SUPERBLY easy to make and inexpensive to buy – honey and chili salmon skewers are a family favourite.
THIS is a lovely way to feed six people relatively inexpensively – yet, as always with salmon, it looks a million dollars.
As autumn begins to place its cooler fingers across the country, this is also a good dish to match with the turn of the weather.
Salmon is such a healthy fish, full of necessary Omega 3 and its beautiful orangey flesh is always attractive to the eye no matter how you present it.
In New Zealand, the most common type is the king salmon, farmed extensively, both freshwater and sea (and farmers of both types hotly debate which is best).
Either way, it is agreed by the rest of the world as being the premium fish – indeed, it was freshwater Mt Cook Alpine salmon that Heston Blumenthal chose for his Fat Duck menu when the three-Michelin star restaurant opened in Melbourne last year.
This is such a simple dish, not needing anything other than the taste of honey and chili to enhance the natural flavours of the fish, and you can use any base – basmati or jasmine rice do well either way as a base for this.
For me, I’ll always look for New Zealand salmon, which has a firmer, cleaner feel and taste and a deeper colour to Norwegian salmon which can have a mushy, pale look to it.
Honey-wise, clear honey is good, if you haven’t got that, heat it gently for 30 seconds in a microwave, which makes it much more malleable and easy to combine and use.
Ingredients
4 tbs sweet chili sauce
4 tbs honey
2 spring onions
1 tbs light cooking oil
500gm skinless salmon fillet cut into 2cm chunks
Salt and pepper to taste
About six skewers
Method
Combine the honey, chili sauce, herbs and oil into a large bowl. Add salmon and toss well to coat. Season with pepper and salt.
Thread salmon onto skewers and place on a foil lined grill rack. Grill on a preheated grill for seven or eight minutes, turning a few times until it is a little charred in places and cooked through.
These are beautiful served on a bed on basmati rice flavoured with red and spring onions that has been stir-fried, with a handul of chopped fresh coriander thrown in. You could sprinkle roasted sesame seeds onto the salmon once served.
Either way though, it’s a glorious dish – and one to put away in your family cookbook as a favourite.
