Pan-fried Salmon with Broccolini and Orange Sauce

When I first saw this recipe, I was already trying to picture Curtis cutting away the peel of the oranges, segmenting it and all. I was like, ah well if it's going to be me who will do this, honestly I'm quite sure I'll do away with all of that since I know I'll be lazy to do it so nicely like Curtis.

This five ingredient recipe was for a Friday. Oh well, everyday can be a Friday if you know how to let it be ;) This recipe is taken from Curtis Stone's What's for Dinner or here.

Honestly, if you don't let the cutting, peeling and slicing of the oranges get to you, you'll soon realise that this is a fairly simple dish that you can do pretty quickly. Check out my modifications in blue. Do note that this recipe yields 4 pax portions.

Ingredients

8 oranges
1 bunch broccolini, trimmed (most supermarkets here sell broccoli mainly but I figured you can use broccoli as well)
4 6-ounce wild salmon fillets
olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Cut off the top and bottom of 2 oranges. Using a small, sharp knife, cut away the peel and white pith from the oranges, following the curve of the oranges from top to bottom.
2. Working over a bowl and holding 1 orange in your hand, make 2 cuts within the membrane on either side of a segment, then lift the segment out of the membrane and place it in the bowl. Repeat to remove all the segments from both oranges.
3. Squeeze the membranes to release as much juice as possible.
4. Transfer the accumulated juices to a 2-cup measuring cup. Set the segments aside. Squeeze the remaining 6 oranges into the measuring cup until you have 2 cups of juice total.
5. Bring the orange juice to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and reduce until the juice has a syrupy consistency. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
6. Meanwhile, steam the broccolini just until vibrant green, about 2 minutes. Remove the broccolini and cool.
7. Drizzle the broccolini with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Sprinkle the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.
9. Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat.
10. Grill the broccolini until it is crisp-tender and slightly charred, turning as needed, about 5 minutes.
11. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salmon fillets and cook until golden brown on the outside and opaque around the sides but not quite opaque in the center, about 3 minutes per side.
12. Transfer the salmon fillets to a plate and let rest for 2 minutes.
13. Divide the broccolini among 4 serving plates. Place the salmon atop of the broccolini. Drizzle the warm orange reduction over and around the salmon and garnish with the orange segments.
14. Serve and enjoy.

Notes:

• I literally skipped steps 1 to 4 and just simply sliced up the oranges minus the white pith that causes the bitterness. I blended the oranges and then sieved the oranges to strain out the orange juice.

I absolutely heart this crispy skinned salmon with its creamily soft texture. Amazingly, this technique of heating the orange juice which turns this orange sauce reduction into something less citrusy but yet brings out the tangy flavour. This tangy flavour simply brings the salmon and broccolini enough depth to make it a wholesome meal. Mr G literally ate everything on his plate and even drank or licked up the sauce till it was all clean. I guess that pretty much sum it up on the taste, isn't it?

There's still a few more days to this blog hop. So wanna cook or bake like Curtis Stone? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Curtis Stone's website, his recipe collection at Coles website or at Masterchef Australia or his cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of July 2013. For more details, please see this.

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Also, I'm going to submit this post to Cook-Your-Books #2 by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours.