Mandarin Miso Salmon Medallions

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**Before I get to the recipe I would like to remind you that the signup post for June's YBR has been posted. If you'd like to participate sign up here, June's YBR signup. **

Do you ever get a craving only to be shot down by the fact that you either don't have the food in your kitchen nor available at your local grocery store? Then you have try to satisfy it with something else or change your craving altogether. Frankly, it just sucks!

The particular craving I'm talking about today is salmon. I wanted a big thick salmon fillet. I'm talking King/Chinook or Sockeye . Fresh, vibrant, fatty and just melt-in-your-mouth almost orgasmic kind of salmon. I was setting the bar very, maybe too high. Salmon is one fresh fish that is most available here in this landlocked country. As I walked down to the grocery store I began daydreaming about how I would prepare it. Maybe just grilled so the skin becomes yummily crispy. Perhaps I'll marinade it before grilling it or cook it under the broiler. Oh the anticipation has high and the taste buds were salivating.

I walked into the store and headed for the fresh fish case. *@$(%!#0/*+ ........... And now I want to cry, boohoo! The only fresh fish available was carp and rainbow trout. Normally I would be skipping to the rainbow trout but this time it just wasn't going to cut it. Like a big whiny baby I headed to the frozen foods section. That's how bad I wanted salmon, I was willing to take any type of salmon they had. I found some salmon medallions, interesting I've never tried them before. While the quality was not going to be comparable to my initial craving, I counted myself lucky that I could even be buying frozen salmon. Lucky not just because I was going to satisfy my craving but also because there are a lot of people in the world that would consider this an extravagant purchase. We all need to count our blessings and be thankful for them instead of whining about what we want or don't have. There are always people worst off than we are.

I tucked my (senseless) pouty lip in and headed home to experiment. Here's a tip if you need to defrost frozen food quickly, place the sealed food inside a container with cool water. Make sure most of the food is covered by the water and leave at room temperature. As I waited for the medallions to defrost I start going through ideas of how to cook and spice the medallions. I concluded that a marinade would be best incase the salmon had a frozen texture. Not to toot my own horn but the marinade tasted and paired perfectly with the medallions. In fact this is going to be a marinade I try again with fresh salmon fillets. Now that grilling season is here if you are lucky enough to have a grill these would taste great right off the grill. Enjoy and I hope you all have a lovely, warm and sunny weekend!

Mandarin Miso Salmon Medallions

serves 2
3 Salmon medallions
6 tbps. fresh squeezed mandarin juice from 4 small mandarin oranges*
reserved peel from one mandarin
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. rice vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp. red miso paste
1 tbsp. honey

vegetable oil
chives and red pepper flakes to garnish
a slices of mandarin/orange to garnish

*If Mandarin/Tangerines are not available use fresh squeezed orange juice.

Marinade:
1. In a bowl combine the fresh mandarin juice, garlic, ginger, vinegar, miso paste and honey. Stir until the miso paste has broken apart and the ingredients become a thick liquid. Remove any pith left on mandarin skins and cut into even sized pieces, place in bowl with the marinade. Place the salmon medallions in a nonpourus container. Pour the marinade over the medallions, cover and refrigerate a minimun of 30 minutes or overnight if you like.

Cooking:
The next day or after 30 minutes drain any reamaining marinade and discard. The salmon medallions can be grilled, broiled, fried on a flat top grill or fried in a skillet. Add a little bit of vegetable oil to cooking surface and cook the medallions until cooked all the way through.

Serve:
Serve each medallion with a slice of fresh mandarin on top, fresh chopped chives and pepper flakes sprinkled over.

You could serve these with a green salad, or steamed vegetables. I served mine with steamed white rice and steamed brocolli.

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