Salmon with Red Curry

Salmon with Red Curry

Fact: Some courageous Atlantic salmon migrate hundreds of miles from the ocean to swim, upstream, against a torrent of rushing river while dodging grizzly bears, bald eagles, and sport fisherman. The few who flip and flail and flounder to successfully make it to the upper reaches of rivers spawn on gravel beds, and die unceremoniously afterwards. The salmon life cycle starts over again.

You owe it to your salmon to make a restaurant-quality, umami-infused dish and perhaps impress your girlfriend who is sick of run-of-the-mill salmon with asparagus, mashed potatoes, and two-buck chuck wine from Trader Joe's.

Unfortunately, your grocery store bought salmon was probably raised on an industrial salmon farm in Maine.

This dish is a revelation. You may have never thought about pairing salmon with red curry before, but after you make this, you probably will crave this flavor combination like you do peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes I will sit in rush hour traffic in my orange Lamborghini Diablo and texting Jennifer Lawrence, and think, "I want me some of that salmon with red curry tonight. I should stop at Market Basket because salmon is on sale for $6.99 a pound this week." True story.

The dish can sit comfortably on the table of a good Thai restaurant, or in front of the television on a Monday night with your significant other, while you lament Penny's new haircut on Big Bang Theory. You may never want to pan-fry your salmon again with just olive oil and S & P.

Flavor MVP: pineapple adds a nice zing to an already flavor-packed curry.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 - 2.0 lb salmon
• 3 tbl red curry
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 green/yellow pepper, chopped
• optional: green beans
• 1 can pineapple, large chunks
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut until 3 inch piece and flattened
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• fish sauce to taste
• corn starch slurry (1 tbl corn starch + 2 tbl water) (optional)

Method:

1. Salt and pepper salmon.

2. Heat up oil, fry salmon head skin side up for 4 minutes (seared), remove salmon.

3. Add garlic, then onions, then 3 tbl red curry.

4. After a couple minutes, add red and green/yellow peppers.

5. After 1 minute, add coconut milk. Then add pineapple, lemongrass, fish sauce, and water. Add corn starch slurry to make thicker.

6. Simmer for 5 minutes. Then add salmon back and simmer until done (7-10 minutes).