This combination of textures and sweet and savory flavors results in a palatable meal with a touch of spice you can easily prepare in 45 minutes or less.
Ingredients
- Salmon: 4 salmon fillets (6 ounces per serving)
- Black and white sesame seeds
- Canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1⁄2 cup kumquats, seeded and sliced
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 or 3 sprigs rosemary or thyme
- Basil or mint leaves
Sauce
- 1⁄4 cup fish sauce
- Small knob of ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1⁄4 cup warm water
- 11⁄2 tablespoons honey
- 1⁄4 cup lime juice
- 1⁄2 cup grapeseed oil
- 4 tablespoons jalapeños, seeded and finely diced
Sweet Potatoes
- 1⁄4 pound of small sweet potatoes, halved, per serving
- Canola oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Recipe
Sauce
1. Combine the honey and warm water in a bowl, add grated ginger, garlic and fish sauce, and let sit for 10 to 30 minutes.
2. Strain the solids and emulsify the remaining liquid with grapeseed oil.
3. Keeping all at room temperature, stir in the lime juice to taste and add the diced jalapeños.
Sweet Potatoes
1. Place halved sweet potatoes in a preheated sauté pan with canola oil (smoking slightly) and cook a couple of minutes on each side.
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste, transfer the sweet potatoes to a baking sheet and place it in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes, then flip the sweet potatoes and place back in the oven two more minutes.
Fish
1. Pour equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves, then slightly poach the kumquats in the simple syrup.
2. Whisk an egg in a shallow bowl, dip the salmon fillets in the egg wash, then coat one side with sesame seeds and transfer — sesame-seed side down — to a warm sauté pan with canola oil and bring up to a light heat for a couple of minutes, making sure you don’t burn the seeds.
3. Place sauté pan with the fish in a 300-degree oven for five to eight minutes, then put it back on the stove-top, melt 1 tablespoon butter, and use it to baste the fish with the sprigs of rosemary or thyme on top for a couple of minutes.
4. Flip each fillet — sesame-seed side up — onto a plate, next to a portion of sweet potatoes, and spoon some of the vinaigrette sauce around the plate, not directly on the fish.
5. Place some of the poached kumquats on top of each fillet and around the plate, then garnish with basil or mint leaves.
