Sake-Ginger Roasted Salmon with Pickled Cucumber

The night before New Year’s eve, we went to our friends’ house in Henderson. Marcus and Tracey have just got engaged (on Boxing Day) – congratulations again, both of you. Tracey cooked this dish from AnnabelLangbein's "Free Range in the City"  It was so yummilicious. Bob said later that it was the best salmon dish he had ever had and he is not an avid fan of salmon.

So this is the recipe that Trace sent me via email.

Sake and Ginger Roasted Salmon (from Annabel Langbein's "Free Range in the City")

Serves 6 - 8

1/2 cup sake

2 tablespoons fresh ginger

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari

1 side salmon, skin on, deboned

Pickled Cucumber

1 lebanese cucumber

6 tablespoons boiling water

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fine white pepper

1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped

2 teaspoons sesame oil

70g pickled ginger, finely chopped

To Serve

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

Mix sake with ginger, honey and soy sauce or tamari in a shallow tray.  Place salmon skin side up in the marinade, cover and chill for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

Remove from fridge 30 minutes before cooking to return to room temperature.

While the salmon is marinating, make the Pickled Cucumber.  Halve the cucumber lengthwise, scoop out and discard the seeds and angle-slice the flesh.  

Place in a bowl.  Mix together the boiling water, sugar, vinegar, salt, white pepper, chilli, sesame oil and pickled ginger and pour over the cucumbers.  

Marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours in the fridge.  Drain before serving.

When ready to cook the salmon, preheat oven to 250 degrees C.  Lift salmon out of marinade, discard marinade and place salmon skin side down on a shallow baking dish lined with baking paper.  

Roast for 10 minutes - it should be very rare.  Remove from oven, cover and leave on the bench to cool for at least 30 minutes.

To serve, transfer the salmon to a serving dish, scatter Pickled Cucumber over the top and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

I gobbled the pickled cucumber very happily. It reminded me of the Chinese restaurant “Maple Leave” in Bangkok that our family frequented for Peking Ducks. They would serve similar style pickled vegetables on small plates once we were seated and ordered our drinks. I don’t know if the restaurant still exists. They moved two or three times in the past and we managed to track them down eventually but we have not been able to trace them this time round over the past 10 years.