Balsamic-Glazed Salmon

In the Keiser House we don't discriminate against protein (although Drew believes pork to be the supreme meat), so for tonight's dinner we went to the sea (read:  fish farm pond) with Salmon.  Before we left for work this morning we thawed out two salmon fillets, and over lunch, I found a recipe for Balsamic-Glazed Salmon by Giada de Laurentiis, best known for her petulance of pronouncing Italian words in a terrible Italian accent, her love of low cut shirts, and her Food Network cooking show.

Keeping with the Ad Hoc theme, you know I had to throw in a few revisions....

We started by lining a Pyrex pan with parchment paper and laying our salmon fillets skin side down.  These were topped with a small amount of cracked pepper and kosher salt & left to rest while the oven pre-heated to 400 degrees.

At the half-way point of cooking the fish (after the salmon had been in the oven for 7 minutes), we combined 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of honey (Giada calls for maple syrup, but the only syrup we had was fake maple syrup made with Splenda), 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and a clove of minced garlic.

Yes, that's a farm house pig spoon rest!

Over medium high heat we whisked pretty frequently for 5 minutes while the salmon finished cooking; when the oven timer beeped, we were rewarded with a reduced sauce.

The dinner came out well, but since the fillets were on the larger side (the smaller fillet is pictured) the salmon could have used a couple of more minutes in the oven.  Salmon tells you that it's done when white fat begins to materialize around the bottom of the fillets and the inside is a nice, flaky pink.  Also, be careful not to get too close to the sauce as it cooks down-Liz found out the hard way that the balsamic "stings the nostrils" as it cooks down.

If you're keeping score, I'd give the sauce a 6/10 on my gravy/pan sauce/au jus quality rating scale.