blood orange-soy glazed salmon

From the department of candied meat... I give you one of the most delicious things you can do to some oranges and some fish. Hoo boy.

Know what else? It's super fast and easy. Clean up is a little intense (see white pan below), but it's worth it.

Bet this glaze would be fab on some seared tofu too, non-fish peeps.

Oh, this is also really good with regular oranges. Not as gorgeous, but good.

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Blood Orange-Soy Glazed Salmon
Serves 2 (definitely scalable)

2 portions wild salmon, cleaned of pinbones, skin left on
--> our cuts were on the smaller size: maybe 4oz each? The glaze makes enough for slightly larger portions, too.

Flour for dredging
Salt & pepper
2 T. vegetable oil

For glaze:
2/3 c. blood orange juice (from about 5 small/medium oranges?)
1 T. soy sauce
2 t. rice vinegar
1 t. honey
1 piece of fresh ginger (thumb sized), sliced 1/4" thick. (I don't bother to skin it.)

For garnish:
black sesame seeds
scallions, middle part, sliced thinly on the bias



1. Preheat broiler*.
2. Make the glaze: combine glaze ingredients in a thick-bottom saucepan and boil to reduce down to a syrup that will cling to the fish. Keep in a warm spot.
3. While glaze is reducing, heat vegetable oil over high heat in a heavy-bottomed, oven-proof pan.
4. Dredge the salmon: cover the bottom of a shallow tray with flour and season with salt and pepper. Place salmon flesh-side down in flour to lightly coat. You don't need to dredge the skin side.
5. Carefully place the salmon, flesh-side down, in the hot oil (make sure it's very hot). Sear until the salmon is about 1/3 opaque, when viewed from the side.
6. Remove salmon to a plate, turn off burner, and carefully wipe excess oil from hot pan.
7. Return salmon to pan, skin-side down, and paint top surface liberally with glaze.
8. Place in oven, under broiler and cook until done (opaque throughout, but not dry), painting with more glaze every minute or two, so a thick layer gets built up and caramelizes a bit. The overall cooking time will, of course, vary based on the thickness of your fish.
9. Remove fish from oven, plate and garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.

*Since our fish wasn't thick at all (<1"), we just broiled them to finish the cooking. In the past, with thicker cuts, we've baked them until almost done in a 350˚ oven, finishing up under the broiler for nice color. You be the judge.

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