On Friday, this noob attempts to cook a huge chunk of salmon steak for the first time! Since I still haven't gotten myself a nice non-stick frying pan, I decided not to risk putting my salmon steak into a frying wok (with curve bottoms as you know)--that is so common and indispensable in Chinese kitchens. Not having a nice big oven like Jamie Oliver, I decided I might just settle for my tiny toaster oven whose tray snugly fits two slices of regular bread--to give you an idea the size of toaster oven I worked with. Daunted at the size of my salmon fillet, which at its thickest was about 4cm thick and almost 15cm long and 10cm broad, I decided to cut it into 3 thinner slices. Pouring a few glugs of olive oil over it, I rubbed it entirely in himalayan rock salt (flushed pink in colour!!) and laid it on the oven tray with a dust of black pepper and sprinkling of oregano & parsley flakes & pop in into the oven for about 10 minutes. Before I know it, the smell permeates the kitchen and one can see the Salmon sizzling and its skin crispy. An exciting moment to witness I'll say.
Once the salmon are done, I sliced up regular & a handful of cherry tomatoes, line it in the tiny baking tray with a fresh aluminium sheet and topped it with a sprinkling of salt and cheddar, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and pop it right in. Within minutes, I got some really nice simple and yet awesome veg to with my spaghetti and salmon. Lastly, I grilled some large frozen scallops (about 3cm in diameter) on another fresh aluminium sheet. Using a brush, I applied a sauce consisting of light soy sauce and sesame oil well blended but I was later told I should have cooked the scallops more simply just lightly salted as it would allow the original taste of the scallops to shine through.
So here's a short account of my toaster dinner where almost everything is made using a tiny oven toaster except the boiled pasta. :D
