Grilled Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce and Scallion-Ginger Fried Rice

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I always love the chance to get together with family! My sister-in-law Beth arranged for some of us to take a cooking class at The Savory Spoon Cooking School in Ellison Bay, WI (Door County). The theme for the evening was Elegant Asian, and it was delicious! I decided to make 2 of the dishes tonight, and thought I'd share them on my blog. I will eventually make all of the courses and share them with you, but will start with these 2 dishes.

Recipes by Janice Thomas
Scallion-Ginger Fried Rice

Fresh ginger root should be shiny and firm

Rice Ingredients
5 cups cold cooked rice (I used brown rice) (See easy directions for making perfect rice in the oven on my wild rice recipe post)
Canola or peanut oil
3 Tbsp. peeled, minced fresh ginger root
3 bunches scallions
1/2 cup green peas
1/2 cup chopped ham
4 mushrooms sliced (I'm using a pre-sliced 4 oz. package of a gourmet mushroom blend that includes baby bellas, shitake, and oyster mushrooms.)
2 eggs beaten

With all of the prepping all of your ingredients for stir frying, I was pretty happy to find ham already diced.

Seasoning Liquid
3 Tbsp. chicken broth
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/3 cup Chinese rice wine or sake
Freshly ground black pepper
Dash Tabasco

Finely chop scallions, enough to make 3 cups. (Use all of the scallion, not just the white portion.)

In a small bowl stir together seasoning liquid ingredients and set aside.

Separate grains of rice with a fork or your fingers, breaking up any clumps. Place wok over high heat and heat until very hot and almost smoking.
"Necklace" the wok with 1 Tbsp. oil. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly until rice is crisp and crunchy.
Add scallions, ginger root, and mushrooms and stir fry quickly. Add peas and ham.

Making a well in the center, add the beaten eggs and scramble. When done, stir into the rice mixture.
Season to taste and serve hot.
Serves 4

Grilled Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce

Fish Ingredients
3 Tbsp. chopped garlic
3 Tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh cilantro roots, or stems and leaves
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce or soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp. veg. oil
1 1/2 pounds fish fillets, such as salmon, tuna, snapper, cod, halibut, catfish, or tilapia

In a work bowl of a small food processor or a blender, comine the garlic, cilantro, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, and oil.

Grind to a fairly smooth paste, stopping now and then to scrape down the sides and adding a little water as needed to bring the ingredients together. Scrape the cilantro-garlic paste into a medium bowl, add the fish fillets, and toss to coat everything well. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes; longer is fine, covered and refrigerated, up to 1 day.

Prepare a very hot fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill or oven to 425 degrees F.

To cook the fish, place in on a lightly oiled grill rack (I sprayed mine with cooking spray), or in a shallow baking pan in the oven. Cook until browned and done to your liking, carefully turning once, about 5 minutes on each side, or longer for thicker fillets. Serve hot or warm, with the bowl of sauce on the side. I found the sauce to be quite salty, so use sparingly on filet so you can decide how much you'd like.

It just happened that my brother Peter and his wife Beth were making the same meal on the same night. Peter put his salmon directly on the grill and got the desired  browned effect.  I was afraid to put mine directly on the grill for fear it would stick. Our salmon was very good, but didn't look quite as tasty as Peter and Beth's.

Peter and Beth's Salmon

Our instructor showed us an easy way to "seed" a jalapeno pepper. Hold up and slice down the edge of the pepper on four sides, leaving the hottest portion, the seeds and membrane behind.

Combine the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and garlic in a small bowl. Stir well intil the sugar dissolves, and then sprinkle with the chilies and cilantro. Set aside until serving. Drizzle on salmon when serving.

Sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. finely chopped garlic
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh hot green chilies
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro






I love how moist the salmon comes out of the grill when prepared this way.
Serves 4 to 6