Honey and Soy Glazed Salmon with Shaved Asparagus and Apple Salad over Arugula and Quinoa

I wanted something FRESH after a lovely week of binge eating/drinking over the holidays. I had started out each day with smart eating decisions but by the end of the day, I tallied up the wine and food calories and just knew the next thing I ate had to taste fresh, be nutritionally dense and fairly low in calories. TA-DA! This delicious dish was the result. A crisp shaved asparagus and green apple salad topped a piece of glazed salmon over a bed of arugula and red quinoa. Yum, yum, yum.

Ingredients/Instructions:

For the Salmon and Glaze:

6 salmon filets

2 cups orange juice

1/3 cup soy

1 tsp ginger powder

1 lime (juiced)

1/2 cilantro bushel, cut up

1 tbsp chili garlic paste

2 tbsp honey

6-8 minced garlic cloves

2 tsp sesame oil

1. In a sauce pan, add the orange juice, soy, ginger powder, lime juice, chili/garlic paste, honey, garlic and sesame oil. Allow to reduce until the consistency ranges between maple syrup and honey. This will most likely take about 20-30 minutes. The consistency will thicken when removed from high heat.

2. Begin to cook the salmon (we grilled ours on a cedar plank, I recommend it). Cooking times may vary, depending on your method. 145 degrees is a good rule of thumb. However, I like my salmon to be a little darker pink in the middle.

For the Asparagus/Apple Salad:

1 bushel asparagus

2 granny smith apples

1 1/2 cups pomegranate (1 pomegranate, seeded)

3 limes

1/2 bushel cilantro

1 tbsp oj

1 tsp chili/garlic paste

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp ginger powder

2 tsp sesame oil

1. Mix all ingredients except the asparagus, apples, pomegranate and cilantro into a bowl, and whisk together. 2. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the asparagus. (When I got the to the bottom I had to start using a knife for the remainder of the pieces; cut them as thin as possible.) Cut them in half, to make them shorter. 3. Using a KitchenAid mandolin, cut the apples julienne. Deseed the pomegranate and cut up the cilantro. Add the asparagus, the apples, the pomegranate and the cilantro to the liquid and mix together thoroughly.

You will also need 1 package arugula and 1 cup prepared red quinoa (follow the instructions on the box).

Putting it all together:

1. Toss the quinoa and the arugula together. Use a large handful of arugula and a little less than 1/4 cup quinoa.

2. Lay the salmon of top of the bed of arugula and brush/drizzle the glaze all over the salmon filet.

3. Top with 1/2 cup of the asparagus and apple salad. Drizzle a little of the extra liquid from the salad over your quinoa and asparagus.

The End!