Broiled salmon with garlic and ginger

Although there are days when I am looking forward to my weekends to cook up a storm, there are also days when I just feel physically drained from a hectic week at work that I don't even think about looking at my pots and pans or at my super sleek Bosch range (which I fell in love with the day I first saw it). I just lie in bed or on my couch and dream of having a personal cook to prepare gourmet meals for the weekend and the week ahead. Wouldn't it be nice to have that sometimes? We all deserve a little break once in a while.

When I don't have the energy to even look up on the internet for simple and easy recipes, and don't want to feed myself with junk food, I call my mom to the rescue. No, no, no, my mother would not come over to cook for me because a) she lives in a different city (5 hours away by car) and b) she's as lazy as I am and loves sleeping as much as I do! But ever since she's retired, she's become a great source of ideas for fast and nutritious recipes. Vietnamese cuisine is often light and healthy, unlike other asian cuisines which tend to be more oily and heavy.

I couldn't believe how simple and quick this recipe sounded when she told me about it the other day. Most importantly, she told me how my father loves this dish, which was a good sign that I would love it too as he and I have very similar tastes in food.

Recipe "au pif":

Salmon:

2 lb salmon fillet (the more fat the better)

1 tsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)

1 tsp canola oil

1 tsp lemon

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp minced ginger

Dipping sauce:

1 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)

1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced ginger

1/2 tsp thinly sliced cayenne pepper (very HOT, don't rub your face after cutting)

Mix all above ingredients in small bowl.

Marinate salmon fillet in fish sauce, oil, lemon, garlic and ginger for about an hour, refrigerate.

Once well marinated, salmon is broiled for 5 minutes in the oven. Turn off broil and leave salmon to bake for max 10 minutes in low heat at 200F to make sure salmon is not overcooked, but nice and moist.

Vietnamese families love dipping pieces of this salmon in the garlic/ginger/chili/fish sauce.

Makes 4 servings.