Making salmon like this…roasted and topped with a butter garlic sauce with brown sugar and lemon is a great way to prepare it. It’s sweet but not too sweet, with a hint of lemon and garlic, caramelized with the brown sugar. Oh my!

I made it for dinner the other night…inspired by a recipe I saw on Cafe Delites and made without a recipe but by simply combining the garlic, sugar and lemon in a sauté pan with melted butter and then pouring it over the salmon nestled in a container of aluminum foil and roasted. Since my daughter likes salmon more on the well done side, this was cooked a bit more than medium rare which is how I like it but…a mother does sacrifice for her children!

So used the cooking time as a guide. Not only will oven temperatures vary, but preferences for doneness do too. And the cooking time will vary according to the thickness of the filet. The best way to gauge doneness is to check periodically by pressing your finger on the thickest part of the salmon. If it has no give…it’s overdone. If it has a lot of give and it still looks translucent…it’s underdone. It it has a bit of give and just slightly translucent in the middle…it’s perfect.

Ingredients

1 pound (453.5 g) of wild sockeye salmon – or whatever you prefer

Half a stick (113.3 g) of butter

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Juice of 1/2 of a large lemon

1 garlic clove – finely chopped

1 teaspoon of dry herbs de province – or your favorite combo

Season with salt and pepper

Instruction

Place your filet of salmon, skin side down, (the skin will come off easily after cooking) on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to enclose the filet and season with salt and pepper.

In the meantime, add the butter to a skillet over medium heat. Melt and add the remaining ingredients. Stir until the garlic begins to color and the sugar is incorporated (about 30 – 60 seconds).

Pour over the salmon. Fold the foil and bake for about 20 minutes or until done.