Quick Brined Salmon with Lemon Miso and Sofrito
Here, pastry chef Paola Velez mixes green sofrito with garlic, shiro miso, butter, and lemon for a deeply flavorful sheet-pan salmon dinner, a riff on this recipe from former Food & Wine Senior Test Kitchen Editor Kay Chun. Brining the salmon before cooking it seasons the fish and prevents it from drying out. Velez likes to serve this dish with chofán, a fried rice dish popularized by Chinese immigrants in the Dominican Republic. The salmon would also be fantastic served on top of your favorite fresh or leftover fried rice or rice pilaf.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
- 2 cups water
- 4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon or hake fillets
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon shiro miso
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 teaspoons green sofrito
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- freshly ground black pepper
- chofán, fried rice, or rice pilaf, for serving
- sesame seeds, for garnish
- 2 scallions, sliced, for garnish
- lemon wedges, for squeezing over
- olive oil, for drizzling
Direction
- In a medium bowl, stir together salt and water until salt dissolves. Place salmon in a baking dish just big enough to hold salmon. Pour brine over salmon and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, grate garlic into a small bowl. Add miso and use a whisk to blend. Mix in melted butter, then oil, then sofrito. Mix in lemon juice and season with pepper to taste.
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Lift salmon fillets from brine, gently shake to remove excess water, and place on prepared baking sheet. Spoon sofrito mixture on top of salmon fillets. Bake until salmon fillets are just opaque in the center, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Spoon chofán onto plates. Arrange salmon on chofán. Garnish salmon with sesame seeds and scallions. Squeeze lemon wedges over and drizzle with olive oil.
