Maple Roasted Salmon

I feel like I'm on a roll blogging twice in two days!  The truth is that I am the lucky recipient of both the Cooking Light and Taste of Home monthly magazine subscriptions.  I usually end up reading them right before falling asleep... which is my favorite time to read because I tend to be less distracted at that time.  Once in a while I come across a recipe or two that I actually have all the ingredients to make... jackpot!

This Maple Roasted Salmon recipe is one that I became really excited about a few nights ago while reading Cooking Light.  I had purchased a beautiful Salmon filet at the grocery store with the intention of making it for our meatless Good Friday supper.  I am always on the lookout for new ways to prepare the fish that we eat most often.  The simple olive oil/butter sauce with salt, pepper, and lemon can get old quickly.  So, when I found the Maple Roasted Salmon recipe, I was thrilled!

I played around with a few of the ingredients in this recipe, and since it turned out fabulous, I have no qualms about sharing it with you.  If you are already a Salmon lover, you won't be disappointed.  I found the flavor combinations to be a wonderful change of pace for us.


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Maple Roasted Salmon


Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon 100% pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon fresh dill, or 1 teaspoon dried
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
2 (6 oz.) Salmon filets

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, and brown sugar.  Rub this mixture onto your Salmon filets and let marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In another small bowl, combine the maple syrup, mustard, and dill.  Set aside.

Coat a glass baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.  After the Salmon has marinated for 30 minutes, drizzles the filets with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and place in the bottom of the baking dish.

Bake uncovered in the preheated 400 degree oven for 12 minutes.

After you have removed the fish from the oven and plated it, drizzle each filet with the maple-mustard-dill sauce before serving.

Note:  We served the Salmon with oven roasted asparagus and brown rice.

The fish was a perfect blend of sweet and savory.  The tang from the mustard and the spice from the pepper cut through the richness of the Salmon perfectly!

With our meal, we served this Talbott Logan 2009 Chardonnay.  It had a pronounced oak and buttery aroma that was rounded out nicely by the citrus flavors on the palate.  It paired wonderfully with the food!

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If you do not eat fish, do not like Salmon, or don't drink Chardonnay, here are some alternative ideas for this recipe:

1) For those who don't eat fish at all, I could see this recipe working well with a pork dish... pork chops, pork tenderloin, etc.

2) For all of you who do not enjoy Salmon, I would probably suggest using this recipe with Swordfish, which is meaty enough to stand up to the flavors.  You could also try it with a fish that has a strong fishy flavor, in which case the marinade and the sauce might mellow out the flavor of the fish very nicely.

3) Not everyone enjoys Chardonnay.  Jeff and I love the oaky/buttery Chards, but if you don't, you could always find one that has more crisp acidity and fruity flavors, although the oak and butter of the Talbott Chardonnay complimented the flavor of the Salmon very well.  I would also consider pairing a Pinot Noir with this meal.  Pinot Noir is probably the only red grape varietal that I would attempt to pair with a fish dish such as this one.


Enjoy!

Librarian turned Foodie