Pan-Seared Salmon with Ginger, Chives, Soy Sauce & a Forgotten Bottle of Wine
Chives, Ginger, Soy Sauce, and a Forgotten Bottle of Wine
Soft, delicate pan-seared salmon with a crispy skin, infused with rich ginger-chive aromatics and doused with soy sauce and a forgotten bottle of wine.
This is a recipe that takes inspiration from the Cantonese-Style Steamed Fish, but with an added twist of lemon and the forgotten wine that’d been thankfully sitting in my cupboard upon discovering that I’d completely run out of rice wine.
Improvising in the kitchen? Always.
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Cooking up & Passing down recipes the way our grandparents and their parents did
Measuring cups? Measuring spoons? Nah. We didn’t grow up with those.
Imperfectly Wabi Sabi Recipes continue the tradition of creating flavors and dishes the way our parents and their parents did – by tasting and sensing as we go.
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Recipe Notes
TOTAL TIME: 25-30 min. No prep. time.
SERVES: 2
EQUIPMENT: For the best sear, I recommend a stainless steel pan. New to using steel pans? Here’s a quick guide on how to ensure your salmon glides right off the pan.
Ingredients
Only a few, simple ingredients needed for the pan-seared salmon:
- Salmon – 1 lb (or two steaks, as was used for this recipe)
- Chives – A big handful, chopped in medium length straws (green onions will do too, if no chives available). Note: save a few chives for final garnishing
- Ginger – 10 thin slices, and then slivered
- Garlic – 3-4 cloves, diced
- Soy Sauce (Light) – 1.5 tbsp
- Oil – Neutral oil, just a touch, enough to span across the pan
- Lemon – 1/2
- White Wine – 1/2 cup (I used Snoop Dogg’s 19 Crimes Sauvignon Blanc, but any white wine will do)
Instructions
- Drizzle a bit of oil on your stainless steel pan on medium heat. Wait a few minutes as the pan gets up to temperate. Make sure the pan is hot before you place the salmon steaks. (Instructions on how to properly activate the steel pan here)
- When the steel pan is hot enough, place salmon steaks skin-side down.
- Place lid on the pan slightly so the oil doesn’t start flying everywhere and so that the salmon is not steaming in there. We’re trying to get the skin crispy, so it’s going to get hot and crackling! Do this for 5 minutes.
- When the skin is crisp, carefully turn over the salmon steaks (ideally, in one fell swoop) to sear the other side. Turn heat down to medium-low, and place lid back on, slightly ajar to allow for air flow. Do this for another 5-7 minutes, or until the thickest part of the salmon steak is cooked.
- Plate salmon and set aside as you turn to the aromatics and sauce.
- Add oil to pan, chives, garlic, and ginger and increase heat to medium-high
- Pour in the wine and using a wooden spoon, scrape up the good burnt juices from the bottom of the pan (this is where the flavor is). Give it a minute to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
- Add soy sauce and squeeze in 1/2 a lemon
- Stir everything together in the pan.
- Pour sauce and aromatics over the plated salmon.
Kitchen Notes
- Don’t toss old wine! Use your favorite bottle of wine — or whatever’s lying around. Usually, I use rice wine to cook fish, but I didn’t have it at the time! Good thing I always have wine lying around. I can’t say this was my favorite brand of wine, but it did the job.
- Wait until the pan gets hot enough! Stainless steel pans are great for a making a golden brown sear — but you need to make sure that the pan is hot enough before placing the salmon on, or elseit’ll stick to the pan and you’ll end up with one big pile of scrambled salmon. For a quick guide on how to activate the steel pan’s non-stick properties, read our quick guide.
Goes Great With...
This Pan-Seared Salmon with Ginger, Chives and White Wine is a simple and whole dish that would go great with any pasta or salad or, heck, side of potatoes!
To pair with soup, you can’t go wrong with a classic Hot & Sour Soup (recipe). Or if you’re in the mood for a coconutty lemongrass flavor, try our Tom Kha (Lemongrass Coconut Soup) (recipe), a broth bursting with flavor. For something a little heartier, try our Miso Pumpkin Soup (recipe). It’s like miso soup, but with a thicker and richer flavor using pumpkins.
This recipe was made using ingredients — we’ve got chives for days! – grown from our very own garden where we grow our food regeneratively. Nothing beats these fresh, amazing fragrances and flavors grown right in our own garden.
Let us know what you think!
Did you try this recipe? Leave us a comment below or share with someone who might get a kick out of this simple, tasty dish.
To Share
Cooking feeds the soul, not just the stomach.
Imperfectly Wabi Sabi recipes are focused on creating simple, cozy comfort foods by blending family tradition, creative ways to “use what we got” – food scraps, left-overs, and all – and by using what’s in season from our very own regenerative Garden.
There’s no wasting around here. Only garden-to-table and family tradition wrapped tastefully together. Happy Wabi Sabi eats.
3 Comments
Schquarra
Great recipe! Love salmon!
Bonnibelle
This looks so flavorful. And a wonderful way to use up leftover wine! Definitely worth a try. 😋
Imperfectly Wabi Sabi
Never throw away wine, even if it is cheap wine! Hahaha