Salmon Steaks

I went to the local ethnic grocery store and saw some beautiful salmon steaks, surprisingly, on sale. I scored four steaks for $12.00. Insane. They were big, beautifully reddish pink, and dark and shiny skin. So salmon it was for dinner.

Now I prefer to cook whole fish, something serving size, like a snapper, which I could stuff and serve with little fuss. I find fillets useless and would only buy portions for making fry fish (note to self: write a post on Guyanese style fry fish). And surprisingly, I don't really make salmon steaks. I think the last time I made salmon steaks was when I was living at my parents. I just don't see it as a cut I would typically prepare at home. But these ones called out to me. It was fate - they were perfect, they were on sale, and I was sure I could do it right.

The worst thing you could do to a great cut of fish (or any flesh, for that matter) is to overcook it. A creature gave up its life to sustain yours - treat it well. I didn't want to assume anything about the cooking temperature and time, so of course I tried to find some information. Going online, I found a forum that referred me to "The Canadian Fish Cookbook" by A Jan Howarth. I'm quoting the quote they posted:

"To cook fresh fish by practically any method, use the timing rule of 5-7 minutes per centimeter (10-12 minutes per inch) of thickness, measured through the thickest part."

This is a great rule of thumb. I must remember this. So I went about preparing the steaks. I always wash fish in lemon-water. There was no need to scale or clean on the steaks, so just a quick wash and rinse and it was good to go.

How to flavour them? I pride myself on seasoning well, but there are some things that are best left alone. In a bowl, I had prepared minced garlic, minced ginger, a slivered and seeded scotch bonnet, lime juice, chopped bandanya, sea salt, ground black pepper, and olive oil. but what good would it do to slather this all over the steaks? The flavour wouldn't permeate and half would fall off the grill. And look at those perfect steaks. No, I drizzled a little olive oil on them, sprinkled some sea salt, some ground black pepper, and by the rule listed above, they needed about 18 minutes in the oven at 450F.

What did I do with the marinade? At about 16 minutes, I took the steaks out and made pseudo-quenelles and placed them on the spinal bone of the steak. Because of the change in cooking time, I put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes; enough to finish the cooking and heat the dressing through. And how was it?

Moist, juicy, flake to the touch of the fork, and delicious.

I served it over rice with a side of collard greens. I'll discuss the collard greens in the next post.

Dressing for Salmon Steaks:
5 Garlic Cloves (pressed through garlic press)
1 tbsp Ginger (fresh, pressed through garlic press)
1 Scotch Bonnet pepper, seeded, halved and slivered

3 Bandanya leaves (chopped fine)
1/2 Lime (juice only)
1 tsp Black Pepper (freshly ground)
1 tsp Sea Salt (freshly ground)
4 tbsp Canola Oil
dresses four steaks

Directions (for Steaks):

Preheat oven to 450`F.
Grease roasting tray.
Place salmon dorsal out, belly together and in almost touching other steak bellies (think flower blossom)
Drizzle olive oil and brush over all steaks
Sprinkle with Sea Salt and fresh cracked Black Pepper
Stick to the guide above and remove fish when ready
If dressing fish, do so quickly and return to oven for an extra five minutes
Salmon does not require resting - can be eaten as soon as removed from the oven