Salmon Fillets with Maple-Thyme Glaze

I'm on a mission. Clean out the freezer, or else throw some stuff out. I have a huge freezer, and I'm real good about saving this and that. It seems good at the time, but 6 months or 2 years later I've lost track of what's in there. Originally I tried to keep all the meat products in one place, vegetables in other, other things in door. About the only thing I'm consistent about are the soups. They stand up in just one place. I've written before about my soup library. I've just added two new bags to the library so there's even less room on that shelf.

So anyway, in rooting around for something for dinner, I found chicken breasts (no, didn't want those), tuna steaks from 2002 (tossed), shrimp that was hidden in a back corner and packed with ice crystals (tossed) and this package of Copper River Salmon that I froze a few months ago (YES!). Generally I don't like frozen fish. At least fish that I have frozen. It never seems to taste as good as if you buy it fresh. But if the fisherman freezes it, it's marginally better. This package I froze, and it was actually very good.

I dug out a recipe I'd been holding for just such a piece of fish. It was in Bon Appetit some years ago. It's simple-easy. Nice enough for guests, no question, but easy enough for a weeknight meal even. Salmon lends itself so well to some kind of sweet - honey or maple syrup in this instance, or brown sugar. The salmon has two parts to it - one glaze that goes on the fish before it goes in the oven - and a second one that becomes a sauce for the finished product. Both very nice; both very different, but they complement one another. I eliminated the brown sugar and used less maple syrup than the recipe indicated. I also didn't use the water in the sauce as I didn't think it was necessary.

Salmon With Maple-Thyme Glaze
Recipe: Bon Appetit
Servings: 6
1/2 cup dijon mustard
4 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup -- pure, not the fake stuff
3 1/2 tablespoons water - - optional
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar -- optional
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk mustard, 3 TBS maple syrup, 3 1/2 TBS water, and horseradish in small bowl to blend.
3. Arrange salmon on baking sheet. Spread thyme mixture evenly over salmon.
4. Whisk 1 1/2 TBS maple syrup, sugar and thyme in another small bowl to blend.
5. Bake until salmon is just opaque in center, about 14 minutes.
6. Spoon mustard-horseradish sauce over and serve.

Per Serving: 197 Calories; 5g Fat (22.5% calories from fat); 24g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 59mg Cholesterol; 345mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.