Miso Butter Salmon with Broccoli & Rice

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp white miso
• 40g butter
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 250g jasmine rice, rinsed
• 2 broccoli heads, cut into florets and stalks sliced
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 15g coriander, roughly chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Edamame, to serve

Method

1. Rinse the jasmine rice until the water runs clear, then cook it in well-salted water until tender. Pull it off the heat, lid on, and leave it to steam for 5 minutes — the grains finish cooking in their own warmth and stay separate rather than gluey.
2. Mash the miso, half the butter (softened), the soy sauce and honey into a smooth paste. Spoon half over the flesh side of the salmon fillets and keep the rest back for the pan sauce — this is what turns a glaze into a proper sauce.
3. Pat the salmon fillets dry and season the skin generously with salt and pepper. Water means steam, and steam means no crisp skin.
4. Heat a stainless or cast iron pan over a medium heat with a slick of oil. Lay the salmon in skin-side down and press gently for the first 30 seconds so it doesn't curl. Cook for 4 minutes until the skin is deep gold and releases without a fight, then flip and give it 2 to 3 minutes more until just opaque through the middle. Lift onto a warm plate to rest.
5. Tip the broccoli into the same pan with a splash of water, cover loosely and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until tender but still vivid green and catching at the edges. The stuck miso bits from the salmon will lift into the broccoli — that's flavour, not mess.
6. Push the broccoli to one side, drop in the rest of the butter and the reserved miso mixture, and swirl for 30 seconds until it turns glossy and emulsified. Toss the broccoli through so every floret wears a savoury slick rather than sitting in a puddle. Taste — most of the salt comes from the miso and soy, but a final crack of pepper ties it together.
7. Fluff the spring onions and toasted sesame seeds through the rice. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
8. Spoon the rice into bowls, pile on the miso butter broccoli, and lay the salmon on top. Scatter the coriander, tuck the lime wedges in alongside with the pickled cucumber and edamame, and squeeze a wedge of lime over each fillet just before eating — the acid cuts through the rich miso butter.