Slowly Steamed Salmon over Vegetables

A delicious salmon dish has always been my Dad's Friday night speciality. For a long time, I was too intimidated to cook my own salmon because his always tasted so good and he never had a set recipe. When I finally decided to give it a shot, I understood that salmon is one of those versatile foods. It can be marinated in just about anything and when slowly steamed with fruits or vegetables salmon will capture a delicious melody of flavors. This dish will also leave you with a flavorful sauce from salmon and vegetables that is perfect for dipping bread or pouring over brown rice!

Slowly Steamed Salmon over Vegetables
(2 servings)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce (Trader Joe's Soyaki works great!)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger (powder ginger is best)
1/4 cup orange juice
1 large fillet of fresh salmon
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves
2 long carrots, sliced
1 cup shelled soy beans
12 cherry tomatoes halved
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
4-5 thin lemon slices

Directions:
1. Put salmon in a plastic zip lock bag. Add teriyaki sauce, minced garlic, ground ginger, and orange juice. Seal bag and gently mix the ingredients making sure to cover the entire salmon. Place bag in refrigerator and let salmon marinate for at least 20 minutes and no longer than 1 hour.
2. Slice the carrots, halve the tomatoes, and chop the garlic to chunks. (If you are using frozen soy beans, this would be a good time to let them thaw).
3. Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat.
4. Add garlic, carrots and soy beans evenly dispersed to pan. Make room in the center for the salmon fillet.
5. Add salmon, skin side down in center of pan.
6. Add halved tomatoes around the salmon
7. Sprinkle the fennel seeds on top of the salmon.
8. Place the lemon slices on top of the salmon.
9. Let cook uncovered for about 4 minutes.
10. Cover (if you don't have a cover for your pan, you can use a baking pan or even a large piece of foil) and let the salmon steam with the vegetable on medium low heat for about 20 min.
11. When ready, a knife should be able to go in smoothly and the salmon should be tender. It should be a light pink in color. The idea is to remove the salmon from the heat before it becomes dried out and flaky.