Parents Need to Eat too: Honey Soy Roasted Salmon

I have always been a huge fan of Debbie Koenig‘s writing and her wonderful blog. And now, it is such an honor to be able to feature her first cookbook: Parents Need to Eat Too.

What this book is about and why I love it so much: I have always been a fan of Debbie’s work so I was thrilled when I heard about her book. There are two  words to describe this book, according to me, and they are: SMART AND USEFUL. I want to place this book on my kitchen counter and look at it for inspiration and ideas every day. Why? The recipes are not only easy but each recipe has a mom note at the end from a real life mom talking about the recipe and how her family enjoyed it. I just loved that. The book is smart because Debbie has really taken the time to figure out how parents with small kids can cook effectively but without stress. My favorite section in particular is the section on parents who want to eat but do not want to spend time cooking. This section has such smart ideas on topping potatoes, pesto  variations and ravioli lasagna.. really good stuff. This is not a book that you will buy and cook from once and forget about it. This is book that you will want to go back to again and again and again. As I was reading it and picking out what I wanted to try, I kept wondering if Debbie would adopt me. Pretty please?

Honey-Soy Roasted Salmon

Printed with permission from “Parents Need to Eat Too”  (Morrow, 2012)

Serves 4 Cooking time: 35 minutes (5 minutes active)

you’ve got to love a marinade with only three ingredients. i serve this with rice and something green and steamed—think broccoli, bok choy, snow or sugar snap peas, or spinach. if you enjoy a saucy fish (sounds like a British come-on, doesn’t it?), double the marinade ingredients.

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce or other asian chili

sauce, or to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Four 6-ounce salmon fillets, skinned

Ask the fishmonger to skin the fish for you. Or, if you like the skin, leave it on!

Cooked rice and a green vegetable, for serving

1. whisk together the honey, soy sauce, and Sriracha in a shallow bowl. add the salmon, turning to coat, and marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature, and up to 1 day refrigerated.2. Grease a baking dish large enough to hold the fish in 1 layer. Remove salmon from the marinade and arrange in the dish (skin-side down, if you’ve left it on). Reserve marinade.

3. Roast fish just until it’s opaque all the way through, 12 to 14 minutes.

4. while the fish is roasting, pour the reserved marinade into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until thickened, 4 or 5 minutes. (watch carefully or you’ll wind up with something akin to tar.)

5. Serve the fish with the rice and a green vegetable, and pass the sauce separately.

MAMA SAID “Delicious! i loved the honey flavor, and everyone else agreed. one trick i learned with a similar recipe: i buy double the amount of salmon, combine half with a batch of marinade and put it straight into the freezer, and then make the other half. A couple weeks later, the second half marinates while it thaws, and voilà, that second batch is even faster (if possible) than the first.” —Ariella M., mom of two, brookline, nH

MaKE BaBy FOOD: Salmon, with all that omega-3 goodness, is great for babies. However, due to botulism fears, honey is a no-no for the under-one set. Set aside a small piece of salmon before marinating and bake that separately for your baby.