I said to Gary the first part of the year I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and cook with ingredients that are not a part of my norm, a big part of that being Asian inspired.  We both love flavors like lemongrass, ginger, coconut, curry, Sambal, etc. but haven’t had a real opportunity to learn how to cook with them.  This is one of my goals for the year.  The nice thing that I am noticing is that it is hard to mess something up beyond making something overly spicy – but that is where coconut milk comes in handy.  For this dish I simply used a ton of fresh, spicy ginger and minced garlic.  The combo together with a bit of soy sauce, white wine and lemon made for a savory-sweet flavor melding with beautiful wild Sockeye salmon available at my local fish market that day.  I had the skin removed as a preference, you may leave it on if you wish.  Serve on top of piping hot saffron rice with cilantro.

Recipe:

Garlic Ginger Salmon
Ingredients:
1 one and one half pound piece of salmon, preferably wild, skin removed and all the bones removed
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
3/4 cup white wine
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon Sambal Oelek
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped + more for garnish
Salt and pepper to season

Preparation:
Season the salmon filet with salt and pepper and set aside in a baking dish.  Combine all other ingredients in a bowl, whisking together until blended.  Pour over the salmon, cover and refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour, but not more than 2 (you don’t want the acid to start cooking the fish.) Remove from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before cooking to take a bit of the chill off. Heat the oven to 400.  Pour off about 1/3 of the marinade.  Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked to the temp you desire.  We like about 135-140 degrees.  Serve over saffron rice with a bit of cilantro for garnish.