Lemony Fresh

Last week as well as this week, the boy's attending afternoon art classes at the Austin Museum of Art-Laguna Gloria in west-central Austin. That gave me the opportunity on Thursday to swing by Central Markup and have a little fun shopping solo. I was delighted on my recent trip to find Hatch chiles are again in season, a reminder that yes, we are indeed getting that late into the year already. While I passed on a few of those luscious peppers, but I couldn't pass up the salmon on sale for $8.99 a pound. I bought a big fillet and had the fish monger on duty skin the thing, which allowed me to ask him a few questions about good technique for accomplishing that feat at home.

As I've done in the past when buying larger pieces of fish, I planned to put some of the salmon away for later meals and prepare a hunk of it for a yummy summer feast. But what recipe to use? We have a few we've enjoyed previously, such as salmon with sweet chile sauce and sweet orange salmon, among others, but I couldn't decide on one. So I let the husband choose, and he, naturally, chose a recipe I hadn't put in my own top contenders. Not that there was anything wrong with the maple grilled salmon recipe he selected. It just...well, it wasn't one of my top contenders.

Since my own evening scheduled did not permit me to prepare the salmon for a few days, I took a moment to peruse my to-make-eventually collection of recipe bookmarks. Therein I discovered one from an old issue of Cooking Light that I thought would satisfy my unacknowledged craving for something a bit more savory to accompany the salmon flavor while also satisfying my husband's craving (as I perceived it) for a sweeter flavor to accompany the salmon.

(No, Gentle Reader, the boy didn't get a say. The FSM knows that if we asked his opinion, we'd only get complaints about having salmon. The boy's a born contrarian, so if you're ever excited about something, he'll naturally bitch about it.)

Salmon With Maple-Lemon Glaze2 T fresh lemon uice
2 T maple syrup
1 T cider vinegar
1 T canola oil
4 6-oz. skinless salmon fillets
1/2 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the broiler.
   
2. Combine the lemon juice, syrup, vinegar and oil in a large zip-top plastic bag.
3. Add the fish to the bag, seal and refrigerate 10 min., turning the bag once.
   
4. Remove the fish from bag, and pour the marinade in a microwave-safe bowl.
5. Microwave the marinade on high for 1 min.
   
6. Heat a large, ovenproof, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
   
7. Sprinkle the fish evenly with salt and pepper.
   
8. Coat the pan with cooking spray.
   
9. Add the fish to the pan, cook for 3 min., turn the fish over and brush it evenly with the marinade.
   
10. Broil the fish 3 min. or until it flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 287
Fat: 14 g
Sat fat: 2.7 g
Protein: 31 g
Carbs: 7.5 g
Fiber: 0.1 g
Cholesterol: 80 mg
Sodium: 363 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
Only a few deviations and notes to report with this recipe:

• I've yet to get around to buying authentic maple syrup, so I whipped out the Griffin's maple-flavored pancake syrup. Hey, it's what I grew up on, it tastes better than what the husband grew up on (so he's told me) and it's a helluva lot cheaper than real maple syrup.
  
• I juiced an entire large lemon right into the bag. Based on past experience and observation, that gets me about 2 tablespoons of juice.
  
• I didn't have four 6-ounce salmon fillets. I had one portion of a large fillet, and it might have been about 10 ounces. I didn't weigh it to find out. Not having four fillets meant that I probably had too much marinade, so instead of brushing it onto the one fillet I had, I poured it into the square baking pan I broiled my fish in. (I don't have an ovenproof, nonstick skillet either.)
  
• After three minutes of broiling, my salmon wasn't flaking, so it went back under the broiler for another three to five minutes. I can't tell you for sure since I was busy making the orange couscous salad to accompany the fish and had put the husband in charge of the broiling fish.

Chez Boeckman-Walker gives this recipe three thumbs and one paw up. (Muffin's a fish fiend and perched herself on the table, vulture-like, until she successfully guilted one of us into giving her a piece. Strangely enough, the boy was one who caved first to her guilt-inducing stare.) The lemon flavor wasn't lost, the salmon flavor wasn't overpowering, and the maple flavor was present but not overly sweet. The three blended well together, making for some very tasty fish.

Speaking of that maple flavor, the husband and I found that if we poured a little of the marinade over the fish once plated, it came through a tad stronger. In fact, when I first put the fillet in the skillet for the initial three minutes of cooking, the maple in the marinade clinging to the fillet immediately started to congeal and release a saliva-inspiring fragrance, which had the husband and I both expecting a more syrupy coating after broiling.

However, that didn't happen. The sugars in the syrup didn't continue to congeal under the heat of the broiler as they had in the skillet (perhaps due to the presence of the lemon juice?) Based on what happened in the skillet and under the broiler, I plan next time to just complete the cooking in the skillet to see if I can't get a more syrup-like consistency for the marinade. Plus that change would mean I don't have to turn on the oven, which always makes me happy.