Ash Wednesday

New recipe: Salmon maple soy glaze

First let me say one thing, I am scared of fish.
Now, not necessarily live swimming around fish, because I am an avid scuba diver and lets face it, I love to swim with the fish.
On the other hand, my brother did have a perilous experience when swimming in my grandparents lake and a fish bit his nipple (yes this happened)
So there may be good reason for me to fear live fish, but I don’t
I fear cooking fish, for some reason it seems like a daunting task to cook fish. Fish flakes apart on the grill, fish burns in the pan, and I can never quite tell when fish is done.

However, I must praise America’s Test Kitchen cookbook… for this salmon recipe, which makes fish a little less daunting.

Ingredients
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets (1 1/4 inches thick)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 500°F Bring the maple syrup and soy sauce to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until the mixture is syrupy and measures roughly 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove any pin bones from the salmon. (pin bones, what is a pin bone, and how do I know if there are any... turns out the strategy is to press in the tips of your fingers across the salmon covering all areas, if you feel anything out of place, pick it out... kind of like given the salmon a breast self exam, LOL)

Pat the salmon dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper, and lay it skin-side down in a lightly oiled 9x13-inch baking dish, spaced about 1 inch apart. Bake for 5 minutes.

Using a pastry brush, spread a thick layer of the maple-soy glaze over the tops and sides of the salmon. Continue to bake until all but the very center of the fish has turned from translucent to opaque, about 5 minutes longer. (If you like it well-done, you may want to cook it for longer.).

Brush the fillets with another layer of glaze and sprinkle with the sesame seeds before serving.

Absolutely delicious.



Side note: I am a huge fan of Unagi, and especially the eel sauce that it is frequently served with and have been on the lookout for anything coming close. This recipe is very close, the glaze gives you that molasses soy type consistency as well as flavor. I think it would be good on a number of different types of fish, and we were all happy we had some left over to drizzle on the rice as well.

Enjoy!