Maple Marinated Salmon

This past winter here in Southern NH has been down right rotten.  Its been cold. Its been grey. Freezing COLD temperatures for days and days in a row.  A s$#@-ton of snow + ice.  And REALLY, really COLD temperatures....opps, I guess I already said that.  But the good news is that now we have entered into the month of April so fingers crossed, the warmer weather is not too far away.  The other good news is that maple sugaring is in full swing right now in these parts of the woods.  The sap is running in our beautiful maple trees and loads of sugar houses have that lovely, fluffy steam coming out of it as the sap boils down into syrup.  In an effort to celebrate warmer temps ahead of us, I recently whipped up a delicious, simple and full of flavor salmon dinner.  And not just in ordinary salmon dinner at that.  Salmon that was marinated in a wonderful sauce of the sweetness of maple syrup, the saltiness of soy sauce and the awesomeness of crushed garlic.  A fantastic trio of flavors! 

Believe it or not I don't have much experience preparing fish.  It has only been in the past few years that I have been really making an effort to cook fish more often.  I was on top of the world with happiness when this salmon recipe came out so good.  In all honesty I was extremely proud of myself because of my lack of experience in the kitchen with fish.  I now have a new found confidence with making fish and I can't wait to make this recipe again!   I know that you will enjoy this treasure of a salmon recipe as much as my family and I did. 

You will need to marinate the fish in a mixture of maple syrup, soy sauce and crushed garlic for about 30-45 minutes before you bake it.  So just keep this time frame in mind when you plan to make this recipe.  For a perfect spring-time meal serve this fish along side some tender green beans and brown rice. You may actually think you are in a gourmet restaurant when you bit into the fish.  It's that good!

And if you are in need of some maple syrup I highly recommend you purchase it from my dear friends at Woodard's Sugar House - Mark and Katie's syrup is the BEST! And Katie even has a fabulous blog called, Maple Mama. So many great sources in one spot!! :-)

Maple Marinated Salmon 

 (recipe discovered on Cooking Classy)

Ingredients -

2 (4-6 oz) skinless salmon fillets 

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

3 Tbsp soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

green onions and freshly ground pepper, for garnish 

Directions - 

In a medium bowl, whisk together maple syrup, soy sauce and crushed garlic.  Place salmon fillets into a baking dish and then pour marinate over the fillets - coating them well before covering them with plastic wrap and refrigerating.  Allow to marinate for 30-45 minutes - turning fish at least once as it marinates.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Being careful to save the marinade, place the fish into a greased 9x13 pan and bake in preheated oven until fish is baked through - about 15 minutes.  

While fish is baking pour remaining marinade into a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat.  Bring to a boil stirring frequently.  When it boils reduce heat and cook for another minute or two.  Pour sauce over baked fish before serving. Sprinkle with sliced green onions and freshly ground pepper. Serve and enjoy! :-) 

Happy Maple Marinated Salmon Baking!

Shrimp Fried Rice

It is essential to have a quick, super yummy, stress free and healthy dinner recipe up your sleeve for this time of year. I am sure many of you are starting to get that heavy almost dizzy feeling of holiday craziness swirling around in your head by now.  Goodness it is almost 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas (yes, I said 2 1/2 weeks!) by golly!  Don't panic.  It will ALL get done some how or another.  And if it doesn't....well, there is always next year.  Can you tell how I calm myself down when I start to panic about not being able to fit it all in or complete all those last minute "most make" or "must bake" or "must finish" projects?  I reason with myself.  That's all there is to it.  And then I eat something delicious and all my stress disappears just like that!  Magic. Simple and pure magic. 

 Today I want to share with you a little magical recipe for dinner time (or lunch if you are so inclined).  It is simple.  It is quick. It is even flexible as far as ingredients are concerned.  And yes, it is SUPER good!  Shrimp Fried Rice.  And, if you really want you could add cooked beef or chicken to the rice instead of shrimp.  Or you could just load it up with lots of veggies and call it a Veggie Fried Rice.  Go nuts with this recipe.  Make it your own variation of fried rice with what you choose to add in to it.  No matter what it will be magically d'lish!

Shrimp Fried Rice

(recipe found on my go-to recipe source, Tasty Kitchen - I just LOVE this site!!)

Ingredients:

1 cup rice (white or brown)

4-6 Tbsp butter (you choose how crazy you want to get with your butta...I used 4 Tbsp and it was plenty)

1 lb shrimp,  washed, shelled and deveined

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 onion, chopped

1/3 cup soy sauce (more or less depending on your taste)

3-4 green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook rice in 2 cups water until done.  Add in butter and toss around a bit so that it melts into rice nicely.

2.  Saute chopped onions until soft and translucent.  Add to rice along with soy sauce, peas and shrimp.   Cook all together for a good 5-7 minutes making sure peas are no longer frozen and shrimp is not over cooked.

3. Just before serving toss in chopped green onions and then sprinkle some on top of dish just for good measure (and to make it pretty).

Enjoy!

Happy Shrimp Fried Rice Making!

Shannon's Quick and Easy Fish - "Close to my Heart" recipe

Friends in my life are so very very precious to me. I truly do not know how I would survive in all my day to day activities without the amazing people that are in it.  I am blessed with a HUGE amount of friends...that I am eternally gratefully for every single day.  LOVE you guys!!! Mawahhhhhhhh :-)

Not only do I find friendship, support,  happiness, adventures, knowledge, laughter and comfort through my friends but best of all I often discover new and delicious recipes from them too! These recipes I consider and call "Close to my Heart" recipes.  "Close to my Heart" recipes allows me to remember a special moment or memory along with the goodness of the taste that it offers.  It is full of richness in every sense of the way.

One of the very first recipes that I will be sharing on my blog as a "Close to my Heart" recipe comes from my beloved and precious friend, Shannon.  We were freshman college room-mates (yikes almost 20 yrs ago we meet!) when we first began our friendship.  Amazing. Simply amazing. I treasure her.  I adore her to pieces!!! :-)

Shannon gave me this recipe about a year ago and I make it at least once a month.  It's quick.  It's yummy. And yes, it's pretty healthy for you too.

Shannon's Quick and Easy Fish

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Ingredients:

2 filets of white fish of your choice (most often I get Haddock)

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter, cut into small slices

couple shakes of garlic salt

couple shakes of ground pepper

1 fresh lemon - one 1/2 for the juice the other 1/2  for serving wedges along side the fish

6-8 Ritz crackers, crushed

Directions:

1. Coat baking dish (I unusually use a 9x13 glass baking dish for this recipe) with 2 tbsp olive oil.  Place fish in dish and roll around in the olive oil to coat.  Drizzle fish with remaining tbsp of olive oil.

2. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper and then crushed Ritz crackers.

3. Squeeze 1/2 of fresh lemon over over both fish filets. 

4. Dot with sliced butter pieces.

5. Place in preheated oven (375*) and bake for 12 minutes - just until nice and flaky.  Be careful NOT to over bake the fish...it will be dry if over baked (I have learned the hard way).

Serve with favorite sides and enjoy!

~avril :-)

This post has been linked to Crazy Daisy: Tuesday Tastes