Frustations of the Electronic Age- Salmon and Rice

I set out to make this blog as an alternative to all the other websites on Pinterest that I have gathered many recipes from. Especially the ones that have so many ads you can't even read the recipe in one shot. I am purposely not citing the original post author for the rice because I did a few things differently and frankly, not going to send anyone else there to be as frustrated as I am.

A supposedly simple rice dish that had so many scrolling ads that were across the full width of my screen I couldn't read the recipe ingredients and instructions. I would scroll to the ingredients but the main window ad (you know the type where it's in the background and the main page has a window that scrolls past it). I would stop at the ingredients, measure out the next one, look at the page and it has entirely reset to somewhere else. I have to stop and scroll down or up and find the ingredients again, which the aforementioned window ad has now obscured the lower three. Repeat five or six times. I was able to screen capture the instructions at least and will attempt to replicate the ingredients for the rice so you don't have to go through the frustration I did. Just the rice instructions and ingredients took me an hour, your results will be much less. I seriously almost threw my ipad a few times.

Implements needed:

Medium saucepan with a lid

Baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier clean up

Oven Baked Salmon and Rice 

3 or 4 salmon filets or one full piece

1 tblspoon teriyaki sauce (I used the Panda Express Mandarin Teriyaki)

1/4 cup Italian Dressing (Olive Garden Classic Italian)

Spray oil

Savory Rice

1 cup white rice, rinsed

2 tbl unsalted butter (separated)

1 tsp Soy Sauce

1 tbls Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp dried parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 yellow onion diced fine

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 can Chicken Broth (14.5 oz) 

 

Before starting: clean and pat dry your salmon add the Italian dressing to a gallon plastic zip bag and coat thoroughly. Squeeze out all the air and put on a plate in refrigerator until time to cook. (can be done an hour or more ahead of time).

 

The salmon is simpler than the rice despite the label for the rice being 'Super Easy'. Right. 

Because the salmon (supposedly) cooks so quickly I started the rice first.

1. Place rice and 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan that has a lid. Heat over medium high heat until the rice starts to brown slightly.

 

2. Add onion and garlic, cooking until softened and fragrant

3. Add remaining ingredients except the remaining butter (remove pot from burner and add chicken broth due to heat of the pan). Stir and bring to a boil over medium high heat, then cover and reduce heat to simmer. (I had to go from 6 or 7 on my knob to Lo then back up to 2). Cook for 15 or 20 minutes, do not lift lid to stir.

 

(Start the oven, prep your salmon and pop it in the oven at this point)

4. Remove from heat without lifting lid and let rest for 5 minutes.

5. Remove lid add the remaining butter and lemon juice, stir or fluff with a fork, put lid back on to keep warm.

 Salmon filets

While rice is cooking preheat oven to 425 and line sheet pan with aluminum foil or parchment, if using foil, spray with oil to coat area where salmon will be cooking. Take salmon out of fridge and, using tongs, place fillet on your baking sheet/foil. Drizzle meat with teriyaki sauce and spread to cover all surfaces. When oven is ready place on middle rack and set time for 15 minutes.

The beauty of this pair is the rice will be done about the same time as the salmon. I had to look up the timing and temp for cooking the salmon and it turned out it needed to cook about 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness. That to me is hard to figure.  Only one of my pieces was about an inch thick and it wasn't uniform. So I had to wing it and set the timer for 15 minutes. 

As the salmon is cooking you can rest for a few minutes because the rice won't be done. Don't stir the rice! It's rice, it's supposed to cook with the lid on. Just a reminder.

When the timer goes off, tend to the rice first. Stir and fluff as needed then pull salmon out and test with a fork for flakiness. You can use a thermometer if you wish and it should be at least 145-150. 

Serve rice and salmon, as pictured at the top, add some of the lemon juice on everything as well.

This being rather simple, you can also have a side of broccoli, green beans, salad or whatever other veggie you want. I forgot that so it was a very simple meal. It really is delicious, both of them were spot on and tasty, just not very filling.

Rave review from the partner on the rice. He gave me a glowing review knowing I had such a hard time with the rice recipe. The salmon is my own concoction cobbled in my brain based on other recipes I've seen. Since salmon has such a distinct flavor you don't want to overdo the seasonings. I found the Italian dressing had the right tart/sour profile and then the teriyaki gave it that rich sweet flavor. 

Enjoy! Let me know if you fixed this!