It's a bird... it's a plane...it's Super Salmon!

As promised, here's the recipe for the Sweet Tea Glazed Salmon dish I made a few weeks ago! First check out my previous post to read more about the dish and about how I came up with it! I hope you give it a try- you'll be glad you did, and you'll learn a lot in the process!

My Sweet Tea Glazed Salmon Fettuccine with Arugula Salad (Serves 4)

It's summer, and when I cook in the summer, I like to cook foods which are fresh and have ingredients which supply light, fresh flavors. Citrus, arugula, and herbal teas are some fresh ingredients which come to mind, and this dish contains all three of those. The dish has great layered flavors: there's the garlic-ky, toasty flavor from the pasta, the sweet and savory flavor from the salmon, topped with the fresh citrus flavor of the salad...with a bit of cheesy goodness on top, and pop from the pepper flakes.


Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets

Marinade:
5 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 garlic cloves, halved
4 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
3 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
2 tbsp Kosher salt
1 tbsp black pepper

Sweet Tea Glaze:
2 2/3 cups sweetened tea (black tea) reduced to 2/3 cup

Pasta:
Fettuccine for 4
12 cups water
Dash of salt for salting pasta water
2 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 whole garlic cloves
2 tsp. red chili flakes

Arugula Salad:
3 cups packed fresh baby arugula
Citrus-Parsley Vinaigrette (see below)
Shaved Pecorino Romano cheese
Red chili flakes to taste

Citrus-Parsley Vinaigrette:
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp. fresh parsley, un-chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
Dash of black pepper
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Note: This recipe is all about cooking strategically. The complexity of the dish is greatly reduced if you follow my steps, because I have written this recipe to make things go super smoothly. There are many parts, so just follow my steps and you will succeed! I don't want to call it multi-tasking; I think it's just cooking with smarts, and of course it's cooking with SWAG! Comment if you have any questions about the recipe! I'll answer them ASAP!

1.) Start with the marinade: combine all of the marinade ingredients in a large gallon size ziploc bag, then add the salmon steaks. Refrigerate until you are done with step 4, which should be about thirty-forty minutes. So in the mean time...

2.) Get the garlic olive oil for the pasta going: add the 2 cups of olive oil and 3 cloves of garlic to a saucepan and turn on the stove to medium-heat. Leave it and let it bubble away while you cook the rest of the dish...the garlic should be all brown and roasted after about thirty minutes, and after that happens, you may turn off the stove.

3.) Once you get the garlic oil going, add the sweetened tea to a saucepan and turn on the stove to high-heat. Leave the pot and keep working through the dish while the tea reduces. Turn off the stove once the tea has reduced to 2/3 cup.

4.) Add a large pot of salted water to high-heat.

5.) Once you put the tea on to reduce and add the water to the stove, make the arugula vinaigrette: Zest the lemon and lime, then juice them. Add the zest and juice to a blender, then the parsley stems and the salt and pepper. Turn on the blender and while it's blending, slowly add the 1/4 cup of olive oil and continue blending until a smooth consistency is reached. This process is called emulsifying, because the blender motor is ensuring that the olive oil is thoroughly blended throughout. Once the vinaigrette is ready, let it chill in the fridge until you're ready to dress the arugula.

6.) Add the fettuccine to the pot of salted water once it reaches a boil, then move on to the next step. However, make sure to stir your pot every few minutes so the pasta doesn't stick together. Remove the pot from the heat once the pasta is cooked, about 12 minutes.

7.) After adding your pasta to the pot, turn on your grill pan/grill to heat up and spray with non-stick. Now remove the salmon from the marinade, and once the grill is hot, add the salmon steaks.

8.) Grill salmon steaks for 4 minutes on each side, every two minutes rotating the fish 90 degrees to form cross-hatch grill marks. Salmon must reach the internal temp of 145 degrees F, so if you prefer your fish on the rare side, remove your fish once it reaches that temperature (1 minute per side seems to provide just the bare minimum)

9.) Once the salmon is cooked, remove from the grill and place on a platter. Once the tea has reduced to 2/3 cup, pour it over the fillets.

10.) In a medium bowl, dress the arugula (rinse it first and pat dry) with the citrus vinaigrette.

11.) Drain the pasta once it is cooked, but save a bit of the pasta water. Add the garlic oil to the pasta once the garlic has turned brown and toasty, making sure to remove the garlic cloves first. Combine the pasta mixture with some tongs, and then add the chili flakes and continue to combine.

12.) Time to plate. Here's how: In a bowl, add the fettuccine pasta, then top with a salmon fillet. Spoon some of the arugula salad on top of the fish. Garnish with some shaved Pecorino Romano cheese and a sprinkle of red chili flakes.

13.) Get your camera ready because this dish will be gorgeous! Take the picture fast, because you won't want to wait long to dig in!