Cooking for Zo

Taste Level: VGR
Cost: $20 and over
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 15-20 min.
Cook Time: 5-10 min.
Difficulty: 1

Rarely do I want to rate something higher than Zo's suggestion but I really wanted to give this meal a TF. I enjoyed it very much and it also looked amazing. Zo thought I should give it a GR. I debated a bit and decided I was going to give it a VGR because I really did love this meal! I got the idea in bits and pieces. After having made my first apricot ginger sauce I knew I wanted to use it on some seared salmon, then I started thinking why not make it with coconut and dip it in the sauce, then I thought why not make something fancy looking and tasting! So I did and we both really enjoyed it, I just enjoyed it more! (Just a note about the apricots, they are more for visual appeal and garnish than flavor.) Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Salmon
1 12 oz King Salmon Fillet (Sushi Grade or comparable, chilled)
10 fresh chive stalks
1-1 1/2 tsp organic unsweetened coconut (finely shredded)
1 1/2 apricots (sliced into 16 slices, these are more for presentation than taste)
fresh crack pepper

Apricot Galangal Sauce
1/4 cup Apricot preserves
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh chives (diced)
1/2 tsp fresh galangal (minced, galangal is a Thai ginger)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 pinches ground ginger
2 pinches brown sugar
1/2 of a jalapeno or 1 Thai chili (diced, optional)

Sauce
Heat preserves in a small non stick skillet over medium low heat until they begin to liquefy. Whisk in remaining ingredients, remove from heat and chill until ready to serve.

Salmon
Carefully inspect and remove all bones from salmon fillet. Take a very sharp chef's knife and make a small slice through the meat and to the skin but not through the skin. This should allow you to get your thumb under the meat. Gently and carefully pull the meat away from the skin. Now cut the fillet meat into 9-12 cubes and keep chilled until ready to use (You can use the unneeded extra cubes for this recipe or another recipe. Also if you are not comfortable eating raw fish you can sear the salmon cubes for 3-4 minutes in a little olive oil.)

(Optionally preheat grill to medium high and grill apricot slices 2 minutes per side.)

Lay apricot slices out in pairs of two and dust them with crack pepper. Lay a chilled cube onto each pair of apricot slices and dust salmon with crack pepper. Drizzle 1-1 1/2 tsp apricots sauce over each cube, place over cubes and evenly sprinkle each cube with coconut. Serve right away.