serves 2
Of all the fish I’ve come to love after a childhood of avoidance, cooked salmon was late to the table. Most of the cooked salmon I had been eating was overcooked and chalky. So for years I more or less restricted my salmon intake to smoked on bagels, cured as gravlax, or raw as sashimi or sushi.
But then one night I tasted a cooked salmon so moist and velvety, it flaked into large, soft chunks that melted like fish-flavored butter on the tongue, deep coral all the way through. It was from chef David Bouley, and his recipe said to wrap a heatproof plate of buttered salmon in plastic film, then let it cook in a 250°F oven (the plastic won’t melt in such a low oven).
It became a regular part of my dinner-party rotation, the sauce changing to fit the seasons: sorrel in spring, rosemary and mushrooms in fall, and more.
But lately I’ve become far less enthused about wrapping my fish in potentially BPA-laden plastic. So instead, I decided to try steaming, since I’d had good success with a gently steamed flounder recipe once. Could the same technique work with salmon?
For once I followed my own recipe, sautéing the mustard greens with the garlic and ginger, and adding soy sauce and sesame oil for a nutty, salty tang. Then, instead of flounder, I plopped salmon on top and covered the skillet to trap the steam. A few minutes later, I had soft, sweet, just-cooked fish on top of pungent greens: cooked salmon that even I can love.
1 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
1 teaspoon toasted (Asian) sesame oil, plus more for drizzling
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (1-inch-thick) slice fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 very large or 2 small bunches mustard greens, stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
1 tablespoon soy sauce (if using tamari or double soy sauce, use a little less), plus more for drizzling
2 (6- to 8-ounce) wild salmon fillets
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. In a very large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oils. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the mustard greens, soy sauce, and 3 tablespoons water and sauté until the greens start to wilt, 2 minutes more.
2. Spread the greens out in the bottom of the pan. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place it on top of the greens. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and let the fish steam until just cooked through, about 6 minutes. If the pan dries out before the fish is cooked through, add a little more water, a teaspoon at a time.
3. Uncover the pan and transfer the fish to serving plates. If the greens seem wet, increase the heat to high to cook off any excess moisture. Serve the greens on top of the fish, drizzled with a little more sesame oil and soy sauce, if desired.