toasted sesame ginger slamon

Over the past few weeks, I have felt a little bored in the kitchen. I have been making the same old recipes for a while. You know, the ones where you don't have to look at a recipe or actually measure any of the ingredients because you just throw it together. And while the same old recipes are for delicious foods, I was just feeling tired (as was the hubby, I think, though he graciously ate whatever I cooked him). So last weekend I revisited favorite food blogs, cookbooks and pinterest posts for a little inspiration, and then compiled a week's worth of meal plans based on things I had never cooked before. Well, almost a week...I'm thinking something simple and well-known for tomorrow night.

One of the things I had on my "eat" pinterest board was a drool-inducing picture captioned with "sesame ginger salmon." Much to my chagrin, when I clicked it to follow the link there was no recipe, just the picture. So I opened google, searched and clicked the link to this recipe. Toasted sesame ginger salmon. Yum.

 

That's the salmon coming out of the oven...but I mustn't jump ahead! First of all, this recipe involves a marinade, a glaze, and then the actual salmon itself. I did make a few changes from the original recipe. Originally the recipe called for more honey that stated below, but I thought the glaze was too sweet and the honey overpowered a lot of the other flavors. So next time I will follow this adapted recipe instead of the original. With that said, let me get to the recipe!

Toasted Sesame Ginger Salmon:

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds raw salmon
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger (powdered or freshly grated)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup honey
1-2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
4 green onions, sliced

Prepare a broiling pan by spraying with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Whisk well. Transfer 1-2 tablespoons marinade to a separate bowl and set aside (this is for the glaze). Combine salmon and prepared marinade in a dish or plastic bag. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure all salmon is soaking in the mixture.

the marinading salmon

Meanwhile, add honey to the 1-2 tablespoons of reserved marinade. Mix well to evenly combine.
At this point, I put all my salmon-making things aside to work on the salad and rice I planned to serve with the meal.

Preheat the broiler in your oven.

Place salmon on the prepared broiling pan. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper. Place the baking sheet directly under the broiler. Cook for 10-12 minutes (depending on the salmon's thickkness) until opaque and easily flakable with a fork. In the last minute of cooking, sprinkle the salmon with the sesame seeds (this will give you nicely toasted seeds).

Remove salmon (I placed mine atop rice) and drizzle with the glaze. Garnish with green onions. Serve immediately.

It was a delicious dinner. And the Asian Cabbage Salad was the perfect accompaniment.

served with rice and asian cabbage salad