I was little when I first encountered canned salmon. Mom made creamed salmon on toast, which was a good dinner that I had kind of forgotten about until now and which is now on my list for recipe development. I was fascinated and a little grossed out by the salmon bones in the dinner. Although it’s easy enough to remove the bones from canned salmon, Mom decided to keep them in because they are a really good source of calcium, and I could see the little vertebrae! They were clearly meant to be eaten and I soon grew accustomed to the soft crunch of the bones with my creamed salmon on toast.
When I was looking for a very quick protein to include in my superfast teriyaki dinner, the canned salmon was an obvious choice because so little has to be done to it. Tossed with a teriyaki sauce and served with rice and frozen edamame or green beans, this dinner is ready FAST! You can use frozen rice, or just remember to get your rice cooker going before you leave for that game or meeting that is going to be pushing up against dinner. Or, if you are coming home from work and have a million things to do, you can get the rice going, do some of the things, and then come back and finish the dinner very quickly. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups rice OR frozen rice if you are coming home and making dinner to eat right away
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/3 cup soy sauce (use gluten free if you can’t have gluten)
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1-inch ginger, grated (no need to peel)
- 1 pound frozen shelled edamame or cut green beans
- 2 14-15 ounce cans salmon
Step 1: Wash and cook the rice according to package or rice cooker instructions.
Step 2: Combine the water and cornstarch and set aside.
Step 3: Combine in a large saute pan the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic, and ginger. Heat over medium-high heat. When it comes to a simmer whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat.
Step 4: Reheat the frozen beans. They have already been cooked, you are merely defrosting them and beginning to reheat them. Use a microwave if you have one and start by cooking the beans for half of the time suggested on the package. Test to see if they are defrosted and starting to warm. Cook an additional 30-45 seconds if they are not. Drain.
Step 5: Open the salmon and reserve the juice. You may need it to thin the sauce. Add the salmon to the teriyaki sauce. Remove the vertebrae if they gross you out, but consider eating them because of the calcium thing, and gently break up the salmon into bite sized pieces. Fold the salmon and the drained beans into the teriyaki sauce. Serve with the rice and a dusting of furikake or sesame seeds if you have them.
