Rosemary and Honey Salmon

Otherwise known as "that thing that I serve on our first date", this is the recipe I use when I'm trying extra-hard to impress somebody with my culinary prowess. As an added bonus, the honey compliments the sweetness of a gentle white wine well (stay away from the pinot grigio, though, it tastes like pee-pee anyways), if you're not overly heavy-handed on the garlic (so, if I have to doubly-impress a guy, I'll pick up a bottle of riesling and pretend I know something about wine). Recipe designed to feed 2 nicely (conveniently scaled for dates!).

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs of really beautiful thick salmon filet (depending on how hungry you are)

2-3 tbs chopped fresh rosemary (dry works well too, but you'll need 3 tbs)

2 tsp minced garlic (less if you have small filets or are worried about having offensive breath)

1 tbs salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbs butter (if you're going the low-fat route, reduce the butter to just enough that the fish doesn't stick to the pan)

honey (to taste)

De-scale the fish if it doesn't already come that way. Ghetto Basket does an okay job with de-scaling, Stop 'N Slop does it throughly, and Shaw's/Star is owned by the British, so they obviously leave the nasty scales on the whole way around. Whatever you do, make sure you double-check so there's nothing on the skin that's going to get stuck in your teeth. Rinse off the filet and cut it into two equal slabs. Pat slabs down to dry, and set them on a plate or cutting board. Divide the salt equally into 4 portions, and salt each side of both filet. Do the same with the pepper. Divide the garlic and rosemary into 4 equal portions, and apply 2 of the 4 portions to the non-skin side of the salmon filets. Heat up a nonstick pan big enough to fit the filets, and put in 1 tbs butter to melt. Once the butter is melted, place the filets in skin-side-down (seasoned side up) and fry for about a minute on medium heat. Remove the filets and put them on a plate while you melt the remaining butter in the pan. Then flip the filets over so that they are seasoned side down and put them in the pan. Take the rest of the garlic and rosemary, and apply to the skin side of the filets. Cook for 2 to 6 minutes on medium heat until the filets are "done" but still juicy (depending on how well-done you like your salmon and how thick it is). Flip them back over skin-side-down and turn the heat down to low. Pour honey all over the top of the hot salmon filets (probably about 2 tbsp to cover both, your taste will vary), then slap them immediately onto serving plates. Pour the honey-garlic-rosemary-butter pan drippings all over the filets in a tasteful manner and serve while hot. Goes well with pasta, a side serving of greens, and Kama Sutra Honeysuckle Edible Body Powder.