Pan seared Salmon with Mango Salsa

Salmon is one of the most common fish that we would pay to eat in a restaurant or eatery. I have always liked Salmon due to its sweet and delicate flesh but only as sashimi as I do not like the texture of cooked salmon. But that was an "Ignorant-me" speaking because I never had a properly cooked salmon served in a restaurant before. Now, knowing that when salmon is properly cooked, it is so much more delicious and if I may say so (pardon my confidence), home-cooked salmon is so delicious that I'd pay much more for it as compared to those salmon served while dining out! The good news is, you can also do it and at a much lower cost! Although we do not have the luxury of buying wild caught salmon or having a huge variety of salmon, farmed Norwegian Salmon is the next best thing available in the market and the price can sometimes be as low as S$16.00 per Kg (That is if you buy the whole fish), otherwise you can get a fillet (to serve 2) between S$7.00 and S$11.00! Give this recipe a go! The tanginess and freshness from the salsa, the sweetness from the mango and the fragrance from the Dill pairs tremendously well with the Salmon and I am sure this item would be engrained in your loved one's memories. The only down side? They may request for it again and again!

Ingredients:
2 - 3 Salmon (steak-cut or fillet)
1 whole mango (I personally preferred Thai Mango)
9 ripe Cherry or Roma tomatoes
1 Japanese cucumber
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Ground black pepper
Salt
Tabasco sauce (optional)
2 Tablespoon of Apple cider
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Essential Oil: Lemon, Celery seed and Dill.

How to use Essential Oil (EO) for cooking:

First and foremost, please check and ensure that the essential oils that you intend to use are safe for ingestion. I got mine from here, so I know that I could use them with a peace of mind.

I use Lemon Essential Oil for my Salsa and Dill Essential Oil for the pan seared Salmon. In order to use Essential Oil (EO) for this recipe, please adhere to the following:

1. DO NOT use EO from unknown, unspecified and unverified sources (Can't stress this enough)
2. DO NOT drip the EO directly on your dish
3. DO NOT use EO on direct heat to avoid destroying the benefits of the EO

This is how you SHOULD do when using the EO for cooking this recipe. Pour some cooking oil into a small bowl, then add in(dilute) the Essential Oil so that you can add the EO evenly to the dish. By the way, dripping the EO directly on the dish will not cause you to die from EO overdose BUT it will definitely destroy your dish. No one likes a full mouthful of EO.

Essential Oil mixture

For this dish, you will need to prepare the following:

1. Add TWO drops of LEMON Essential Oil into a small bowl and add 1 tablespoon of EVOO into the same bowl. This Essential Oil mixture is to be added to the Salsa.
2. Add ONE to TWO drops of DILL Essential Oil into a small bowl and add 2 teaspoon of EVOO into the same bowl. This Essential Oil mixture is to be added on top of the Spanish Mackerel while it is resting or before serving.

Direction (Salsa):

1. To make the salsa, finely diced the onion and set aside.  
2. Wash and remove the seeds from the tomatoes. Quarter the tomatoes and set aside. 
3. Wash the cucumber. Quarter them length wise and remove the seeds. Halve each quarters and diced the cucumber.
4. Peel and finely mince 1 clove of garlic.
5. Add item 1, 2, 3 and 4 into a jar with the juice of 1/2 lemon, 2 Tablespoon of Apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, Essential Oil mixture (1) and a dash of Tabasco sauce (optional) for kick. 
6. Cover the jar and let the salsa season/ripen in the fridge (overnight if possible or for a minimum of 30 minutes).

Salsa set into a jar for seasoning/ripening in the fridge.

Direction:

1. De-scale any scale on the salmon skin and remove the bones. Cut the salmon into serving portion.
2. Dry up the salmon with paper towels and season the salmon with black pepper and salt right before cooking.
3. Heat up a pan to smoking point. Add 2 Tablespoon of EVOO and place the salmon, skin side down, into the pan.
4. Sear for 3-5 minutes or until the skin is crisp, then turn the fish over, add in a clove of crushed garlic and 1 knob of butter then use a spoon to baste the oil over the fish constantly.
5. Remove the pan from the heat after 3 - 6 minutes and let the fish rest in the pan. The residual heat will cook the fish through without over-cooking it.
6. Spoon the Essential Oil mixture (2) onto the fish.
7. Bring the salsa out of the fridge and spoon the salsa over the plate, then place the seared salmon on top of the salsa.
8. Cut, score and remove the flesh of the mango onto the plate.
9. Finish with a small spoon of salsa on top of the fish and drizzle with a dash of EVOO to serve. 

The beautifully cooked salmon will flake nicely and as you can see from this photo, shows slight glister on the Salmon flesh. Over-cooked salmon will not only looked and taste dry, but will show egg-white like substance oozing out of the salmon.

NOTE:

This is a FREE website and also my source of income to support my family. If you liked the recipes that I am posting and appreciate the effort I put into developing these recipes, you could help by using This Link to purchase your Essential Oils. 

If you would like to consider using Essential Oils for cooking, you can get yours from here as this is where I got mine from. The reason for using this brand of Essential Oil is due to the reliable sources of their raw ingredients (own plantations) and the patented distillation technology employed by the company.

I also conduct workshops/classes for groups, so if you would like to engage my service please send me a direct email: seage79@gmail.com. You may also like to consider attending a dinner hosting at my humble abode (A group of 4-8) or engaging me to prepare a meal for a group of your friends at a designated place of your choice.

Last but not least, please note that I spend a considerable amount of my time and effort to develop this website, so if you would like to use any information or resources from my website, the least I could ask you to do is to give credit and provide a link for your readers to visit my page. Thanks in advance for your support.