Braised Atlantic Salmon Steak

This dish was inspired by the absolutely delicious black cod I had at Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant in New York City. I had ordered the bento lunch box which includes: salad, miso soup, 3 pieces of nigiri, 3 pieces of maki, 3 pieces of tempura in a cheese sauce, a choice of braised black cod or grilled wagyu beef, and seasonal fruit panna cotta (mango with fresh berries was our flavour) for $24US dollars. My bf had the wagyu beef and I had the black cod. After he tried a bit of my black cod, he keeps asking for seconds! So we decide to look up the recipe and try making it ourselves. However, it was difficult to find fresh nice black cod in Canada. So we tried it with Atlantic salmon steaks and it works just as beautifully! Here it is!

Ingredients

• 0.5 cups sake
• 2 slices of fresh ginger
• 2 Atlantic salmon steak with skin on
• 0.4 cups sugar
• 0.25 cup soy sauce
• 0.25 teaspoons tamari (we bought the kikkoman brand ones)
• 1 tablespoons mirin (we bought the kikkoman brand ones)

Preparation

1. Grill the ginger and fish steak skin side down in a large, deep skillet. After a minute, rotate the fish to grill all sides a minute each. Pour in the sake and  cover and cook over high heat for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and cook over medium-high heat for three more minutes.

2. Pour the soy sauce and tamari over the fish fillets. Cook over medium-high heat, covered, for five minutes. Add the mirin and cook for three minutes longer. Be careful not to burn the fish; glaze the fillets by repeatedly pouring the thickened sauce over them while cooking.

3. With a slotted spatula, carefully transfer the black cod fillets to a platter. Check the fish to make sure it has no residual bones hidden in it.

4. If the braising liquid is not thick enough, keep cooking it over high heat until it becomes caramelized.

5. Garnish the cod with the julienned scallion and ginger and sprigs of kinome, and drizzle with the braising liquid.

Source: Modified from Iron Chef Morimoto's Braised Black Cod recipe in The New Art of Japanese Cooking