serve this alone with the sauce and decorate with sesame seeds & green onions.
I have a griddle on my stovetop which comes in really handy for my family of six and all of our dinners & parties. If you do not have one, just use one, two or three pans and cook all of the fish at the same time. Heat up your pans to medium-high heat with the 2-4 T of sunflower oil divided among them. Cook the fish 1 minute per side and set on a plate to cool while you plate the rest. In proper chef's honesty, salmon should be served pink (medium), just like a burger, if it's cooked through all the way, it's overdone.
Plating:
On a large round plate, Spoon out some miso mayonnaise. Then, using the back of the spoon, spread it out in a forward motion making a stripe. Set the 2 pieces of fish stacked, angled on top of each other. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve immediately. This dish is best when the fish is warm.
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