Maple-Glazed Salmon with Tomato-Dill Couscous

My mission: To cook 5 recipes each month.

This is recipe 5 of 5 for the month of July


Maple-Glazed Salmon

Ingredients:

• • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ancho chile powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 salmon fillets
  • Cooking spray
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:

• • 1. Preheat broiler.
  • 2. Combine first 6 ingredients; rub spice mixture evenly over flesh side of fillets. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; broil 6 minutes. Brush fillets evenly with syrup; broil 1 minute.

Tomato-Dill Couscous

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup uncooked couscous
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken broth
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions:

Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan. Stir in couscous; sauté 1 minute. Add chicken broth and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Stir in tomatoes, onion, and dill.

When deciding what recipe to make next I was flipping through some back issues of Cooking light magazine when I stumbled upon the the first issue I bought. I bought it in an airport last summer. I bought it because of the cover image: a perfectly cooked piece of salmon with a little salad and couscous on the side. Seems like a fitting way to end my love affair with Cooking Light. Not to say I'm going to stop cooking recipes from their site, but I want to broaden my horizons is all. It's not you, Cooking Light. It's me. 

I didn't have this ancho chili powder and neither did my grocery store so I went with this chili powder instead:

Also, I added too much brown sugar (an extra half a teaspoon), but I'm sure it'll be fine. The salmon I bought (frozen) did not have skin so I rubbed the spice mixture on both sides of the fillet. 

Finished Product:

The spices are quite powerful but they blend quite well with the salmon and the couscous. I'd even go so far to say I wouldn't like this salmon dish without the couscous involved. I like hot the maple syrup added some sweetness and cut the spices down a bit. As far as the couscous goes I've never made couscous with olive oil and then cooking just the couscous with the olive oil without some other liquid. It was interesting to do and I believe I will continue to make couscous this way. I loved adding the red onions, dill and tomatoes to it at the end there. The colors just pop in the saucepan. Fantastic little dish that I will try again in the future. 

Maple-Glazed Salmon: 3 out of 5 stars

Tomato-Dill Couscous: 5 out of 5 stars

Leftovers: I'll have to get back to you on this one tomorrow.