Honey garlic salmon with rice
Sticky, garlicky and glossy, this is the salmon that makes you feel like you finally know what you’re doing.
- 35 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $5.40 a serving
- 860 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
- 2 salmon fillets, about 6 oz each
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp honey
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 1¼ cups water
- ½ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
Each serving has about 860 calories, 43 g protein, 103 g carbs and 30 g fat, and costs about $5.40 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No honey? Maple syrup works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear, then put it in a small with the water and of salt.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Bring the rice over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, to low and cook for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. Then slide the pan off the heat and leave it covered.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: No peeking. The steam trapped under the lid is what cooks the rice.the honey, soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
the salmon dry and both sides with the rest of the salt and the pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat until it . Add the salmon skin side up and cook without moving it for 4 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: It may stick at first. When the crust has formed, it lets go of the pan on its own.Flip the salmon, turn the heat to medium and pour the sauce into the pan around it.
Medium heat
Let it bubble for 3 to 4 minutes, spooning the sauce over the fish, until it into a sticky and the salmon flakes easily in the thickest part.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Glaze. A glaze is a thin, glossy coating, often sweet, brushed or spooned over food near the end. It adds shine and flavor, and because it has sugar, it can burn quickly.
How you’ll know: The food looks shiny and evenly coated, sticky at the edges but not blackened.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Honey burns quickly. If the sauce turns darker than amber, slide the pan off the heat.Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Fluff the rice with a fork, top with the salmon and every bit of sauce, and scatter the green onions and sesame seeds over it.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
