Description
Sear Roasted Salmon with Knob Creek Maple® Orange Glaze. Salmon, seared on the stovetop, finished in the oven, and glazed with Knob Creek Maple® and orange.
Ingredients
- 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, preferably wild
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground peppercorn mix
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Knob Creek Maple Orange Glaze
- ¼ cup Knob Creek Smoked Maple Bourbon (or plain bourbon)
- ¼ cup maple syrup (preferably grade B)
- Juice of 1 orange
Instructions
- Season the salmon, simmer the glaze: Heat the oven to 400°F. Sprinkle the salmon fillets with the salt and pepper. Put the maple orange glaze ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the glaze reduces and thickens.
- Sear roast the salmon: In the 12-inch frypan, heat the 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering, about 3 minutes. Add the salmon to the pan, skin side up. Shake the pan to get oil under the salmon, then let them sit and sear for 3 minutes, or until they are well browned on the bottom. Turn off the heat, flip the salmon skin side down, and brush the salmon generously with the maple orange glaze. Slide the frypan into the oven and roast for about 5 minutes, until the salmon is barely cooked in the center (the internal temperature is 130°F, and the thickest part has just turned opaque).
- Serve the salmon: Remove the salmon from the oven (be careful, the handle of the pan is searing hot), and transfer immediately to a serving plate. Brush the salmon one more time with the maple orange glaze, and serve.
Notes
If you have a fantastic piece of salmon, and you want the salmon flavor to come through without a glaze, great! Skip the “brush with glaze” instructions, and sear-roast it with salt and pepper.
Don’t mess with the salmon while it is browning, or it will stick and shred. It will release from the pan when it is properly browned on the bottom. Also, don’t skimp on the oil; the layer of heated oil keeps the fish from sticking to the pan. (If you have an oven safe nonstick pan, now is the time to use it.)
Try to get fish cut into roughly the same size fillets. I had two different sizes – a couple of fillets were a lot wider than the others. The thin pieces weighed six ounces, were as wide as they were tall, and cooked as described – sear for four minutes, roast for five. The large pieces were twice as wide as they were thick, and weighed close to a pound each. They took ten minutes of roasting to cook to 130°F. By that time, the thin pieces were overcooked. I should have cut the big pieces in half.
Tools
12 inch oven safe frypan (I use my favorite pan – a 12 inch All-Clad frypan)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes