Maple Glazed Shrimp, Salmon with Rice Pilaf

This dinner is delicious, gourmet and EASY PEASY.  Dinner started out the way many home dinners do, with the initial “What do I want for dinner?” followed by the realistic question, “What do I have for dinner?” at 5:30 p.m.  I wanted seafood and rice.  On hand, I had *some* partial bags of rice, a bag of shrimp and salmon.  Bland and boring.  I wanted a glaze on my seafood and flavor in my rice.  This one bedroom apartment provokes some creativity, and so did this rice, shrimp and salmon combo.  A wee bit of maple syrup remained in the fridge following pancake morning this past weekend.  I googled “maple glazed shrimp” thinking I was going to come up zero.  Turns out I’m not inventing a new dish.  Some chef at Red Lobster faced my same dinner quandary and craving, and now offers Maple glazed shrimp on the menu.  Hello dinner. 

Now for that rice I want.  Fresh spinach is long gone, there’s a half purple onion in the fridge, and a cupboard full of spices and herbs.  And I have frozen peas!  Mission: Paella-inspired pilaf on the quick.  We moved in two weeks ago, nothing cold or frozen made the trip, so I don’t have any homemade vegetable broth.  I’ll have to ad-lib, and create my own stock with spices and water.  The bag with a mere half cup of brown jasmine rice left?  Winner.  The result?  Better than our last paella.  Try it.  

The rice pilaf starts out with a bit of water, some pantry spices, a pat of butter and coating the rice.

Rice Pilaf
Serves 4

½ cup brown jasmine rice
1 cup frozen organic peas
1/4 onion (any), minced
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch of saffron threads
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon trocomare organic seasoning salt
Dash of sea salt
Dash of ground black pepper
Dash of garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 cup water 

Warm about a ¼ cup of water in a large sauce pan.  Once water’s warm, add a pinch of saffron threads, then turmeric, garlic powder, trocomare, sea salt, ground pepper, and onion powder.  A bay leaf will fight the rice dish and no one will win, leave a bay leaf out for your next soup.  Mix water and spices.  Add two tablespoons of butter and increase heat to medium.  Add a quarter of an onion, minced.  Stir for about two minutes until onion becomes somewhat transparent.  Add half cup of brown jasmine rice and coat.  Add cup of water, bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer on very low for 40 minutes.  Mix in thawed peas, cover again, and rest on burner for five minutes.  Fluff rice pilaf with a fork before serving.               

 When the rice begins to simmer, it’s time to start the seafood stars.   

Maple Glazed Shrimp and Salmon
Adapted from food.com
Note: I’ve omitted the dried cherries and sugar from this recipe, and added honey.

Maple Glaze:
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
½ cup water
2 teaspoons fermented soy sauce (I suggest an organic, trusted variety with NO MSG like Ohsawa Organic or gluten-free Tamari)
1 ½ teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey

 20 medium shrimp
1-2 WILD salmon filets
1 Tablespoon of organic, unsalted butter

Prepare salmon:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sear non-skin side of salmon filet(s) on medium-high heat, for about 2 minutes.  Place seared salmon, skin side down, in covered casserole dish sprayed with olive oil.  Skin side down boosts the Omega-3 magic in the salmon.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes until cooked all the way through.  Check with fork every couple of minutes beyond 15 minutes.   

Once salmon’s baking, prepare Maple Glaze:
Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  When mixture begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes until sauce thickens.

As sauce simmers, prepare shrimp:
In a Tablespoon of browned butter, sauté thawed shrimp on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes on each side.  I reuse the salmon searing pan for this, to increase the browning flavor.    

Brush or drizzle the shrimp and salmon with maple glaze.
Dinner is served.