Day 9- Salmon

I'm feeling quite "under the weather" so the thought of cooking dinner and then cleaning the kitchen is just not there tonight. Alas, I must feed myself and my family, so we'll keep it simple tonight. Simpler than even my simple standards. We eat salmon a lot around here, you'll start to notice. Averaging once a week. Every few months, I get a big slab of salmon at Albertson's from the seafood/deli section, take it home, cut it into individual filets, and freeze them. They defrost fairly quickly, under 30 minutes, in some lukewarm/tepid water so it makes a quick and easy meal. I try to rotate my salmon recipes so we don't get too tired of having it one way but we do tend to repeat our favorites.

Tonight, Balsamic Glazed Salmon. Defrost the salmon filets in some water. Preheat the oven to 400. Meanwhile, put a small sauce pan (I have one similar to this from Bed, Bath, and Beyond: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=111213&RN=916&) Very useful. Dice a clove or 2 of garlic and saute it in the pan with some olive oil. After a minute or so, add a liberal splash of cheap white wine (remember, I keep it in the fridge for cooking), a plop of honey, about a fourth of a cup of balsamic vinegar, a plop of dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. Cook all of that on medium heat for a few minutes, stirring to mix. It's ready after a few minutes when it starts to get thick. Line a baking dish (I use the Le Creuset ones from Marshall's) with foil, spray with oil, and lay out your salmon filets on it. Pour the sauce over the filets. Sprinkle some oregano on the filets. Bake about 8-10 minutes. Salmon is best with a little pink in the middle- hard to tell since salmon IS pink, but you know what I mean or you'll learn what I mean. Whatever. When plating the salmon, be sure to scoop up the extra sauce for topping.

I also made Red Quinoa with the salmon. We get it in the bulk aisle at Whole Foods. It's an excellent grain and way better than boring old brown rice. Take a small saucepan and fill with 2 cups of water and 1 cup of the quinoa. Stir it a bit to make sure most of the quinoa sinks to the bottom. Put on medium-high heat and time it about 20 minutes. When all the water is out and the quinoa has expanded a bit, it's ready. Taste to your preference.

And to round out the meal, I added a sweet potato that needed eating. Rinse and slice into half inch thick circles. Large circles, I cut in half so that the pieces were all mostly the same size. Sweet potatoes are tricky like that. I laid them all flat on a foil lined baking dish sprayed with oil. Then I took a stick of butter and sliced a few bits of it with a butter knife onto the sweet potato. Certainly don't use the whole stick, but put a little bit of butter on most of the slices. Just a dab. Then I sprinkled it all with a little brown sugar. And the gave it a splash or two of bourbon. Bake in the oven (400, like the salmon) for 20 minutes and check for tenderness. It may take closer to 30 depending on your oven and your softness-preference.

And that's dinner tonight!