It took a long time for me to like salmon.  I don’t think I ever had it where I liked the taste until I was past my twenties.  As in so many things my taste buds changed as I got older.  Now I like salmon!   I even made it for my parents and they liked it, too.  It’s all in how you make it.  In the summertime, I like to make it on a cedar plank on the grill, but it ain’t summer.  In the winter I tend to pan-fry fish.

You  can use one of these rubs.  Basically for a rub I use a base of brown sugar, sea salt, pepper and garlic powder.  I add onto that base with curry, turmeric, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika etc.  Anything really will work.  Just keep throwing in spices and taste to make sure it seems okay.   This isn’t rocket science, and you don’t need to cook with a predetermined recipe.  Experiment!  For the dish below, I actually had three rubs in the pantry that weren’t enough so I mixed them all together.  It tasted great!  Kailan had two helpings of the “chicken”. 😉

Basically, here is what you do.  Make your rub up.  Whatever you don’t use just store in a sealed container in the pantry.  Wash the fish and pat it dry.  Then rub a few tablespoons of the spices onto and into the fish.  Coat both sides.  Heat up a skillet on the stovetop to medium high heat and put equal parts olive oil and butter…a tablespoon or so of each.  When the skillet is hot, place the fillet in it and cook for about 6-8 minutes until it looks about halfway cooked through and has a nice crust.  Flip over and cook another 5 minutes.  The ends will certainly be done, but if the middle needs a little bit yet, I just let it sit on the hot stove a bit more.

Here it is with my world famous, kid-approved smothered hashbrowns.  Yum!  A quick and tasty mid-week dinner.