One of our favorite weeknight dinners! Super delicious broiled salmon with a Korean-style sauce that can be made in advance, and quick fried rice with kimchi and whatever veggies you have in your fridge.
Hello and hi.
Are you doing OK? Are you loving or hating or nothing-ing this stay-at-home moment in our lives?
I have noticed a little more...unrest with certain people, and for our part we are doing our best to live our lives based on the advice of medical pros and scientists, nothing more or less.
I have made a lot of bread, which has been a very pleasant surprise to everyone in my household.
I have been doing mainly our regular meal prep; figuring out what we have over the weekend, creating as many dishes as I can with what we already own, and bare-bones shopping just once per week for protein and produce + any dry goods that we actually run out of.
Trying not to hoard, creating meals off things that are available, not necessarily my favorite stuff.
This dinner, though, is one that we've already had twice during quarantine. Korean broiled salmon with kimchi fried rice, yep yep yep.
Honestly no matter where we are in the world, this is such a yummy dinner. Indulgent from the fatty salmon and buttery rice, but definitely toss some veggies on the side or in the fried rice if you'd like to. The sauce for the broiled salmon can be used on chicken, shrimp, or tofu, so use any kind of protein you like!
In terms of other swaps, obviously any kind of rice you have (cauliflower rice, quinoa, all of it!), skip the eggs if you don't have them, omit the butter for dairy free, the list goes on and on.
This is a quick dinner but maybe a little different than some things we've all had several times over the last month or so. The flavors are strong in the best possible way, and kimchi lasts for approximately 9,726 years in the fridge so no worries about waste on that front.
Both recipes are below, and there are more details in the separate posts for the kimchi fried rice and easy broiled salmon. The recipes are really delicious separately, but I'm a sucker for them together as one meal.
For timing? I make the salmon sauce first, start the rice, and stick the salmon in the oven (with a timer!) while I'm frying the rice and scrambling the eggs. The cooking part of the meal takes just about 20 minutes, and I save myself some brainpower by measuring/chopping the rest of the ingredients before I start cooking anything.
I'd LOVE for you to share some of your favorite right-now dinners! Leave us some links.
Korean Broiled Salmon
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger about 10 grates
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce sambal oelek or similar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 pound salmon filet
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the ingredients except the salmon in a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring as you go.
- As soon as the sauce boils, turn the heat off and allow the sauce to cool slightly.
- Preheat the broiler to HIGH and prepare a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the salmon skin side down on the baking sheet. Brush or drizzle on about half of the sauce, enough to cover the entire surface of the salmon. Save the rest of the sauce for serving.
- Broil the salmon in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes until the edges are opaque. The salmon should be slightly underdone in the center. Broil an additional 2 minutes for well done salmon.
- Serve with extra sauce for drizzling.
Notes
7-Ingredient Kimchi Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable or light olive oil
- 3 cups leftover cold rice
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup chopped kimchi plus some juice from the jar
- 3 scallions sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- Soy sauce and/or salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat a large nonstick skillet with the vegetable oil to medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the rice to the skillet and stir it a few times to heat through and toast the rice slightly.
- Add the kimchi and 2 tablespoons of the juice from the jar and stir to coat. Between each stir, let the rice sit to brown a bit on the bottom.
- Scoot the rice to the side of the pan and crack the eggs right in the center. Quickly scramble the eggs, mixing them into the rice as you go.
- Taste the rice and add dashes of soy sauce and sprinkles of salt until the rice is very flavorful – at least ½ teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons soy sauce, probably more depending on your taste.
- When the rice is crispy in some places stir in the butter and scallions. Serve immediately.
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