Yield: This recipe yields 4 dinner servings or approximately 6 first course servings.

Teriyaki salmon in a Chinese 5-Spice marinade makes a weekday dinner easy and is sure to please the entire family. The salmon is full of flavor and goes well with a side of rice.

The ubiquitous blend for Chinese cuisine, Chinese 5-Spice is a sweet, warm, licorice-scented mix of spices, which makes an excellent marinade for all kinds of meats and seafood stir-fry preparations.

Ingredients:

• 4 – 6 ounce salmon filets
• 1-2 tablespoons of either grapeseed or extra virgin olive oil, for searing

• 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) finest quality soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sake or dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon of either grapeseed or extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon raw cane sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons Merchant Spice Co.’s Chinese 5-Spice Seasoning, to taste
• Sea salt, to taste

Preparation:

Mix together the marinade ingredients in a bowl or shallow dish, add the salmon, cover, refrigerate and marinate for 20 minutes or so.

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan or skillet. Remove the salmon from the marinade, shaking off excess liquid and reserving leftover marinade. Place the salmon filets, skin side down, in the hot oil. Gently and frequently move the salmon around to keep the fish from sticking. When browned on one side, turn the salmon, reduce the heat and cook, covered, for 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the salmon from the pan, leaving the heat on beneath the skillet.

Pour the reserved marinade into your skillet and quickly bring to a boil. Add salmon back to the skillet, skin side down, and reduce the heat to medium-high. Gently spoon some of the simmering sauce over the top of the salmon filets (to form a glaze) and continue to cook until the marinade is almost cooked away. Remove the salmon filets from the skillet and place on a serving dish or individual plates. Garnish with additional Chinese 5-Spice seasoning and green onion curls, if desired. Onigiri (rice balls) make for a striking accompaniment to the teriyaki salmon.

Enjoy!

Tip: An alternative cooking method, which requires very little attention, is to bake the salmon, skin-side down, on a broiler pan in the oven at 425ºF for 15-20 minutes. If using this method, you can leave the salmon in the marinade in the broiler pan, simply spooning the marinade over the top of the salmon every 3-5 minutes. There is no need to turn the salmon over. When the salmon is fully cooked, place the fish under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the marinade begins to bubble and caramelize.