Technicolor Salmon

02/10 - TECHNICOLOR SALMON

A very good friend of mine told me that what you eat should be as colourful as possible. Not meant as hyperbole or metaphor, a literal philosophy that a plate should be full of colour. And in a bizarre way somehow makes perfect sense. Cooking with colour means that the wider spectrum in what you eat, the better, more balanced, all the health blah blah you need - but mainly it always looks and tastes better.

So technicolour dreams in my head and the sun menacingly hot - the horror, the horror - I was stuck with a pair of pink salmon fillets. Of course when you use pink more is always more, think Madonna's confessions era, so i gathered all the ingredients I had and created a camp summery lunch. Nothing too complicated, chucked together in about 15 minutes. Just enough time to start a second glass of rose.

Ingredients (all approximate) -

2 Small Salmon fillets (maybe 200g each)
1 slosh of thick Soy Sauce
1 tsp honey
1 pinch chilli flakes (or paste)
1 tsp wasabi
Salt+Pepper

Red Cabbage (couple of leaves)
Olive oil to griddle

Coriander to garnish (if you're feeling fancy, this salmon had to get ready for its close up)

What I did - 

The first thing to do is drown the salmon in a marinade. Put the fish in a tupperware container and just added everything to that. I go by the marinade rule of some salt, some sweet and some spice - and never hold back. So I used the salty soy, the sweet honey and the wasabi/chilli for spice. Massage everything together, use a spoon if you're not down for sticky fingers, and let sit in the fridge until time to cook (max couple of hours).

The easiest way to cook the fish (and avoid salmonella-ella) is to throw it under a blistering grill until they come out dark and gleaming - say 10 minutes or so. Also be sure to pour all the marinade over the top, most will run off but what sticks will caramelise like toffee.

While the salmon is grilling I got the rest of my pink going, the charred red cabbage. Okay so not strictly pink, more a deep purple. I use a cast iron griddle, preheated as hot as possible - always keep it dry, don't oil it like a frypan. Slick the cabbage leaves with a little oil and then throw them on the griddle until they start smoking. Flip the leaves after a few minutes and grill the other side until both have black scorch marks - embrace the charring.

That is essentially it, not much really, but has everything I was craving in the heat. I served the salmon on top of the cabbage to enhance the scorched pinkness. I only put the two together because I was had the urge, but happily the salmons sweetness brings out the same in the cooked cabbage, and the mild cabbage tones down my heavy handed marinade.

So all I did was marinade, grill and scorch two ingredients yet the technicolor-table idea was never far from my mind. Indeed I downed a bottle glass of rose in the process, and another when eating. All that was missing was the summertime gaiety of a noel coward play. I hope we all have a fabulous meal to brace for the imminent glare of summer, I've found mine ;)

JG