The Sugar Bar

BLIMEY. How long is the name of this?
It would have gone a lot longer if I’d cared to define the type of spaghetti I’d used but let’s save that for later. Not to mention I’ve spinned up some pretty amazing sibilant alliteration.

I have to thank Marc of No Recipes for putting up this classic easy-peasy Japanese marinade up on his blog because without it, my salmon would have been a failure. His marinade is the star of the show. I had been saving these beautiful rusty red Wild Alaskan steaks for something special and as the Almighty one would have it, this marinade was simply beautiful. The only deviation from the original recipe was the cutting out of grated ginger, a substituting of soy sauce with teriyaki sauce instead as I wanted a sweeter marinade and also a touch of dill for a slight herbiness.

I have to say I loved this dish! I absolutely enjoyed this (and so did Sam, what with all his moaning and wide-eyed appreciation. Hans & Anna who had a taste gave a thumbs up too. O joy!) and I think the fact that I was hungry made it even better but did not delude me in any way as to the harmony of this dish. It may not look like much but the spicy cod roe went really well with my red pepper and garlic specialty pasta (which I indulgently ordered in from Italy…seriously which student does that?!). I really liked the sweetness of the sauce with the general flavourfulness of the salmon and the touch of dill worked pretty well with its sweetness. Phew!

Don’t forget black sesame seeds. I found it quite a feat to source for these guys since it’s a very oriental ingredient and you hardly find it in Asian or Western cooking (more popular sightings would be black sesame ice cream and cakes) so Sakib’s Off Licence was out of the question for me. Black sesame seeds have a very different flavour to its white counterpart and gives off a smoky and almost peppery flavour. White sesame together helps to keep in check its earthier flavour. A very yin yang and truly eye-catching combination. The Chinese and Japanese love using black sesame seeds on breads and in biscuits and desserts. You might have heard of the Chinese black sesame paste dessert which is black sesame creamed into a creamy, paste-like soup. It never is too sweet or cloying because of the sesame’s deep, earthy flavour and the sesame seeds have to be very well ground. It’s Mum’s favourite dessert and swear it’s just about the best Chinese pudding, right after gui ling gao.

On the overall, I give myself a great big pat on the back, 5 stars for this (even if I cheated and used readymade spaghetti mix when I have a bottle of karashi mentai in my pantry) and label this a definite make-again-soon recipe. Also, I take back all my complaints about salmon and I definitely wouldn’t mind spending a little more in the future on really good fresh sustainable salmon as I suppose nothing can compromise quality when it comes to fish.

This, despite the lengthiness of instructions, is fairly simple even for one who is brain-dead from a 3hr paper and knackered from shopping. You hardly have to think to put this together and with a little carefulness, serves 2 hungry chipmunks.

Baked Sesame & Sake Salmon Steak on Spicy Cod Roe Specialty Spaghetti
Ingredients

2 Wild Alaskan salmon steaks
some olive oil for baking
2 tbs black sesame seeds
2 tbs white sesame seeds

For the marinade (recipe adapted from Marc@norecipes):
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs teriyaki sauce
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs sake
1 clove of garlic, crushed
touch of dill
about 1-3tsp flour for thickening (to be used after the fish is cooked)

For the cod roe spaghetti:
about 100g dry spaghetti (I’ve used a red pepper & garlic spaghetti from Italy)
touch of olive oil
1 packet ready-made spicy cod roe pasta mix/ 2 tbs spicy cod roe

In a bowl, mix together ingredients for the marinade and place the salmon steaks in the marinade, carefully turning them to coat them in that lovely juice. Leave for about 30min in the fridge covered in clingwrap for it to absorb the flavours.
In a little pouring jug, mix together the different coloured sesame seeds. You can give them a little toasting before placing on the fish or leave it un-toasted because it’ll do so as it bakes anyway.

Preheat oven to 190d Celsius.
Drizzle some olive oil onto a baking tray.

Remove salmon from the fridge. Give them one last turn in the sauce and place onto the oiled baking tray. Pour the sesame seeds in a steady line down the steaks. Using your fingers, spread the seeds out and gently pat onto the steaks to make sure they stick. Now place on the middle shelf in the oven and bake about 5-10min.
Thereafter, check on the fish then move up to the top shelf for another 5min or so.

You should have started to cook the spaghetti right when the fish was put in the oven. Once al dente, strain away the hot water. Add some olive oil and the spicy cod roe. With a pair of tongs, give it a good mix. Cover with aluminium foil with the shiny side facing inwards.

Place the rest of the marinade in a heavy based saucepan. On low heat, heat up this marinade and using a whisk, whisk in a sprinkling of flour to thicken the marinade into a sauce very gradually until desired thickness.

When all the parts are ready to be served, place spaghetti in middle of a large plate and sit the salmon on top. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of sauce all over and serve.