Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

Many of the meals I make don't have real recipes. I follow my whims. Sometimes they come from recipes I've used in the past. The following meal was inspired by a Canyon Ranch recipe for terriyaki salmon. What I follow is not its recipe but the idea of using concentrated apple juice as the sweetener instead of sugar. Apple juice really imparts a unique and wonderful flavor. I have made their recipe as stated. I even made it for my kids B'nai Mitzvah party years and years ago (only a crazy mom caters her own kids' party).

I'm going to try to recreate what I made here, but remember, I didn't measure anything. I tasted to see if it needed more of this or that. Also some of the ways I do things are based on the fact that my husband hates vegetables. And honesty the vegetables can be anything. I used hearts of palm because of the recent Costa Rican influence (and seeing them at Trader Joes). I used so much cilantro because it is overflowing in my garden right now. Both additions really added to the dish, but at other times of the years it might be kale, carrots and onions.

Veggies used

Daphne's Terriyaki Salmon (serves two very small eaters, though the veggies serve one as my husband won't eat them)

• half a pound of salmon

• 3 T soy sauce
• 1-2 t rice vinegar
• 2 T ginger wine
• several slices of ginger from the ginger wine
• clove of garlic sliced
• 1/4 c apple juice concentrate
• T orange juice concentrate

• T sake
  
• 1/4 c chopped chives
• 1/2 c chopped cilantro
• 1 /4 c chopped heart of palm (one piece from my jar)
• 1/3 c steamed green beans cut into thirds (note that they are already cooked)
  
• 3 oz fresh washed spinach
  

I combine all the ingredients for the sauce (middle section) and mixed. I tasted it to make sure it didn't need more soy sauce, vinegar, or apple juice. Then I added the salmon skin side up to the bowl to marinate for about 45 mins. Then I removed the salmon and baked it for about 20 mins (give or take based on its thickness).

While the salmon was baking. I thickened the sauce with some cornstarch. Some people would remove the garlic and ginger, but I'm happy eating slices of both so I leave them in. Once it was thickened I removed half the sauce to pour over the salmon. The rest I left in the frying pan. I added the sake and all the veggies. And cooked until heated through so the spinach is just wilted.

When everything is finished put it together with some cooked rice. Any extra sauce gets to go over the rice. Yum.