Baked Salmon with Blackberry and Ginger Glaze... You MUST try this!

I had almost finished this post, and the computer froze on me.  I lost everything!  Piyush informed me that's why they have the "save as draft" button, and I should use it.  Nothing like kicking me when I'm down... lol

Anyway, Tonight I was craving salmon.  I didn't want anything fried, or spicy, or greasy.  I wanted something filling, healthy, and something that would satisfy my sweet tooth.  Usually after dinner I'm left craving anything with a little sugar.  If we eat spice, I have to balance it with sweet.  This is a frustrating problem when you're trying to watch your waist and are attempting to avoid junk (man I like junk...).  Piyush on the other hand hates sweets (or so he says).  He also isn't a huge fan of salmon, he prefers whitefish.  But...I'm the cook!  So, Blackberry glazed salmon it is!  We'll add a little ginger for a fun little kick, and to appease the husband.

You could really use any berry you like, I suppose.  I don't know.  Strawberries would maybe be a little weird, but I think pomegranates would be nice.  And they're in season!  I also think it'd be nice to add some orange zest. 

I served the salmon with some semolina cous cous that I added some garlic, chopped parsley, olive oil and parmesan cheese to and steamed broccoli.  It was a perfect meal!  It's 5 hours later, I had half the serving as my husband (whose plate you see pictured here)...and I'm still full.  I didn't even need any other sweet to end my night!  This was a success and will definitely be showing up on my menu quite regularly.

Baked Salmon with Blackberry and Ginger Glaze adapted from Sunny Anderson's Cooking for Real (She's really the only television cook/chef I actually like on the Food Network)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

7 ounces blackberries (I used however many came in the box I bought from the store)

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and sliced into coins (I like an extra kick of ginger.  Decrease if you prefer)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/8 cup sugar or to your taste.  Next time I'm going to use Stevia.

Olive oil to grease the pan

Skinless salmon fillets (I used 10 ounces)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1.  Wash and dry your berries.  Toss them into a saucepan over medium heat along with the water, ginger and lemon.

Let the berries boil until they turn bright red and break down.  They should begin to form a sauce.  I found this took around 15 minutes.  That gives the ginger some extra time to infuse too, yay!

2. Grab a fine sieve, or some sort of strainer.  Strain the juice into a bowl, pushing the berries through as much as you can with the back of the spoon.

3.  Pour the juice back into a saucepan and over low heat, add in the sugar.  We're going to make a yummy glaze here, folks.  Basically you don't have to do much with it for the next 20 minutes.  Just let it simmer.  You'll want to stir it every once in awhile to make sure it doesn't burn though.  The glaze should reduce to about half the amount of the original juice you poured in.  I just kept it simmering until I noticed it thickened up to a good consistancy.  Taste it!  It's good!!!

4.  Remove the glaze from heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes. You'll notice some lumps start to form, and it almost seems like jelly.  That's okay.  You're putting it on fish that's going to be baked in a very hot oven.  It'll melt down again.  No worries!  Oil the baking sheet and plop the fillets down. Put a little oil on the fish and some salt and pepper to your taste.  After the glaze is cooled, brush some on the fish.  Be generous! Reserve a little to baste.

5.  Bake the fish in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 5 minutes.  After  5 minutes pull it out, it'll look like this:

Turn your oven to broil and brush the rest of the glaze on the salmon.  Let the salmon broil for about 3 more minutes or until the meat is flakey and done.

This dinner was so amazing!  So fast, so easy, and had so much flavor. You should really give this one a go!  I promise you'll love it!

Enjoy!  ...I'll see you tomorrow!