Who wants to cook in heat of summer? I don’t. I try my best to do as little cooking as possible during these warmer months. So you can count on some easy lazy recipes from me for the foreseeable future. Don’t worry. Lazy doesn’t translate to flavorless or boring. I’m a huge fan of food. And flavor/taste is a must for all of my meals.
One of the dishes I make all the time in the summer, especially when I’m feeling lazy, is my Soy-Mango Glazed Salmon. I want to take every opportunity to enjoy the wild-caught salmon that’s available only during these warmer months. It’s SO easy to make. The glaze only takes 3 (or 4) common pantry ingredients. It doesn’t even need to be mango preserves. Apricot or pineapple preserves or fruit spread will do. Use what you have; that’s always my motto when it comes to cooking.
I usually am loathe to turn on the oven when it’s so hot outside. But I make an exception for this dish. I just stick the suckers in the oven (Don’t over-bake!). Turn on the air conditioner. And sip my glass of white wine while the oven does the work for me. It’s just the kind of easy-peasy-lazy-tasty recipe I love for the season.
Soy-Mango Glazed Salmon Recipe
Makes enough for 2 people
Ingredients
3/4 lbs fresh salmon fillet (cut into 2 equal pieces)
1 TB tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
2 tsp mango preserve
1 tsp honey
balsamic vinegar (optional)
salt and pepper
canola oil
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper*. Pat the fillets dry. Place the fillets on the prepared baking pan. Rub the fillets with a little bit of canola oil. 1 tsp of oil per fillet should be sufficient. Sprinkle the fillets with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place the fillets in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- While the salmon is baking, prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, stir together honey and mango preserves. Make sure the mango preserve/fruit spread is well mixed with the honey and there are no lumps. Add the tamari and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if using. Mix well until smooth.
- After 10 minutes of baking, brush the fillets (generously) with the soy-mango glaze from step 2. Place it back in the oven and broil for about 2-3 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.* Serve warm with some sautéed vegetables.
Cook’s Note*:
You can also use an oven-safe pan for this. And you can also pan-sear the salmon if you’d like. I just prefer the oven-baking method, because it requires less work.
US FDA recommends that salmon be cooked until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. I find that the salmon becomes too dry if I bake the salmon until the recommended temperature is reached. I usually take the salmon out of the oven when the internal temperature reaches about 135, and then allow the salmon to sit for a few minutes and finish baking.
You can make more glaze; but I find that it’s more than enough for 2 salmon fillets. If you have any glaze/sauce left over, use it on vegetables. It was super delicious on sautéed bok choy.
The sauce can be heated in a small saucepan and allowed to reduce. This will result in a more concentrated flavor.
I also find it too dry if I make it to recommended temp., so I wrap it in aluminium foil right after I take it out of the oven to rest for 10 min. It’s more moist that way. Anyhow, that is one gorgeous piece of salmon, with delicious glaze. I never tried with mangos before, but sounds delicious. Mouthwatering images, Gomo–I want this for my lunch today! 🙂
Thank you for sharing the recipe and have a lovely weekend ahead!
Thanks Sandra! I can’t tell you how much I hate dry salmon. Especially with the exorbitant price of wild-caught ones, I want to make sure I cook it to my liking. It’s super easy to make. You should make it when you are too tired to cook. It’s that easy. I hope you are well. Have a great weekend!
Yum. Something like this is totally what I need right now. I got no appetite and no desire to cook in this heat! Today (my day off away from cooking), I didn’t even want to step in to the kitchen and didn’t know what to eat. So I had nengmyun from down the street.
Now I am debating what to eat for dinner. This dish would fancy my appetite. But too bad I don’t have any salmon in the house, and don’t feel like running to the market. I got the AC on full blast now and don’t want to move!! LOL
I HATE COOKING IN THE HEAT. It sucks because we have no AC in our kitchen at work…so during the summer months, I DIE! Can’t wait until summer is over.
DON’T move!!! If you’ve got yourself nice and comfy in front of the AC on a impossibly hot day, you should stay put and put your dialing skills to work. That’s why they invented takeout. 😀 Nengmyun sounds so good to me right now. Do they deliver nengmyun?? That really would be heavenly.
Wow, it must be tough cooking in the heat. But it’s all a part of becoming a world-class chef right? I can’t wait to be invited to your first resto! Happy Saturday!
I find the “official” temperature for salmon means it’s overcooked, too. This is a great recipe – I do something similar on the grill, often with ginger preserves. Haven’t tried mango, though – that’s a terrific idea. Really super post – thanks so much.
Ginger preserves sounds great! I should try that. I generally love ginger on fish. I’m sure I’ll love the preserves. Glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks the official temperature makes the salmon too dry. My husband was trying to tell me I’m too particular with my food. 🙂 Thanks John. Hope you had a great weekend!
I don’t like cooking in the summer heat either, particularly as I don’t have an air con in my house! Luckily I will worry about that in next 6 months. – I’m in winter wonderland, without snow. 🙂
Then I will come back to your bunch of summer recipes to try out. :p
I almost forgot Australia is going through winter. It’s been so overbearingly hot here that I forgot it’s cold in some parts of the globe! I hope you are enjoying the season. It doesn’t get too cold there right? Happy Sunday!
I’m with you about cooking in this heat. We hit 105F last week!! Thank goodness it’s going to cool off a bit this week. Your salmon looks fabulous! Love the glaze and I can see that this recipe could easily be adapted for the grill. I don’t have any mango preserve but I do have apricot preserve. Do you think that would work as well? Beautiful piece of salmon! You’re making me want it for breakfast! Have a wonderful week!
105?! It was dry heat I hope. It’s been so humid here. My poor brother’s been visiting from Cali, and he was just sweating up a storm! Apricot preserves work just as well. I’ve used apricot and also pineapple. It’s good either way. I love easy recipes for the summer. The heat just saps my energy. Thanks MJ! I hope you have fun over the 4th of July weekend!!
It does sound easy and lazy, but looks very impressive! Perfect for summer evenings. I think I might maybe mix some fresh mango instead of preserves… and see what happens! I also sip wine while cooking (or while the meal cooks on its own 😉 ). It’s one of the pleasures reserved only for the cook 😉
That’s the best kind of recipe right? Totally easy, but no one can tell. I’ve been in love with mangoes and papaya lately. I’ve been putting it on everything. Yay for wine while cooking. It makes everything a little better. 🙂 Thanks Sissi! Happy Wednesday!
I just made this tonight, and I can’t express how great it was! I sauteed orange bell pepper on the side (in a little bit of water, sesame oil, and Taiwanese bouillon powder). So…stinking…good! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for letting us know how it turned out! The bell peppers sound great too! I’m so happy you enjoyed the dish. I hope you have a fun-filled weekend Jaclyn!