Salmon and Cherries: Salmon in Cherry Ale Sauce

The hubby’s favorite fish is salmon and I love to try and cook it different ways for him. He especially enjoys when I pair it with fruit like when I made him Salmon with Blackberry Honey Salsa or Salmon with Huckleberry Sauce. The other night I looked in the freezer and it turned into a salmon and cherries kind of recipe. This is why I freeze fruit for the winter; so I can be creative when it comes to making dinner for the hubby. Well, one of the reasons!

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I was sent samples from Raw Spice Bar

Salmon and Cherries: Salmon in Cherry Ale Sauce

Serves 1 but can be doubled

1 6 oz salmon filet
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 cup bing cherries pitted and cut in half, divided
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Hawaij seasoning or alternatively mix together 1/4 tsp each of ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves
1/2 tsp salt
8 0z brown ale like Moose Drool
2 tsp unsalted butter

For the Turmeric Honey Rice

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2 cups Jasmine Rice
2 cups water (for Instant Pot) 4 cups water (for stove top)
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp sea salt
3 TBS dried cranberries
2 tsp unsalted butter
3 TBS Honey

Make the Turmeric Honey Rice:

In an Instant Pot –

Add the rice, water, turmeric, butter and dried cranberries into the instant pot.
Set for white rice and let cook.
After the rice is finished, fluff and stir in the honey. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

For Stove Top:

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Add the water,turmeric, salt, butter to a pot over medium high heat and bring to boil.
Add the rice and cranberries, return to a simmer, cover and let cook until all the water is absorbed – about 20 minutes.
Fluff and stir in the honey. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary

While the rice is cooking, make the salmon:

Dust the salmon filet on both sides with the hawaiij spice blend and sprinkle with salt.
In a medium saute pan, add the 3/4 cup of cherries and cook over medium heat until they start to release their juices. Add the ale and let the sauce start to reduce.
While the sauce is cooking heat a small fry pan over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil.

Cook the salmon, skin side down for 3 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for three minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Take the remaining 1/4 cup of cherries and chop roughly.

When the cherry ale sauce has reduced by half add the salmon filet and reduce heat to a low simmer. Let cook on each side for about 4 minutes. Cover on the second side.
Remove the filet and add the chopped cherries. Stir and cook just until the cherries are heated through. Turn off the heat and add the butter and let melt.

Serve the salmon on top of the turmeric honey rice with the cherry ale sauce over top.

How Was the Salmon and Cherries?

Well, the hubby left a clean plate so that tells me that he really enjoyed it. The ale cooked down to make a lovely sauce with the sweet/tart cherries. The butter added just the right amount of richness and smoothed it out. The Moose Drool is a very smooth ale and I use it all the time in cooking when I want an earthier flavor than wine. I am not sure of it’s distribution but look for a good quality brown ale to acheive the same result.