Wrong protein

Another adventure in salmon tonight. I liked this recipe a lot for several reasons. It uses salmon without dill, it uses balsamic vinegar which I love. It's also quick, which means it's good for a weeknight supper and then I can get back to studying or watching Sam Neil be ominous on Alcatraz.


The ingredients sounded like they'd go together:

• 6 5oz salmon fillets
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 T white wine
• 1 T honey
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 t Dijon mustard
• slat & pepper to taste
• 1 T chopped fresh oregano

1. Prehead oven to 400 F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray
2. Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about three minutes (I was not stirring fast enough, obviously, my garlic got kind of toasty).
3. Mix in white wine, honey, vinegar, mustard and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered for about three minutes, or until slightly thickened. (more like 5-7 minutes before it started getting thick)
4. Arrange salmon fillets on baking sheet. Brush with glaze, sprinkle with oregano.
5. Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until flesh flakes easily. Brush with remaining glaze and season with salt & pepper

I have a few quibbles with this one. The glaze was tasty and tangy, though I didn't taste the Dijon at all. My sweetie found it too sweet, but admitted that the balsamic would be overwhelming without the honey. The oregano didn't really add much. I think it might be better to add it to the glaze itself, let it release its essential oils into the glaze.


The big thing, though? I kept wishing my salmon was chicken. My sweetie agreed that this would work much better on something white-fleshed, either white fish or poultry. So this means we have some plans. One to make this again, sans Dijon, with a much dryer wine (the labels sometimes lie) with some chicken. Two, we may have a guest post from my sweetie coming up as he designs some enhancing flavors for salmon. Stay tuned!


Coming soon--overstuffed quesadillas!