Recipe: Soy and Brown Sugar Salmon

My friend Elizabeth cooked an impromptu dinner for her boyfriend and I last night and it was a real winner. She did a soy and brown sugar marinated salmon, a wild rice medley, and paired it with a very nice Riesling. I threw in a frozen green bean/wax bean/carrot mix that I had and dinner turned out as you can see above. Even better, the marinade for the salmon (the real star on the plate) was incredibly simple.
When marinading, you can either put the salmon filets in a gallon bag or in the oven-safe glass dish you will eventually cook the fish in. That glass dish can then go straight into the oven and then straight into the dishwasher. SIMPLE.

You will need:
Salmon filets for the number you are serving
1/3 cup soy sauce (she used a gluten free soy sauce, but either kind will work)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water (for a stronger/thicker marinade leave this out or half the amount)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

Whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, vegetable oil, and garlic powder. Top each salmon filet with a touch of salt and a few good grinds of pepper. Pour the marinade over the salmon either in a gallon bag or in a oven-safe glass baking dish and toss to coat. Allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours in the fridge. During this time preheat your oven to 425 degrees. If you marinaded the fish in a gallon bag, transfer salmon and marinade to a glass baking dish and cook the salmon for 7 minutes on one side, carefully flip, and then six more minutes on the the second side. Baste with sauce when you flip the fish.

We did not have any problem with the marinade caramelizing too much in the pan and making a mess but if you are worried about this you could also cook the fish on foil or on the grill but this might change the flavor/cooking time.