Hoisin Glazed Salmon and Roasted Asparagus

I know, I know…I usually post a Market to Table recipe at the beginning of the week. And well, technically this is still a market recipe – the asparagus came from Dupont Circle Farmers Market on Sunday.  But really, the star of this meal is the salmon.  And considering my once rabid dislike of seafood, that is saying a LOT.

Let me give you a little back story about me and seafood.  Until my twenties, I really wasn’t that much of a fan. In fact, my mother could only get me to eat fish if it was battered and deep fried beyond recognition (hello Long John Silver’s!).

On the rare occasions I did brave a nibble of seafood, it always tasted rubbery and fishy.  Why you may ask?  Well for one, it was often prepared in one of my hometown’s less than stellar restaurants.  And I’m almost positive I never had truly fresh seafood.  Then I moved up to DC…and started dating a boy from the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Mind you, The Boy doesn’t like seafood either…but he knows where to get quality (and fin slappingly fresh) seafood.  When we decided to try cooking more seafood at home, he started picking up fish at Annapolis Seafood Markets.  Since then, I have come to love cooking with fish…and eating it!

For my first foray into salmon (yes, I had never cooked salmon before – much to the astonishment of several of my foodie Twitter pals), I decided to try a simple recipe using flavors I loved.  When I stumbled upon this recipe from Food and Wine magazine, I knew instantly I wanted to try it. I LOVE hoisin sauce…and may have been known to drink it straight from the bottle (don’t you dare judge me).  So any recipe that involves hoisin sauce is a winner in my book.  It didn’t hurt one bit that the total prep time clocked in at under 30 minutes.  It also didn’t hurt that this was the BEST FUCKING SALMON I EVER ATE.  Not that I’m bragging or anything…

Recipe: Hoisin Glazed Salmon (from Food and Wine magazine) 

Ingredients

• Four 6 ounce salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs dry white wine
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, white wine, honey and garlic. Whisk the ingredients together to incorporate and set aside.
3. Season each fillet with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Heat the olive oil over high heat in a large, oven-proof skillet. Place the fillets skin side up in the skillet, being careful not to crowd the pan. Allow the salmon to brown on the fleshy side – takes about 30 seconds.
5. Flip the salmon over and spoon half of the sauce over all of the fillets.
6. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 3 minutes.
7. Pull out the oven rack slightly and spoon the remaining glaze evenly over all of the fillets.
8. Bake for another 3 minutes and then baste the salmon with the glaze oozing in the pan. Continue to cook until the salmon is done, about 2 more minutes.

For the roasted asparagus, I simply tossed 2 bunches of asparagus spears (with the ends cut off) with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of good quality balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  I roasted them for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then topped with a few shavings of a Parmesan cheese I got from Eastern Market!

P.S. I hadn’t planned on blogging this recipe, so I didn’t take any pictures of its preparation. However, after seeing the look on The Boy’s face after trying the salmon, I knew I had to blog it.  I snapped the above pictures with my lovely new point and shoot camera.  Oh yeah, those are point and shoot pictures!  And in BAD light!!