Kissing Up to the Landlord Part Deux, brown sugar-glazed salmon

I love fish, but I don't have enough of it in my diet. One of my favorite fish is salmon, which dukes it out at the top with tuna and halibut, depending on my mood, the phase of the moon and whether the fish was wild-caught.


A word about sustainability. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has started Seafood Watch, which lets you know what fish are safe to eat when. For those with iPhones, they have app for that as well. It's scary to think it's possible to run out of fish in my lifetime, so I keep an eye on it.


A friend made this recipe, telling me the sweetness of the brown sugar overpowered the strength of the salmon. I suspect he had bad salmon. 


I've never used Taste of Home before. If I'd been going by just the name, I might have skipped it over. I am not fond a lot of traditional American food unless I make it. This was pretty different, though, and I loved the results.

Ingredients

• 1 salmon fillet (1 pound) we had slightly more than that. The guys could easily eat a pound of fish between the two of them
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper I do not measure the salt and pepper that I sprinkle over things. I go for light, but even coverage.
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar I prefer dark, more molasses flavor
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce I've yet to taste the difference between low-sodium and regular sodium soy sauce. I'm pretty sure ours is regular; I can't tell, the label is in Japanese
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard I actually was out of dijon, which annoyed me, as I didn't feel like running back to the store. So I used 4 T of spicy mustard and threw in a couple tablespoons of white wine.
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Directions

• Cut salmon widthwise into four pieces. Place in a foil-lined 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 425° for 10 minutes.

I thought this might be too much--dried out fish is not tasty! It worked rther well, though

• Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, mustard and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Brush evenly over salmon. Broil 6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Yield: 4 servings.

I had enough of the glaze left over for another couple of filets. I'm wondering how this might work with a grill--we'll be trying it this summer.

Austin the minimalist roommate loved this recipe. It didn't go over so well with my sweetie. He's a big proponent of not wanting sweet tastes with his protein. I thought between the mustard, the soy sauce and the vinegar, he'd be okay. Fortunately, we had a filet left over and I made it lemon-pepper style for him. 

No major changes for this recipe, except for not measuring the salt and pepper. I found the taste to be more mustardy than sweet. A nice change from the typical salmon with dill. Try it!

Next week: Mac & cheese redux!