Maple-Glazed Salmon with Baked Apples

We all know the phrase "An Apple a Day..," but as soon as you decide that you want to attempt eating seasonally, you realize in that this is a serious phrase in October! Fall brings more apples than you can imagine, and if you don't act fast, they get brusied and gross in your fruit basket, despite your good intentions. Therefore -- you realize (like I did this week) that you gotta get creative. When i told my boyfriend (who is a self-proclaimed salmon hater) that I was thinking of incorporating apples into a salmon dish -- he looked at me (with a clear "I'm trusting you..." smirk) then asked "so will the apples be dessert?".

Less than an hour later, he was wolfing down the entire meal and commenting on how the apples complimented the salmon "unexpectedly and perfectly." He was right -- With the honey beautifully pairing with the apple's natural flavors, the fruit just melts in your mouth. I served mine over brown rice -- Try it out!

 

Servings: 4

What You'll Need: 

• Four (5-ounce) salmon filets (Target just launched a new collection of healthy foods called 'Simply Balanced' -- I got a bag of wild-caught Alaskan salmon filets for $10! --winning!)
• 4 tablespoons light maple syrup
• 1 cup microwave-in-the-bag brown rice (pick your battles!)
• Salt/Pepper
• 2 apples (any kind that's not green-- who wants sour roasted apples?)
• 1 tablespoon honey (or brown sugar)
• 1 tablespoon water
• Cooking Spray or foil
• Baking pan
• Optional: Slice some spinach leaves for garnish
• Optional: Marinade (see below)

For the Salmon:

Quick way: Take the salmon filets and season with salt and pepper (if you bought them frozen, let them thaw first.) Place the filets on the pan and let bake for 15 min at 400 degrees. After removing from oven, spread maple syrup over filets.

Optional "long" way: Place salmon filets in a plastic bag. Add olive oil, a little soy sauce, garlic powder, salt pepper, brown sugar, and honey to the bag and shake to coat. Let sit in the fridge for two hours. Take salmon out of bag and bake as instructed above. (This method allows the salmon to marinate and have deeper flavors-- but don't fret -- the quick version is also tasty!)

For the Apples:
Turn each apple on its side. With a good knife, slice off the top (the stem) and the bottom (the stub.) Then, with the apple still on its side, slice the apple into rings. Cut out a small circle in the middle of each ring (taking out the seeds/core.) Place on a pan with cooking spray. Mix together the honey and water in small bowl, and using your fingers, spread on the apple rings. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. (You can do this on a separate pan, but for the sake of the dishes I would have to wash, I baked these for 5-10 minutes then took them out of the oven. I spread some more honey water on the rings, moved them to the side of the pan, then added more cooking spray and the salmon to the pan. I put the one pan back in the oven for the salmon's 15 minutes -- genius, right?)

-------
Crisp apples, moist apples, juicy apples -- you name it, fall brings them. You can also use these same baked apples, adding some cinnamon -- and compliment some oatmeal in the morning, or even serve them warm with some whipped cream on top for a healthy dessert. It's apple season, so expect a multitude of apple recipes on Table Haven this month. Let's get crackin! err, slicing?

xoxo n