A Meal for Wally

Shhhhh....quiet....now say to yourself: Citrus Soy Glazed Salmon. Wait, say it again but slower: Citrus-Soy-Glazed-Salmon. What does that sound like to you? Well it may be the middle of winter here in Buffalo but the sound alone, Citrus Soy Glazed Salmon, makes it seem like the peak of summer to me! Don't you agree? After taking the first bite of salmon I felt like my taste buds were sitting in the middle of a Florida Orange Grove. It was so refreshing. To accompany this succulent salmon, I served pan seared citrus asparagus and sweet mashed potatoes. They complimented each other so well I wasn't sure which rotation to eat my food...a bite of salmon then a bite sweet mashed potato, or a bite of asparagus then a bite of salmon, or a bite of sweet mashed potato then a bite of asparagus. Choices, Choices! So my best bet was to just take a forkful of salmon, scoop up some sweet mashed potato, then a piece of asparagus! Yep, once I figured out that combination it was a trio of yumminess on my fork for the rest of the meal. Funny thing is I noticed others at the table doing the trio forkful thing too! My dear father-in-law, Walter was one of those individuals. Wally came over for dinner tonight and his request was salmon. He is probably one of my biggest fans when it comes to cooking so I wanted to make sure I made him something he had a hankering for. So salmon it was. He loves everything I make and always boasts about my cooking to others. Food is probably more important to Wally than it is to Dave. And that's a lot! Wally "lives to eat" while others merely "eat to live." I knew this about Wally very early on in my courtship with Dave. So to score points while we were dating I tried to shmooz his father with my cooking. Hey, I figured if his dad liked my cooking he might say "son, she's a keeper." So I invited them over for dinner and made my homemade italian sauce with spaghetti and meatballs. I remember being very nervous throughout dinner waiting for his food impression, but he said nothing! I was thinking to myself, wow, he doesn't like my homemade sauce, this is terrible. I gave him a huge plateful too and I was like he is never going to finish this. He took bite after bite said nothing.  I'm thinking fine if you don't like my food at least say you like it. Nope, nothing, nadda. Not a single word complimenting my food, or my efforts. I was like I'm doomed, rather than his dad saying "she's a keeper" he going to say "keeper away" Then all of a sudden he got up, walked into the kitchen and served himself a second helping. But this time the portion was way bigger than the first! He sat down, continued to eat every last bite and still said nothing! Honestly, at that point it didn't matter if he said anything or not. The biggest compliment he gave me was helping himself to a massive second helping. Afterwards Wally told Dave he was crazy if he didn't keep me, obviously Dave agreed! To this day he tells me how amazing that first meal was....talk about memorable food impressions! The Citrus Soy Glazed Salmon was a hit with Wally too...maybe not as much as that first meal I made him, but he loved it! Salute to making another memorable food impression on Wally and salute to many many more!

Wally!

Adding the orange zest! 

Pan seared citrus asparagus and sweet mashed potatoes

The trio of yumminess!

Citrus Glazed Salmon (Click to print recipe)

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 4 oz salmon filets
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• juice from 1 orange
• 1 t orange zest
• 4 tb soy sauce
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• salt n pepper
• 4 tb olive oil to coat pan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl mix olive oil, soy sauce, juice from orange, and ginger. Mix well. Marinate salmon in citrus oil for at least 10 minutes. Place salmon on a dish and coat salmon generously with salt n pepper and orange zest. In a large skillet, heat 4 tb olive oil over medium to high heat. Oil should sizzle when salmon is placed in pan. Make sure you place salmon skin side up. Cook until golden and crusty for 3-4 minutes. Carefully flip salmon pieces over, now skin side down. Add extra orange zest. Place salmon on a baking sheet and cook through in the oven for 7-8 minutes. 

Food Impressions:

Nate: "I don't like sweet potatoes"

Tyler: "I don't like sweet potatoes"

Zachary: "I don't like sweet potatoes"

Dave: "Absolutely delicious. Love the salmon but it could have used more soy and orange zest."

Wally: "Excellent, excellent, excellent." (He also advised me to stop putting my recipes on the blog. He thinks I should publish a cookbook first. So sweet!)

Andrea: Light and refreshing. Flavors were amazing! Salmon was cooked to perfection, thanks to Dave, crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside.