Seared Salmon with Mixed Greens and Miso Vinaigrette
Servings 2
Ingredients
- slender green beans, about 20 or so, trimmed (see Kitchen Notes)
- 3 tablespoons
olive oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (see Kitchen Notes)
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 5-ounce package mixed baby greens
- snow pea pods, a good handful or so (see Kitchen Notes)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 3/4-pound salmon fillet, skinless
- Japanese chili pepper or cayenne pepper (see Kitchen Notes)
- salt, to taste
- grapeseed oil (or other neutral-flavored vegetable oil)
Instructions
- Blanch the green beans. Drop the trimmed beans into a small pot of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain the beans and immediately plunge them into iced water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
- Prepare the vinaigrette and salad. Combine olive oil, rice vinegar, miso paste and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk to blend completely. Set aside. Put mixed greens in a large salad bowl; mix green beans and snow pea pods in a separate small bowl. Having everything ready to go is key—the salmon cooks very quickly, and you want the salads assembled and set to go.
- Prepare the salmon. Place salmon fillet on a cutting board, flesh side up (the non-skin side—you can tell the difference, even with the skin removed). Using a very sharp knife (see Kitchen Notes), slice the salmon across the grain into 6 equal strips. Quickly reassemble the fillet and season the flesh side (now the edge of the strips) with Japanese chili pepper or cayenne pepper (use a light hand) and salt to taste.
- Assemble salads before cooking salmon. Toss mixed greens with most of the vinaigrette and a little salt, drizzling a little of it over the green beans and pea pods and reserving a little to drizzle over the salmon. Divide mixed greens between two plates. Top with green beans and pea pods and scatter cilantro leaves over the assembled greens.
- Cook the salmon. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high flame. Add a tablespoon or so of grapeseed oil and cook three of the salmon slices about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a plate, then carefully fan salmon strips on top of salad. They will be somewhat fragile, so handle carefully and try not to freak out if they break up on you. Repeat with remaining salmon slices, assemble second salad and serve.
Kitchen Notes
20 or so green beans? A handful of snow pea pods? I know, I know. But that's how I measured them when I bought them. You want them to complement the mixed greens without overpowering them. Measure with your eyes. Do make sure the green beans are smallish, slender ones, though. I lucked out and found French green beans.
Rice Vinegar. This Japanese vinegar is available in Asian markets and many supermarkets. If you can't find it, substitute red wine vinegar. But do try to find it; I often use it when I just want a light vinaigrette.
Japanese Chili Pepper. You'll find this in the Asian section of some supermarkets. My smallish bottle actually says "Assorted Chili Peppers." The ingredients it lists are these: Chili pepper, orange peel, black sesame seed, white sesame seed, Japanese pepper, ginger, seaweed. Yeah, you can substitute cayenne pepper, but this has a lot more going on. You'll note I essentially seasoned one side of the fillet. Partly, it was because if I'd seasoned it before slicing it, I would have smeared off most of the seasoning in handling it. But it was also because, with these thin slices, you get some of the seasoning with each bite, so nothing is lost.
How sharp are your knives? You want a nice, sharp knife for cutting thin slices of salmon without shredding them. So if you haven't sharpened your knife recently, do it now. A great way to judge if your knife is sharp is to slice a tomato; if it pulls or drags at the skin before cutting into it, not sharp.