Crispy Skin Salmon with Mash Potato and Greens

Cooking western food is never my kind of skill. There always something missing in the taste area, which I never sure what was it. I guess because western food is a very simple dish which made me harder to cook, and I get use to so many herbs and spices in Asian cooking. However cooking western food has making me appreciate the true taste of the protein.

I grilled salmon fillet couples of time already, but I never get the flesh to cook right and evenly. They were always too rare and almost raw in the middle, that I couldn’t even continue eating them. I had to recook them in the microwave to get them edible. Probably it is also because I don’t enjoy eating sashimi and all sort of other raw things (except YuKe; Japanese style steak tartare). The rawness is so unacceptable that my husband (big fan of raw foods) mentioned about how the fish should be cook longer.

In order to practice my salmon grilling skill, I went to fish market and bought a whole Salmon Atlantic. The smallest one is about 3 kg, and the fish is enough for a month menu dinner rotation. There you go, I tried different way of cooking them and I did it. The image shown below is not yet a perfect crispy skin salmon, as you can see some part of the skin in the middle has a lighter colour. Later after I did the meal, I found out that you have to apply pressure when cooking the skin.

This time I tried to use a strainer as my final step in making mash potato. The texture is really smooth, but using strainer is too much work and muscle aching. Next time I’ll just stick to the potato masher.

Ingredients

• 1 salmon fillet, deboned (about the size of your palm)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 lime
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 large size of desiree potato (about the size of your fist)
• 25 gr of butter
• 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese
• Salad vegetable mix
• French dressing

Instructions

1. In a small pot, boil the potato until cook. Peel the skin and mash it. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add butter and mash it until smooth. Finally add grated cheese and mash it until mixed. (To achieve a smooth mash potato, use a strainer)
2. Wash the salmon and pat dry with paper towel. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan. Squeeze the lime juice over the salmon. Cook it skin side down on the pan for 5 minutes. (Try putting pressure on the salmon in the first two minutes to achieve even crispiness)
4. Flip the salmon carefully and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Turn your oven on 180° C and cook your salmon for 3-4 minutes. (Optional, I like mine to be well done. Be careful not to overcook)
6. Serve the salmon with mash potato and green salad.