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Glazed Salmon

Glazed Salmon

This simple but delicious salmon recipe comes via my friend Heidi in Carlisle, Massachusetts, who got it from the Boston Globe (Thanks Heidi!). Because there are so few ingredients, the recipe relies completely on the freshness of the ingredients.

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Glazed Salmon Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup apple cider (not hard cider)
  • 1 1/4 tablespoons honey
  • 4 skinless salmon fillets (6 ounces each)
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 lemons, cut in half
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 12 ounces fresh baby spinach
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Place salmon fillets in a baking dish large enough to hold the salmon in one layer.

2 In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cider and honey to a boil and let the mixture bubble steadily until it reduces by half.

3 Pour the cider over the salmon, then let it sit for 10 minutes.

4 Heat olive oil in a large skillet with a oven-proof handle on medium-high. Sprinkle the flesh side of the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Place the fish in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, brushing the top with cider glaze so that the fish begins to caramelize.

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5 Turn the salmon fillets over and brush with the remaining cider glaze. Add the lemon halves to the skillet. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the salmon flakes easily when tested with the tip of a knife. When you remove the skillet from the oven take special care with the very hot handle. I tend to forget that the handle is hot once the skillet is back on the stove. As a precaution I will melt an ice cube on the handle, or drape a hand towel on it.

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6 While the salmon is cooking, in another large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the spinach, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, or just until the leaves begin to wilt. Pour the wine over them and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes more or until tender.

7 To serve, drain any excess liquid from the spinach and divide it among 4 plates. Arrange a piece of salmon on top and garnish with a lemon half.

Serves four.

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20 Comments

Recipe calls for skinless fillet... but pics and directions refer to skinned fillet... which is it??

Posted by: Nix on April 14, 2006 2:18 PM

Hi Nix,

Good catch!

We made it with the skin on, but it should have been skinless to begin with.

I've removed the confusing photos from the recipe.

~Elise

Posted by: Elise on April 14, 2006 2:46 PM

Hi,

I am from the UK and tried this recipe, I was confused over what was meant by "apple cider" which i have since discovered means "apple juice".

I tried the recipe with what you guys therefore must call "hard cider" (alcoholic cider) and it is very nice too! :)

Just thought I would let you know.

Regards,

James

Posted by: James on April 20, 2006 8:54 AM

Hola,

If you want to impress someone with a great dinner, well here it is. I prepared this recipe last night and mmmm it was delicious!!! An easy and very flavorful meal. Nutritious, light, perfect. You can add vegetables to it, if you need more in your plate.

The mixture of the ingridients gave it a kick.
I highly recomended to all my friends. !!

Regards,
Ana L.

Posted by: Ana on November 5, 2007 9:54 AM

This recipe is fantastic! If you are looking for an easy and delicious meal, this recipe is definitely the way to go. I made this dish for a friend the other night and she absolutely loved it. It was filling, flavorful, and light all at the same time. I highly recommend this dish for anyone who loves salmon.


Best,
Adiza

Posted by: Adiza S. on April 13, 2008 9:20 PM

Wow. This recipe has become a staple in my house. We eat it several times a month! It's definitely the most delicious salmon I've ever tried... even people who normally don't like salmon love this recipe!

Posted by: jay on June 2, 2008 12:12 PM

I saw this recipe and decided to try it. I have a wife and three kids ages 3, 5 and 17. After cooking I told my wife to feed the kids while I showered. My thinking was I would have dinner with a glass of wine and relax. I never got a chance to taste the salmon because the kids and my wife could not get enough. I usually struggle with getting the kids to eat salmon. That was not the case that night. So I am doing it all again with me in mind this time. Try it you will Love it!!

Posted by: Gary on February 4, 2009 1:36 PM

I did not want to take a chance with my skillet being oven safe. If we were to transfer the contents back to the original baking pan and put in the oven, could it be done that way? How might the recipe need to be modified?

Posted by: Michael Tuchman on April 17, 2009 4:46 PM

I LOVED this recipe. Want to make for friends (and myself many times over). Here's my question: To cut out the fish aroma from top of stove cooking step...do you think the "searing" step could be achieved on the grill and then transferred to the oven? This one's definitely a keeper, Elise. P.S. I'm willing to brave the cold in the winter for this one. :) BTW - The carmelized lemon looked spectacular when serving. What a nice - professional - touch!

I think the grill is a great idea. ~Elise

Posted by: joan on November 7, 2009 7:26 AM

This is a great recipe! This simple glaze/marinade really makes this dish pretty and tasty. Baking the lemon makes a pretty garnish, it also makes it very easy to squeeze. The lemon was not ncessary to the dish though.

As for the spinach, I prefer to cut the fat and cook it without any butter in a hot, dry pan until just wilted. To cut down on the cooking time (and enormous pile of spinach in a pan) of the spinach, put it in a bowl and microwave it until it is about half the size of the original pile of leaves. Then put it in the pan to saute.

I will make this pretty, easy dish for company any time.

Posted by: Janet on December 29, 2009 8:54 PM

We're always looking for new ways with salmon so I'll be trying this soon. Should the cider/honey mixture be allowed to cool slightly before pouring it over the salmon? Otherwise I am thinking you might slightly pre-cook the salmon before it goes into the skillet. I know from painful experience what you mean by burning your hands on a skillet or pot that has just come out of the oven. Whenever I pan roast or braise something in one of our all-metal saute pans I slip an oven mitt over the skillet handle and lay another one across the lid handle as soon as I remove them from the oven.

If you slightly precook the salmon by pouring the hot mixture over it, it's negligible. ~Elise

Posted by: RD on January 4, 2010 5:52 PM

Once again you had made a couple very happy! My husband LOVED IT! Sadly I had a cold and I was at the stage where you have no taste, so I made it, but tasted nothing. According to the husband, it was simply delicious and would probably cost a bundle in a seafood restaurant! Thanks so much!

Posted by: cheryl on January 27, 2010 10:50 AM

Intended to use this on Salmon but only had Shrimp on hand. My kids LOVED it! I will definitely use this recipe again. :)

Posted by: Kim on January 27, 2010 5:51 PM

I made this for Valentine's Day dinner. It was the best salmon I've ever made and really great with the spinach. I don't make a lot of recipes more than once, but will definitely make this again.

Posted by: roberta on February 20, 2010 7:45 AM

May I say.......I haven't had this dish in a long time. In fact I haven't been cooking for awhile...and I figured I had to get back in the game. I actually bought this month's bon appetite' because of a beautiful piece of salmon with a sweet chili glaze on the cover. And - as I usually do - I googled it. I heard a lot of Ho Hum. Who wants ho hum? So I made this again tonight - YUM YUM! :) I just love this recipe, Elise. I made it with (end of the season) roasted brussels spouts with thyme and a salad. Thank you...again! P.S. I gave the ho hum people your link. And...this, of course, has inspired me to start cooking again.

Posted by: joan on March 29, 2010 3:52 PM

I made this recipe yesterday. It is so easy and delicious, my husband loves it. I had never made salmon and did not know how to cook it. I have to tell you your site has become my personal place too. Thank you so much, I have tried 6 of your recipes and they all are so good!

Norma

Posted by: Norma V on September 13, 2010 3:57 PM

I made this for my boyfriend last weekend and we really enjoyed it. The following day, he couldn't stop talking about how juicy and tender the salmon was. I loved how simple it was to make.

I was a little concerned when I tasted the cider/honey mixture, because it was VERY sweet. I was worried the dish was going to turn out like candy, but I immediately squeezed the hot lemon over the fish as soon as it came out of the oven and WOW. It was really delicious.
Unlike another reviewer above, I do think the lemon is absolutely necessary to balance out the sweetness of the glaze. I guess it depends on your taste, but I personally like my savory food to be savory.

I had some beautiful fresh string beans, so I sauteed them and served with the salmon instead of the spinach. I think I'd like to try substituting freshly squeezed orange juice (and maybe a little zest) for the cider next time for a citrus/honey glaze variation.

A must-try recipe if you love salmon.

Posted by: Lulu on April 12, 2011 11:26 AM

Has anyone tried this with a different fruit juice? I wonder how it'd be with cranberry juice...

Posted by: Jane from MA on May 25, 2011 11:24 AM

Not a bad recipe... but a lot of work for minimal taste. all of the bother with boiling cider and honey, then carmelizing, is really not necessary for great tasting salmon.

Posted by: steve on December 7, 2011 4:03 PM

Made this tonight. It was Sooo good! This will be a keeper for me. I made no modifications at all

Posted by: Marisa on March 19, 2012 4:48 PM

I apologize for the inconvenience, comments are closed. ~Elise

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