Quick Orange & Honey Salmon With Sticky Sauce

Want something that is healthy and quick to make, then this is a winner and a dish that the lovey Mr G puts up there in his top ten.

 He’s a fish lover and on those very rare occasions that we do go out to eat, he always makes his way straight to the part of the menu he hopes will show a list of fresh fish dishes. So, at home, whenever I’ve the opportunity, or salmon is on sale, this is a very quick salmon dish that I can russel up for those times when the lovely Mr G is in a hurry to eat, a late round of weeknight golf, or just a late night in from work.

 Now that its summer, well, heading towards it, I get to eat my favourite dish, a lot. Salad, in any form is always my go to dish, and I love a salad with lots of leaves and anything I have in the fridge that I can get away with, and this is exactly what I serve this Quick Orange and Honey Salmon with. A great everything salad.

 When cooking the salmon, it’s important not to overcook.

 One of the ways I do this is making sure the salmon starts out cooking skin side down, for a couple of minutes only before turning the fillet over and repeating the couple of minutes cooking time.

The skins should be black, as the honey caramelises when cooking, and there should be a thin layer of translucent salmon in the centre.

 Once the salmon is cooked, removing it from the pan to a plate, lets the salmon fillet rest and this means the salmon will continue to cook for a short while ensuring the fillet is perfectly cooked and staying tender. – See Tip BoxOver cooking salmon, or fish of any kind, makes the fish a lot tougher than it should be, so air on the side of slightly under if you want lushes, juicy, tender fish.

 Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!

Drizzle the sticky sauce over the cooked salmon fillers.

 What You Need

•  4 Salmon Fillets

 Marinade

• 60 ml Dark Soy Sauce – See Tip Box

• 2 tbs Sesame Oil

• 2 tbs Runny Honey

• 2 Large Spring Onions – See Tip Box

• 2 Large Garlic Cloves - Minced

• 1 tbs Rice Wine

• 1 Large Orange – Juice and Zest

• Fresh Black Pepper – Ground

• Salt – If needed – See Tip Box

•  4 tbsp Vegetable oil to cook - To Cook

Put all the marinade ingredients int a bowl and mix.

Serving Suggestion

•  2 tsp Sesame Seeds – Optional

• 2 Spring Onions – Roughly Chopped

Coat the salmon fillets

 How It’s Done

•  Place all the ingredients for the marinade into a medium sized bowl and give it a stir and a taste – remember, if you are using a soy sauce that isn’t low sodium, once you’ve tasted the marinade, you may want to add a pinch of two of salt.  

• Pat the salmon fillets dry using paper towels.

• Put the salmon fillets into the marinade and mix to coat the salmon on both sides.

• Let the salmon sit in the marinade for at least 20 minutes.

• Once ready to cook, place the vegetable oil into a large flat frying pan and let it heat in medium for a minute.

• Remove the salmon fillets from the marinade, setting the marinade aside until need.

• Place the salmon fillets into the hot pan, skin side down.

• Keeping the heat on low to medium, let the salmon cook, skin side down for 2 -2 ½ minutes before turning the fillets over.

• Cook the salmon on the flesh side for 2 – 2 ½ minutes

• The samlon should still have a translucent layer in the centre of the fillet.

• Remove all of the fillets from the pan, onto a serving plate and set them aside to rest while making the sticky sauce.

When the salmon is turned over, the skin will be crispy but black because the honey will caramelise

 Sauce

•  Pour the sauce into the same saucepan the salmon was cooked in, and keeping the heat low to medium, let the sauce simmer very gently, stirring all the time, until sauce reduces and becomes sticky – this could tale any where form 3-5 minutes – be patient and don’t try to rush it by turning the heat up

• Keep a close eye on the sauce, as it will stick and burn really easily.

Three stages of the sauce -1) Firtst heating it. 2) Second simmering it while constantly mixing it 3) Let it reduce until thick and shiny

 To serve

•  To serve the salmon, drizzle the sticky sauce over the salmon fillets and then of you want to, sprinkle some sesame seeds and some chopped spring onions over the top, but that bit is up to you, and more often than not, I serve straight on the top of my salad.

Reduced, shiny and sticky.

 Tip Box

• Dark Soy Sauce – I used a dark soy sauce which wasn’t low in salt, and because of this, I didn’t add salt to the marinade, but if you’re using a low sodium soy sauce, once you’ve used it in the marinade, and before adding the salmon fillets, give it a taste to see if you need salt.

• Salt – If you’re adding salt, please go easy with it. There is salt in the soy sauce, even if you use the low sodium soy sauce, so id rather you air on the cautious side.

• Over cooking fish – Over cooking fish is so easy to do, especially if you’re not normally someone who cooks fish.  More often than not, when I was new to cooking fish I lover cooked it, and one ways to know this is, cooking the fish to the point where there is a white discharge oozing out. This white ‘ooze’ is the protein leaving the fish, and means the fish is way over cooked to the stage of tough.

Sesame Seeds – These are optional and to be honest, i only use these when i remember.

Beautiful light and quick,