This weekend my favourite sous-chef was back. In the past she has helped me make sweet potato fries, minestrone, and balsamic strawberries. She suggested that we make a fish dish, since I haven’t done anything of that sort yet. I left the choosing in her capable hands, and she showed me this recipe for broiled ginger-and-shiitake glazed salmon.

We took a trip to the grocery store to pick up the things that I didn’t already have on hand, including the shiitake mushrooms and the salmon. We were perhaps a little ambitious with the fish, and selected two very large pieces.

Here’s what you do:

Brush a rimmed baking dish with canola oil (I used an old pizza pan for lack of anything better) and place the salmon on, skin-down.

Season the salmon with ground coriander, kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper.

Set the salmon aside at room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients.

Dice about half a red pepper, three scallions, a couple tablespoons of ginger root, and about a cup of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed. Set the green parts of the scallions aside to use as a garnish.

We stumbled upon the most picturesque red pepper imaginable.

In a large pan over medium heat, place a couple tablespoons of canola oil. Prepare the red pepper, ginger, and the white parts of the scallions for the pan.

Cook these for about three minutes, until they begin to soften and brown.

Then add the mushrooms and raise the heat to medium-high. Sprinkle with a little salt and cook for about another three minutes. Around this time, turn on your broiler on high and place the oven rack about 8 inches from the top element.

Into the pan, add 1/4 cup honey, 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of chili sauce (Sriracha), and a quarter-cup of water. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer, then mix about a tablespoon of corn starch with the same amount of water and add that to the pan as well.

Return to a simmer, wait for the glaze to thicken, and remove it from the heat.

When the broiler is ready, place the salmon in your oven. Leave the oven door open a crack while broiling. Most oven doors are able to rest open about 6 inches. The door is left open while broiling to ensure that the food is cooked by the direct heat from the element — if the oven door is closed, then all the heat stays inside and you are basically just baking the food.

Broil the salmon about 8 minutes or until it begins to brown and is slightly firm to the touch. After that, remove it from the oven and spoon the glaze that you prepared earlier onto it. Don’t be shy with the glaze.

Return the salmon to the oven and broil for another minute or two, just long enough for the flavours to mingle a little. Serve these garnished with the green onion you diced earlier and side dishes of your choosing. We had green beans and boiled baby potatoes sprinkled with black pepper and marjoram.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Salmon is one of my favourite foods and this recipe is really something else. The glaze has a very distinct, gingery flavour with a lot of kick from the rice vinegar and chili sauce. It’s spicy, but not at all unpleasantly so. This dish is rather nice to look at, so I imagine it would be a good choice for entertaining.