Baked salmon rice

Whenever I see fresh salmon trimmings coming out of the fishmonger's table first thing in the morning, I would not hesitate to pick them up. The fishmonger of the local grocery store usually cuts and cleans several salmons at a time (in preparation for 2-3 days of stock). After he has prepared huge slices of the fillets, he'd cut off the thin edges of each fillet so that the fillet's thickness is more uniform. The thin strips are then sold as trimmings at $1.79 a pound, instead of the $6.99 for the fillets. I'd think the trimmings are good bargains, as long as they are the freshest cuts of the day. Being the thin strips from the belly (white) and tail parts of the fish, the trimmings tend to have a higher skin-to-meat ratio, about 1:4. Some trimmings may have leftover scales, which need to be removed. Other than that, I find trimmings pretty good materials for creative cooking. 

Recipe: Baked salmon rice (for 1)


Ingredients
- 6 oz salmon trimmings, long strips from belly
- 3/4 cup cooked rice, best if 1 day old
- about 2 tablespoon (TB) water, depending on the dryness of rice
- 1 teaspoon (tp) dark soy sauce
- 1 tp sesame oil
- 1/2 tp chopped spring onion


Procedure:
Mix rice with water and spread uniformly on a small baking pan. Because of the baking temperature, it's good to add a little more water than normally needed to reheat cooked rice. Line salmon trimmings meat side up on top of the rice, making a crisscross pattern. The thickness of the fish layer (about 1/4" to 1/2") on top should be comparable to the thickness of the rice layer below. Bake covered with foil for 5 to 15 minutes at 400-425F, until the fish is almost cooked, with just a little fresh pink on top. The timing and baking temperature can be flexibly adjusted to achieve fast cooking at high heat. Turn heat off. Uncover and allow to sit in oven for about 1-2 minutes until the fish is fully cooked. Sprinkle spring onion, dark soy sauce and sesame oil on top. The soy sauce and sesame oil should sizzle on the fish for a few seconds, and then trickle down to the rice and get cooked, making the rice very flavorful. Serve hot.

This cooking method works particularly well for trimmings because they are very thin, but with skin, which prevent them from flaking at high heat.