Salmon with Thai Rice Salad

Based on the somewhat artery-clogging food I've been eating lately (see my upcoming pot pie posting), I wanted something simple and healthy for dinner tonight.  This broiled salmon and Thai rice salad comes together quickly and has very few ingredients - fish, rice, some vegetables, and that's just about it.  Not a bad idea for a light weeknight meal, and you can't beat the freshness of the rice salad, which is more like a slaw than anything else.  The crispness of the cucumber and the pungent cilantro and green onion balanced the strength of the salmon perfectly, and the chilled vegetables and rice made me wish it was summer and I was eating outside.

The only magic here is broiling the fish.  Though not too complicated if you've done it before, you can easily ruin dinner if you do this wrong.  First of all, find your broiler.  For those of you who don't cook, this is probably the drawer at the bottom of your oven where you've been storing your baking sheets, although in some ovens (mostly electric) there is a broiler rack at the top of the oven by the element, rather than underneath by the fire.  Wherever it is, it's always somewhere that food can cook directly through intense radiant heat.  I like to broil fish skin side down first to cook it most of the way through, then flip it over to crisp the skin for the last few minutes.  Keep a close eye on it, because burnt fish is one of the worst smells to deal with in the kitchen, not to mention a senseless waste of expensive protein.

If you can, shell out for decent salmon - it needs to stand up on its own

Easy Salmon with Thai Rice Salad

• 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
• 3 tablespoons lime juice (from about 2 limes)
• 3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc mam)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 3 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• Pinch cayenne
• 1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 3 carrots, grated
• 4 scallions including green tops, chopped
• 6 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 pounds skinless center-cut salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

The setup - one of my more healthy meals recently

Stir the rice into a medium pot of boiling, salted water and cook until just done, about 10 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain thoroughly.

In a large glass or stainless-steel bowl, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of the oil, the sugar, and cayenne. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice, cucumber, carrots, scallions, and cilantro.

The finished rice salad.

Heat the broiler. Oil a broiler pan or baking sheet. Coat the salmon with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Put the salmon on the pan. Broil until just barely done (the fish should still be translucent in the center), about 5 minutes for a 1-inch-thick fillet. Put the rice salad on plates and top with the salmon.

After broiling the salmon, the skin should start to get nice and crispy.  Discard it if you like before serving - it's home to many of the nutrients, but also the toxins, in the fish.