Seared Salmon with Shiitake Mushroom Cream Sauce

I just had my camera phone with me when I took this dish earlier.  Sharing this recipe is not my agenda (because I just made it based from instinct... meaning no recipes whatsoever), it's just that I have to eat healthy once again due to my condition right now, and at the same time, the pure pleasure of cooking something and teasing my friends over Facebook about it.  But since they were asking for the recipe, I decided to make a post of this dish.  :)


Ingredients:

250g salmon steak (I bought the frozen one from the grocery.  It costs Php 187)
1 medium sized carrot
a bunch of asparagus
water
salt
pepper
butter
olive oil
2 pcs of fresh shiitake mushroom (or any mushroom of your choice)
all-purpose cream (room temperature)
1/2 lemon


Procedure:

You may notice that I don't indicate the exact amount of some of the ingredients because I did an eyeball (tantsa in Tagalog) of it for this dish. 

I only spent 15 minutes prepping and cooking this dish.  It, of course, depends on your knife skills and your speed when working in the kitchen.

- Thaw salmon steak if frozen.  Cut in half, removing the bone(s).  Add salt and pepper on all sides.

- Boil water in a sauce pot with a pinch of salt.

- Cut carrots into strips or desired shape.  Cut asparagus on your preferred length.  Slice shiitake mushrooms.

- Heat pan in medium.  Add an amount of butter and a teaspoon of olive oil.  Sear salmon, skin facing down.  Squeeze in some lemon.  Turn salmon steak on each side.  Don't overcook!  Cooking time for salmon is around 3-5 minutes, depending on how thick your salmon steaks are.  It's a no-brainer.  But if it breaks, it means it's overcooked.

- Blanch asparagus for a minute or less, just see to it that its color brightens.  Set it aside.  Do the same thing with the sliced carrots.  Then blanch the mushrooms last.

- In a separate pan (or the same pan where you fried your salmon steak, but be sure to clean it up before using it again), heat a little amount of butter and olive oil in medium.  Squeeze out some juice from your lemon then add your asparagus and carrots.  Toss.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.  Plate it.

- Using the same pan, heat a little amount of butter and olive oil then add your blanched shiitake mushrooms. Toss it.  Eyeball the amount of cream you want for your salmon and add it on the sauteed shiitake mushrooms (I think I only used 1/4 of the 250ml all-purpose cream I have).  Add a bit of water from where you boiled your mushroom for the desired consistency of your sauce.

-  Plate it and squeeze some more lemon for a more tangy taste  :)