Monday, January 5, 2009

Salmon de Mi Mama (My Mother's Salmon)

This is how my mother always prepares salmon fillets, she doesn't call it anything she always say's, "Voy acer el Salmon a mi manera asi como lo yo lo ago con mucho ajo" translates to, "I'm making Salmon how I always make it with lots of garlic", it's similar to "Pescado al Mojo de Ajo".

This is a very quick and simple dish to make when you are in a hurry, and tastes GREAT!

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 pounds more or less Salmon filets (they can be skin on, or without skin doesn't matter)
-1/2 head of garlic mashed to a paste or through a garlic press
-salt to taste to rub all over fish
-ground black pepper to taste to rub all over fish
-extra-virgin olive oil
-1-2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted doesn't matter here)
-fresh lime wedges or lemon wedges to serve

Directions:
(1)Rub clean filets with garlic, salt, and black pepper.

(2)On medium high heat add olive oil and butter when the oil is hot enough cook fish on one side until browned and raw color is gona half-way up the fish, then carefully flip to fry on other side, remove and set aside. Do this in batches if you must.

(3)Serve with lime wedges, rice and a salad in my case I served it with "Habichuelas en Escabeche" (pickled green beans)

P.S.
(1)My mother doesn't like to waste the oil left it's so tasty, she get's more mashed to a paste or gone through a press garlic lots of it, sautee's it in the oil and adds rounds of french or cuban bread until toasted on both sides and infused with garlic and olive oil butter mixture we call this "Pan Frito" (fried bread) very good served with this to, this time though she didn't do that because she was in a hurry, and I was to tired to help much.

(2)You can do this with any fish filets but Salmon tastes particularily very rich prepared this way, if using a "white" fish filet you can rub some paprika on it for color.

(3)I don't know what category to put this in, it isn't "Mexican" it has a "Cuban" and Spanish feel and ingredients, but not really, so I guess for navigation purposes I'll label it "Cuban", my mom having lived with my grandmother since she was 18 and married to my father and just last year my grandmother moved but with 18 years with her she has influenced my mom's style a lot in her cooking methods, though my mom still has many "traditional" Mexican recipes, and sometimes adds a "Cuban" and "Spanish" flare to many things (like olive oil is her preferred cooking fat, she likes to go heavy on garlic, sometimes she will add stuff like Yuca and Platanos Pintones to Mexican stews and season with some culantro and achiote or saffron to give the broth the rich golden color, etc.) my mom can cook all the Cuban stuff my grandma makes and my stuff to ha ha in addition to her Mexican stuff to and her creative twists.