My new favorite weeknight recipe: a simple baked bourbon salmon.
I have nothing against shortcuts, but there are certain ones that I do feel a little guilty about. Earlier this week I "made" us a frozen pizza for dinner after a particularly long day at work. I ran on so long about how bad I felt feeding us such crap (all-the-while stuffing delicious slices of Spinach Mushroom frozen pizza in my mouth) , that my husband finally told me to put a sock in it -- that there was nothing wrong with the occasional set-it-and-forget-it dinner from a box if it helps us all keep our sanity and still be fed at the end of the day.
The next morning on the news,the logo for the pizza we'd had the night before popped up on the screen with the one word no one ever wants to see next to a product they have just consumed: RECALL.
Well played, Universe. Well. Played.
With the damage done but not forgotten, I went to the store a few days later to pick up another favorite "lazy" meal: Bourbon Salmon. Our local grocery store has these marinated filets of salmon just waiting to be tossed in the oven on a foil-lined pan to make a delicious entrée while I catch up on the evening news. And by evening news, I mean "Real Housewives of Potomac". One more pan in the oven with some asparagus tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper and some of my favorite brown rice medley means dinner is DONE with almost no hands-on time.
Then I saw that regular ol' salmon was on sale... and I thought of our previous experience with premade foods this week ... and I decided that there must be a better way to have delicious bourbon salmon with little effort. This recipe requires no marinade ( read: no forethought ), but still creates that delicious sauce coating the fish.
Bourbon Salmon
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar Packed
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- ½ Tablespoon Garlic Powder
- 2 Tablespoons Bourbon
- ½ Tablespoon Salt
- ½ Tablespoon Pepper
- 1 lb Salmon Filet
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan ( or other baking sheet with a rim ) with foil.
- Mix all ingredients up to the salmon in a small bowl to form a paste.
- Place the salmon on the foil-lined pan, and spread the paste on top of the salmon.
- Bake for 8 minutes.
- Baste the salmon with the now-liquid paste that melted off during the cooking process.
- Return to the oven and bake for another 8 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily.
- Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the oven and baste again with the melted paste.
- Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.
This recipe is so simple yet the end result is fabulous. I will definitely make this again.
I have made this twice and the second time the heat from the pepper really came through...too much. Do you think 1 teaspoon, or a little less, would weaken (read: ruin) the sauce? This is a nice easy way to spice up the salmon dish and not spend the money for store prepped!
I think you could safely reduce the pepper and still have a great sauce. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a pepper-hound myself and tend to go a bit heavy on it!