I’ve been making this dish for a while but sometimes I tweak it just a tad. This time I added some crispy salmon skin and I don’t know why I didn’t always do that!

It’s salmon season here in the Monterey Bay and although it’s not like it was 10 years ago with salmon selling for $4/lb which was awful for the fisherman and wonderful for consumers, the fish is fantastic (at $24/lb!!). Still, it’s a short season. I picked some up from my favorite fish mongers, H&H Fresh Fish, at the farmer’s market. It’s a regular stop for us every Wednesday even if I don’t buy fish because my son has to get his 3 oysters for $5!

I made my dashi as I always do:
6 cups water
8 inch piece of kombu steeped in not-boiling but hot water for 15-20 minutes
Remove the kombu
Bring water to a boil
Turn off heat and add a handful of bonito flakes
Steep for 1 minute
Strain out bonito
Add:
6T usukuchi soy sauce
3T mirin
3 dried shiitakes

Let sit on low heat until ready to serve (but not overnight like I accidentally did last night! I woke up to some VERY reduced dashi, lucikly not a fire!)

Skin the salmon and carefully fry up the salmon in a little canola oil until it is super crispy. It will splatter like crazy so be very careful!! Flip it once, salting a little while still hot if desired.

Sear the salmon fillets on medium-high heat until warmed through but not cooked through…you want the salmon raw in the middle when it’s as fresh as this is.

Boil up some soba and rinse the noodles when done so they don’t get gummy.

Bowl: soba, broth, salmon fillet, green onions, salmon skin.

Nosh.