Maple-Cardamom Glazed Salmon

Jenny is in perpetual search for easy, weeknight recipes to attempt to feed her family. When they balk, she just eats more.

There are simple answers to dinner, and then, there are insanely simple answers. Enter Maple-Cardamom Glazed Salmon. You brush a sweet little overcoat of maple syrup on your main man, Mr. Delicious Salmon and cook him. The end.

But wait I have more to say!

The first thing you will notice is that our author has tied together a sultry, nectarous adhesive with an array of woody spices that work together effortlessly -- I am talking Lyle Lovett and his large band.

(Although I am told there is some sort of equal symmetry with the boys of the ambiguously named One Direction. I would ponder further musical metaphors but there is at this very moment a woman in a black muscle shirt walking through the gate where I am sitting in the Chicago airport carrying a banjo, so I am distracted.)

What alasully has for you here is a recipe in which you take apart your fish, glaze it with maple syrup, cardamom and paprika and gently place it on the skillet, where it cooks somewhat rapidly, skin side down. I have no doubt in this method.

Here was mine, with my 2 pound fish for guests. I rubbed it with my lovely spices, held together with my new discovery at the Bethesda Farmer’s Market -- Wildwood's Hickory Syrup produced from hickory bark, which is excellent for savory dishes and I am guessing, though I have to try it, on a hot stack on pancakes, too.

Then, I placed my fish on a foil-lined pan in a 425 degree oven and checked it often, removing it after about 13 minutes. Your time will vary with the thickness of your fish and how pink you like your interior. Your salmon, resting gingerly like so much silk on the fork, will soon be waiting. That surprise of cardamom is going to get you, I mean that in a good way, as is the familiar paprika (I used smoked just to get all daring on a Sunday night) boosted by the syrup.

Delicious. Guest worthy. Week-night easy. Okay now I am done.

Maple-Cardamom Glazed Salmon by alasully

Makes 1lb. of fish

1 pound wild salmon filet, de-boned
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here.

Photo by James Ransom