Glazed Salmon

Do you ever have those days in the kitchen where you set out to make one thing, and then discover either you're out of a key ingredient or you simply grabbed the wrong thing, thus needing to make an entirely new plan? That happens to me more often than I care to admit, but so far I've won more often than not.

That's what happened with this salmon. I intended to make a soy-ginger-honey glaze. But that is not how it worked out.

It looks like this was my plan, doesn't it? But what happened was I mixed up the glaze before I started taking pictures, and instead of soy sauce I accidentally took the balsamic vinegar out of the cupboard. Which I did not notice until I had already added honey. Which meant ginger really wasn't going to work for me, so I looked around and thought... "Chili powder? Will that work?" Happily, it did, so I continued. If it hadn't, then I'd have started over with the soy sauce.

I could have made this a lot more difficult, but I was going for simple. I sprinkled a little sea salt on the salmon, then poured the glaze over each piece. It covered them well enough for me, but if it hadn't I'd have gotten out a pastry brush to make sure each steak was well-covered.

My salmon was still a little frozen in the middle, so I preheated the oven to 400F and baked them for about 25 minutes until they flaked easily. Probably I should have flipped them once or twice, but I didn't. As you can see, the glaze stayed pretty well where I put it while they were baking, so that worked out.

Since the fish looked a trifle dry when plated, and since there was excess glaze in the pan, I drizzled each piece when serving. This picture does not reflect that, however... Someday I'm gonna nail down this picture-taking thing before I eat the food rather than when I sit down to write the blog post.

Anyway: Simple, tasty, and very nutritious. What more could I ask for on a day when I had to get ready for work almost immediately after dinner was over?

Glazed Salmon

Serves 3

1 pound salmon fillets, without skin

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon chili powder

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a pan (with sides) large enough to hold fish in a single layer mostly without touching with nonstick cooking spray.

Lay fillets in pan, and sprinkle with sea salt.

In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients until well-blended. Pour evenly over fish (if entire surface of fish is not covered, use a pastry brush to completely coat them).

Bake fish for 15-25 minutes, until it flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Drizzle remaining liquid in pan over fish to serve.

Serving Size: 164 g

Calories: 225

Calories from Fat: 85

Total Fat: 9.5 g

Saturated Fat: 1.4 g

Trans Fat: 0.0 g

Cholesterol: 67 mg

Sodium: 232 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 6.3 g

Sugars: 5.8 g

Protein: 29.5 g