Salmon

So this weekend I decided it was time to cook some things that would be uber healthy for us, get in as many fruits and vegetables as possible as well as challenge myself by making some new things. Of course this meant a Saturday afternoon going to the big fruit market I love but then that also meant I had to go to Whole Paycheck to get some specific items. Alas, I spent way too much money there but seriously, I'm not going to go buy fish at Dominick's either.

The first thing on the list for the weekend was to tackle making salmon. I cheated a little by buying the sides at the above mentioned expensive grocery store but come on now, ginger sweet potatoes? Cranberry couscous? Sounded great to me so I caved! Anywho, the salmon recipe I found was in the Oct. 2007 Cooking Light magazine. It was super easy, tasted superb and looked great too. I halved the recipe (since I was only making two pieces of fish) and made one addition to it at the end*.

Bourbon Glazed Salmon

3 T brown sugar
3 T bourbon
2 T low-sodium soy sauce
1 T grated peeled fresh ginger
1 T fresh lime juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 t ground pepper
4 (6 oz) skinless salmon fillets
Cooking spray
1/4 c thinly sliced green onions
1 T sesame seeds, toasted
*1 c orange juice (my addition)

1) Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 1 1/2 hours, turning occasionally.
2) Heat a large nonstick skilled over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish and marinade to pan; cook fish 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 filled on each side of 4 plates; drizzle each serving with about 2 teaspoons of sauce. Sprinkle each serving with 1 T green onions and 3/4 teaspoon sesame seeds. Yield: 4 servings.

So when I made it the sauce got really thick in the pan...maybe because I halved the recipe and there was less liquid to deal with. I then made the executive decision to add in 1/2 c (above I wrote 1 cup if you're using the full recipe for four people) of orange juice in the pan to deglaze. After scraping around in the pan to get all the stuck-on bits I let the sauce simmer down until it had reduced and then poured it over the fish. I think that my addition made this dish even better than it would have been. The orange juice added a brightness that I really liked.