Herb-Grilled Salmon
 Salmon fillets were on sale yesterday at a nearby supermarket and that triggered me to make herb-grilled salmon for supper last night. At first I was going to use a frying pan, but while googling to find a sauce recipe, I changed my mind and decided to go for foil-grilled salmon. I thought that being wrapped in aluminum foil, the herbs won’t get burned and would keep their fragrance better.
 Unfortunately yesterday was certainly not my day. After I seasoned the salmon fillets with salt and pepper, I wanted to sprinkle some wine all over, and remembered that I had used up the white wine the other day. So I used a little sake instead. Then I topped the fillets with butter chunks, wrapped them with aluminum foil, sealed the edges carefully, and heated in toaster oven.
When I opened the fridge to make mustard sauce – that was my choice of sauce last night – I found out that I didn’t have any mustard left. So I thought about going for wasabi- mayonnaise sauce, because I was sure that I had some wasabi left from the Tosa-maki dinner the other day. Alas, I ran out of mayonnaise the day before :O
While I stood helplessly in front of the fridge, the salmon in the toaster oven was done. Actually, they looked pretty good when I opened up the foil.
 So after all, I ended up eating the salmon with lemon squeeze only, which wasn’t totally bad. The butter, salt & pepper and herb gave enough taste, saving the dish from being tasteless. But last night I was in the mood for something with more kick. Maybe I should have fried the fillets with garlic slices instead...
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9 comments:
obachan;
The salmon looked and sounded like it would be wonderful with the herbs and the lemon. Nothing else needed as far as I'm concerned. What was the side dish?
Posted by carlyn
Hi Obachan - I keep a bottle of Noilly Prat vermouth for things like this that need a splash of wine. It lasts ages and doesn't go off so you don't need to worry about it. It's fruitier than most sake, but slightly more herby/spicey than wine, and goes really well with all kinds of fish (and chicken).
Posted by Andy
Hats off to you obachan!! :) You're so creative in the kitchen. That salmon looks so good, I can taste it.
Posted by keona
Hi Obachan,
But you know, this way is much healthier. I would have loved it with freshly grated wasabi mixed with Kewpie mayonaisse. Mmmm!
Posted by Reid
Carlyn
The side dish was sliced tomatoes and cucumbers… and rice, of course ;)
Andy
Thanks for your comment :D Honestly I’ve never tried vermouth in my entire life and had no idea what Noilly Prat was. Now my curiosity is triggered. I can picture myself going to my favorite liquor store sometime soon to check the price, at least.
keona
So nice of you to call me creative…but foil-grilling is pretty popular around here. Actually we just started serving a few foil-grilled seafood dishes at our izakaya as special menu for autumn-winter season.
Reid
Freshly grated wasabi! It’s a luxury here…
Posted by obachan
Hello,nice one, have you tried dills for the herbs? it's a classic Fish herb. For me, rosemary does not go too well with light flavored fish. Looks a little over cooked, try searing the fish first then low hear grilling. Use white wine as scrapping sauce instead of marinate.Oh, I would not season with salt, it tend to draw the juice out, making the meat/fish dry...btw what kind pof salmon is that ? I like Coho salmon, in fact after I had Coho, I decided not to have another King Salmon for the rest of my life.
Posted by cooknengr
Hi cooknengr,
Long time no hear! :) I have no idea what kind of salmon this was. The label said where it was imported from but didn’t say what kind of salmon, and I can never tell from only looking at the fillets. I assume they are not even salmon… in Japan several kinds of trout are sold as “salmon.”
Here in Japan we often sprinkle alcohol over fish/meat before cooking, because it is said that alcohol 1) works on trimethylamine and reduces fishiness, 2) softens the tissue of fish/meat and 3) helps the seasonings/flavors osmose into fish/meat. Especially when steaming or foil-grilling fish, they say sprinkling alcohol gives proper moisture and better flavor.
Seasoning fish with salt is also said to help take away fishiness and bring out the flavor, so here we very often use salt for seasoning fish before grilling. When salting white meat fish for grilling, it is recommended to do so right before heating the fish, but when it’s very fatty fish, leave it a little while (not too long) after salting.
But probably these are true in Japanese cooking only and should not be applied to Western cooking, maybe? Sorry, I didn't mean to insult Western cooking by applying Japanese cooking habits to it.
Posted by obachan
Hey.. Obachan,
I love salmon fillet.. :)
I bake mine for 12 mins in the oven with only cayenne pepper and butter.. :)
The color looks different from yours.. too.. :)
Posted by Big BoK
Hey Big Bok,
And you don't sprinkle salt at all even when you eat? Mmmmm...that would require tons of patience if I would try that. But it'd be good for my kidney and blood pressure.
Posted by obachan
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