Slow-cooked Salmon with Broccoli

This is a dish that I consider to be a basic staple in life. The ingredients are fairly simple, meaning that the quality of each item used will really make a difference for making or breaking the overall experience. This recipe uses a slow-cooking salmon technique to maximize the flavor and to retain the vibrant red tone of the fish.

Salmon
ingredients
Salmon fillet (I opt for wild caught)
1 cup sake
1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari*
1/4 oil**
3 cloves crushed garlic***
1 inch chunk of ginger, chopped***
3 tablespoons lemon juice****
3 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a cooking dish that is only slightly larger than the fish fillet.

2. Place the salmon in the mix, ideally the liquid should be close to fully submerging the fish. If not, mix more sauce using a similar ratio.

3. Let the salmon come up to room temperature (usually about ten minutes).

4. Cover the salmon and cook it at 250 degrees for fifteen minutes, remove covering and cook for another twenty minutes.

5. Sprinkle with brown sugar and broil for five minutes.

Rice
ingredients
2 cups Japanese pearl rice (also known as sushi rice)
3 cups Water

1. Rinse the rice multiple time (I usually do this three times). Press your hand or a spatula against the rice and carefully draining away the majority of the milky starch water that comes off.

2. Heat the rice and water uncovered until it is at a slight boil. Once it has reached this temperature reduce the heat to lowest setting and cover with a lit that is slightly ajar to allow small amounts of steam to escape.

3. Cook for roughly twenty minutes, I can usually tell when the rice is done by the faint rice aroma that perfumes the air when it is close to being finished.


Broccoli
A large head of broccoli, or (depending on the season) young broccoli florets

1. Cut the broccoli into equal sizes. You can also use the stem by cutting off the base and slicing off the sides so that only the crisp pale white core remains.

2. Steam the vegetables until they are a vibrant green and still slightly crisp. It is generally better to undercook them because they will continue to cook for a little while after the heat is removed (and nothing is worse than overcooked broccoli). Cooking time can vary, but usually it takes just a few minutes. Similar to the rice, my nose tends to inform me when the time is right to check on the progress.

*If you are allergic to soy, substitute soy sauce for a tablespoon of smoked salt.

**Use a cooking oil of your choice, sesame seed oil is always nice with this dish but folks with a latex and/or nut allergy or might also develop an allergy to this ingredient.

***Remove garlic and ginger from ingredients if you have a spice allergy or allergy to birch pollen or mugwort

****Remove if you have citrus related allergies