Baked Salmon with Honey, Mustard, Ginger and Garlic

This is another variation on easy weeknight salmon, this time featuring a heady dose of fresh ginger. This is the sort of versatile recipe you could change up in many ways. Agave nectar or maple syrup could be used in place of honey. You could use a different mustard or a different oil, including adding a small hit of sesame oil. You could add soy sauce or a pinch of red chili pepper flakes. I'd recommend keeping each ingredient in the 1 to 3 tsp. range.

Fresh ginger can be a bit daunting. I've tried using my microplane to grate it, but I find that doesn't work well. As an alternative, you can use a fork to scrape fresh ginger root into gratings, a technique learned from Food & Wine's "mad genius" Justin Chapple (and in included in The Feed recently). I also sometimes just chop it. This way you end up with minced ginger rather than grated, but that usually works fine. As a last alternative, you can cheat and buy the jar of grated ginger (don't feel bad, I actually did that this time).

Baked Salmon with Honey-Mustard, Ginger and Garlic 
Adapted from an AllRecipes recipe by SVPORTER

3/4 lb. salmon fillet, skin removed
2 tsp. olive oil, plus olive oil spray
2 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. grated ginger
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Black sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Spray a small (9 x 9) baking dish with olive oil and set the salmon fillet in the dish. Combine olive oil, honey, mustard, ginger, salt and pepper in a small bowl and spread over the salmon. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the salmon flakes easily and is cooked through to desired doneness. Serve over a vegetable (I used wine-braised mustard greens) and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.