Good Things Come to Those who Bait !

For someone who tries to cook relatively healthy (most of the time), it may seem strange that I have never featured fish on my blog. I love fish, but mostly I love fried fish! I am pretty sure that I can attribute that to my southern roots. The truth is that I don't actually ever cook fish. Fried fish is out of the question because I don't tend to deep fry anything. There have been several recipes featuring fish that interested me in the past. They have all been fairly healthy and I have attempted several of them and never really had much luck. I have struggled with the fish breaking apart in the pan and have never been overly pleased with the flavor. I found almost all of the fish recipes I have prepared to have a fishy overtone that wasn't very appetizing. The last time I cooked fish I swore it off for good. No more fish for me unless I was close to the Gulf of Mexico and eating it fried with hush puppies!

My pact didn't last for long. I came across a recipe in this month's issue of Cooking Light and the picture was so beautiful that I couldn't resist. I have never prepared salmon during any of my failed fish fiascoes and figured I should give it a try. Salmon didn't seem like it would have a fishy taste. I eat salmon raw at sushi joints, so how bad could this be? Well it wasn't bad at all. In fact it was delicious! The particular feature in the magazine was on marinades and it emphasized using a few important ingredients to maximize flavor. That is exactly what resulted from this marinade. This dish was amazing! The flavors of the marinade ingredients blended together to create a perfect medley. We couldn't get enough of this. All I can say is that I am glad there are other fish in the sea !

Maple Grilled Salmon

Cooking Light July 2008

Ingredients

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned

Cooking spray

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; add fish. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 3 hours.

2. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.

3. Remove fish from bag, reserving the marinade. Pour marinade into a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 5 minutes).


4. Place fish on grill rack or pan coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness, basting occasionally with marinade. Remove fish from grill; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

This Salmon dish is so delicious that I forgot to salt and pepper the fish and didn't realize it until I was cleaning up after dinner!