Cooking whole salmon can be intimidating even for professional chefs. Fortunately, salmon fillets are very easy to cook on the stove. The fillet can be seasoned with your favorite spices and simply fried in a pan. Frying in a pan will give the fish a crispy skin, but at the same time, the meat will be quite juicy. Try frying salmon in a pan and you can have a fragrant and delicious dish in a few minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil (for frying)
- Two 170 g salmon fillet slices
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) olive oil, drizzle over salmon
- 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized salt (1.75 g)
- Some freshly ground pepper
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Salmon Seasoning
Step 1. Preheat the pan
Place a skillet with a diameter of 25-30 cm over medium heat. Pour in one teaspoon of olive oil to keep the fish from sticking to the pan. Preheat the pan so that you can feel the heat coming from it at a distance of about 10 cm.
Use a non-stick skillet or cast iron skillet. This will prevent the fish from sticking to the pan
Step 2. Cut the fish into smaller pieces if needed
The fish should be cut into pieces about 5 cm wide. If you bought a large piece of fillet, cut it into suitable pieces with a sharp knife. This recipe requires two slices of salmon fillet, each weighing about 170 grams. Remove bones from fish before cooking.
It is convenient to use special forceps to remove bones from fish
Step 3. Add oil and seasonings to the fish
Blot the fish with a dry paper towel to remove excess moisture. Brush the fish fillet with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Check that all surfaces of the pieces are evenly coated with oil. Sprinkle the fish with 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized salt and a little black pepper.
Thanks to the oil, the meat will turn golden brown during frying and will not stick
Step 4. Try different spices
Add your favorite spices to make the fish taste brighter. If you don't want to use seasonings (other than salt and pepper), but want to brighten the fish pieces, sprinkle them with paprika. This will give the salmon fillet a reddish brown hue after browning. Seasonings such as:
- hops-suneli;
- Chinese mixture of 5 spices;
- garam masala;
- ras el-khanut.
Part 2 of 2: How to Cook Salmon
Step 1. Place the salmon in the skillet
If you want a crispy crust, place the fish skin side down. If you do not plan to serve fish with skin, then place it skin side up. You should not touch the fish while cooking, as this will make it easier for you to remove it from the pan and will not overcook it.
If you choose to fry more than two pieces of fillet, do not put more than two pieces of fish in the pan as this will lower the temperature of the pan. Cook fish in batches instead
Step 2. Press down and spread the salmon slices with a spatula
It is possible that the salmon pieces will begin to curl and curl after one to two minutes, especially if you put them skin side down. Try to keep track of this - spread and press the pieces with a spatula.
The paddles for cooking fish are made of thin metal and expand towards the end. They are flexible but strong enough to lift one piece of fish at a time
Step 3. Fry a piece of fish
Pieces of salmon weighing 170-230 grams should be fried for about 4 minutes. If the fillet pieces are very thin, fry them on each side for 2 minutes. If the fillet pieces are rather thick on one end and thin on the other, then fry for 1.5 minutes on the thick side and 30 seconds on the thin side.
- Use the timer when frying fish. Thermometers often give incorrect results because the shape and size of the fish pieces are different and cook at different speeds.
- Don't flip the salmon slices too often or you won't get a delicious crispy crust.
Step 4. Leave the cooked salmon for a while
Transfer the cooked salmon slices to plates and cover with a large piece of foil. Let the fish "rest" for about 5 minutes. So the fish will finish cooking, and the juices inside the pieces will have time to redistribute. Serve the grilled salmon warm.