Just because you’re cooking for one person doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with a week’s worth of leftovers. I love cooking in foil because it allows you to easily cook single portions while making cleanup ridiculously simple.
If you’ve been reading Fresh Tastes for a while, you may remember my foil wrapped salmon with miso and mushrooms. Cooking for me is an iterative process to improve taste or efficiency and which is why I’m constantly looking for new ways to do thing. I’ve come up with a better technique for making this dish that’s faster, and results in salmon that is perfectly cooked.
Instead of using an oven to cook the salmon, I now cook this on the stove in a pan using steam. Because steam transfers heat faster than the dry heat of the oven, the cooking time goes down from 15 minutes to 9. Because the heat source of a stove comes from below, I’ve put the mushrooms below the salmon, which allows them to cook quickly, while insulating the delicate salmon and allowing it to cook evenly.
If you’re worried about the saturated fat, you can leave out the butter and substitute olive oil, but I’d be doing you a huge disservice if I didn’t tell you what an amazing combination butter and soy sauce is.
Steamed Salmon and Mushrooms
This steamed salmon and mushroom dish proves that cooking for one can be fun and not result in a week of leftovers. (Recipe Credit: Marc Matsumoto of Fresh Tastes.
- 5 ounces assorted mushrooms
- 4 ounces salmon
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- cilantro (for garnish)
Ingredients
- Cut a large rectangular piece of aluminum foil and place it on the counter.
- Pile the mushrooms in the center and top with the salmon.
- Drizzle with the soy sauce and top and the salmon with the butter.
- Fold the foil over the top of the salmon to make the two ends meet and then fold the foil over to several times to seal the top. Seal the pouch by folding the edges over a few times.
- Add 1/4-inch of water to a frying pan with a lid and then add the pouch of salmon. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and steam until the salmon is cooked through (about 9-10 minutes).
- When the salmon is done, carefully remove it from the pan, unwrap and garnish with cilantro.
Directions
Yield: 1 serving
Marc Matsumoto is a culinary consultant and recipe repairman who shares his passion for good food through his website norecipes.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blog in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marcs been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.