Maple-Pepper Salmon Bites

These little salmon bites really surprised me. First of all, I was scared of all that pepper because I'm not a huge pepper lover and just the idea of so much of it was making me gag a little. So I dipped some in pepper and left some undipped. Then I got a huge glass of water ready and popped a peppery one in my mouth. It was sooo delicious...not only did I not gag, I immediately ate about five more. Then I tried a plain one and ended up dumping a bunch of pepper over it, so it would taste more like the other ones. Since these couldn't be easier, I'll definitely be making them for the salmon lovers I know (don't be scared).

MAPLE-PEPPER SALMON BITES

Serves 6 as an hors d'oeuvre

1 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup soy sauce

24 oz. skinned salmon fillet, cut into bite-size cubes

1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper

vegetable or canola oil

1.       Combine maple syrup and soy sauce in a medium-size bowl and add salmon, making sure the fish is fully immersed in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

2.       Grease a sheet of aluminum foil with the oil (vegetable oil sprays work well). Preheat oven to 500° F.

3.       Put pepper in small bowl or plate and dip top of salmon pieces into pepper. Place each peppered piece on foil, then cook in oven for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Epicurious, January 1999 by Nancy Hawley

skinless salmon fillets

cutting

cubed

maple syrup

soy sauce

salmon marinating

dipping in black pepper

ready to bake

baked

close up

Just to prove that my ability to hurt myself with ordinary,
every day stuff is unparalleled...I managed to get a speck of
black pepper jammed so deeply under my nail that I couldn't
get it out. It hurt for two days (I made these salmon bites
about five days ago). It's finally numb or something because
the stinging stopped. Now I can get back to obsessing about
my twitchy eye (don't ask).

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