I was showing a friend a picture of this dish I whipped up the other morning, " Wow, wish I had time in the morning to make stuff like that! ". I don't want to sound like one of those annoying health nutritionists or tv show cooks, but it only takes about 15 minutes to make this. It can be even faster if you prep the night before.
Here's what you're gonna need:
- 4 oz piece of salmon, skin on
- 1/2 zucchini
- 1/2 of an onion
- 1/4 of a bell pepper
- dried crushed rosemary
- dried crushed thyme
- salt/pepper to taste
- wedge of lemon
Here's what you need to do with what you have:
Get two cast iron pans ripping on the stove top over medium-high heat. While they heat, remove the salmon from the fridge, and pat dry. When I say dry, I mean dry. Not like it's dryer than it was, I mean DRY. If you don't, it won't cook right. Don't say I didn't warn you. Put that aside for now.
We need to slice up some veggies. I like to use zucchini, onions and peppers, but there's not hard fast rule about this. First, cut the onion in half, then into about 8 wedges. Cut as if it were a lemon and you wanted wedges. I know this seems weird, but I've actually experimented with cutting onions different ways, and for some reason this way gives you the best of everything, wicked onion flavor, nice crunch, sweetness and some char on the tips to round it out. Anyway, slice off about a quarter of the pepper, then slice into long thin strips.
By now the pans should be getting hot, so go ahead and put some butter or oil in one of them and swirl the pan around to spread evenly. It should just about be smoking, add the cut veggies and give a good toss. Hey , we're sauteing here so don't be shy. Head back to the cutting board and cut the zucchini in half crosswise. Next slice in half down the length, keeping the two halves together. Slice across the two halves to create 1/4" thick pieces. Head back over to the veggies and give another toss. Throw in some crushed dried rosemary and give a few tosses. This will toast the rosemary and release the aromatics and help to soften up that dried stuff.
Check on the other pan. It should be really hot by now, put a tablespoon of oil or butter in the pan, and swirl around. It should just about be smoking, if it is, don't worry. ( My smoke detector is disconnected, how about yours? ) Give the veggies another toss, and grab the fish. Put the fish skin side down in the pan, and using the towel you used to dry it off, apply firm even pressure down to keep the skin in contact with the pan. It should be sizzling at this point. This is the important part, nice dry fish , hot pan = won't stick and crispy skin. Go back and give the veggies a few more tosses. Check to make sure skin is still in contact with pan.If not you know what to do with that towel. Once the skin starts to brown on the edges,(about 5 min) carefully flip the fish over, and cook on the flesh side. Toss veggies. Keep an eye on the fish, if you start seeing white stuff (albumen) forming, remove fish from heat, it's done(probably 2-3 min tops). Actually over done. I like my salmon just cooked, so when it just starts to change color I remove it from the pan. Toss the veggies again. Add thyme to veggies and toss again. Plate up the fish and veggies squirt some lemon juice on top and enjoy! Obviously, you could prep the veggies the night before and that makes things way easier.
