Sockeye salmon is baked with oranges, olives and brushed with a sweet and tart cherry glaze!
One of my favorite recipes for the holidays, or just when I want something special that doesn’t take too much time to make!
Cherry juice is simmered with maple syrup until thick and sticky, resulting in a wonderful glaze for the salmon.
The salmon is baked in a low temperature oven with citrus fruits which impart a wonderful zesty flavor into the fish.
This dish is absolutely gorgeous with the garnish of basil, pomegranate seeds and basil sprigs.
Cherry Glazed Salmon
You Need
Method
Prepare the cherry glaze
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- In a small saucepan put the cherry juice and the maple syrup.
- Simmer over medium heat until reduced and thick, about 20 minutes.
- Syrup should continue to thicken as it cools.
- To decide if the juice is reduced enough, dip the back of a spoon in the reduced juice and run your finger down the middle, if you can see the spoon and a line remains, the juice is thickened enough.
Cook the salmon
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- Remove salmon from the refrigerator at least 15 minutes before baking.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place salmon on top of thinly sliced oranges and grapefruit.
- Coat lightly with cherry glaze.
- Bake about 15 minutes.
- If you want your salmon more rare, check it after 12 minutes.
- If you want the salmon cooked through, cook 20 minutes.
For salmon to be cooked "medium" try this trick. Take a fork and pierce the thickest part of the salmon. Remove the fork and touch the tines to your tongue. If the fork is hot, the salmon is cooked well. If the fork is moderately warm, the salmon is cooked to medium doneness.
Plate salmon
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- For a pretty presentation like the one in the recipe photo, line a platter with various orange and grapefruit slices.
- Garnish with pomegranate seeds, and basil sprigs.
- Finish by brushing the salmon lightly with more glaze.
- Serve, and enjoy!
Note
A note on salmon. I always chose wild salmon. Wild salmon has no additives or antibiotics. Wild salmon eat a natural diet from the ocean. This results in them being higher in omega 3's than their farmed counterparts.
Also, something that you might not think about is how farmed salmon are swimming around in very tight quarters! This means sharing the water with 1000s of other fish (eating each other’s poo!)
