Salmon and Kimchi Skillet
Sautéing kimchi brings out its mellower side: a delicious, cabbage-y sweetness. In Korean cuisine, stir-fried kimchi (kimchi-bokkeum) is a classic staple served with rice. In this recipe, the kimchi is cooked in a fragrant mix of butter and toasted sesame oil along with just a touch of sugar, making a four-ingredient seasoning and sauce for salmon filets. Often, jarred cabbage kimchi is already chopped into large bite-size pieces, so you can simply empty the jar into the skillet. If your kimchi has very long or unwieldy pieces of cabbage, you may want to use kitchen scissors to snip them up in the jar (or chop it on a cutting board). Serve the salmon and kimchi with rice.
- Preparation:
- Cooking:
- Total:
- Serves: 4 persons
Ingredients
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1(16- ounce) jar chopped cabbage kimchi (about 2 cups)
- ½teaspoon sugar
- 4(6- to 8-ounce) salmon fillets, patted dry
- Salt
- Chopped scallions and sesame seeds, for topping (optional)
Instructions
Step 1
Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Melt the butter with the sesame oil in a 12-inch, oven-safe skillet over high heat.Step 2
When the butter’s foam subsides, add the kimchi with its liquid to the skillet. Stir in the sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has bubbled away and the kimchi has softened, 3 to 5 minutes. If the liquid simmers away quickly, before the kimchi has softened, decrease the heat to medium and stir often.Step 3
Season the salmon lightly with salt. Nestle the fillets in the skillet, skin-side down if your fillets are skin-on, spooning kimchi on top of the salmon. Roast in the oven for 6 minutes.Step 4
Turn the broiler to high. Put the skillet on a rack about 5 inches from the broiler heat source and broil, turning and checking the fish and kimchi once, until the kimchi gets very deeply browned in spots, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve topped with scallions and sesame seeds, if you like.