Sometimes the best recipes are the most simple. This is my family's favourite way to eat salmon-pan fried, crusted with rosemary from the herb garden, lots of garlic, and lemon zest. The trick is to dry the salmon well before you top it with the rosemary and garlic, so that it will stick right to the fish instead of sliding off into the pan the second you flip it over. Keep the pan good and hot and watch the fish carefully as it cooks so that you don't overdo it and end up with a dried out and rubbery piece of fish.
Ingredients:
2 filets of skinless salmon about 1/2 inch thick, boned
one head of garlic, separated into cloves and chopped
lemon
3 sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper
Pick all the leaves off the rosemary and chop finely. Mince garlic. Mix the two together on your cutting board.
Dry off the salmon filets with paper towel. Spread your garlic and rosemary on top of the filets, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Zest a lemon right over top of the filets.
Heat a non stick pan over medium with about 2 tsp of oil in it until the pan is good and hot. Slide the filets into it and cook – you’ll see the heat creeping up the sides of the filets as they begin to turn opaque, then slide your spatula under and give them a good flip. It’s important you do this quickly and confidently, so that the garlic mixture doesn’t all fall off.
Keep an eye on it so that the garlic topping browns a little but doesn’t burn. You can flip it back over to the other side and cook it a little longer so that it’s cooked through.
When the fish flakes easily, it’s cooked through. Remove from the heat and serve.
Serves 2-4, depending on appetites
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