Apple Wrapped Salmon: Date Night Delight |Cooking With Amanda

This is your next date night dish. It looks impressive, but each component has only 4 ingredients (excluding salt and pepper, of course). We're also practicing compartmentalized cooking: we make our side dish while our main dish bakes.

This way, we don't look like a harried mess in the kitchen with one too many things going on. Instead, you look like a woman who knows her way around the kitchen. You need just one free hand for stirring the slaw while it cooks. The other hand can be for clinking wine glasses, after the romantic toast your honey is suddenly prompted to give when he smells the aroma of bacon and apples cooking together.

There's something magical about bacon and subtly sweet things, like apples or maple. Sure, they're great together at breakfast, but this apple wrapped salmon is one fancy dinner you don't want to skip. The hardest thing about this dinner might be choosing which wine to serve with it.

The baked salmon comes together so quick, you might miss it! First, brush the salmon with an easy mix of maple syrup and coarse-ground mustard. Next, wrap the salmon fillets in apple slices and place in the oven. Done! Now, we're free to make the slaw in a quick 20 minutes. It couldn't be simpler, and the flavors deliver a big wow.

My husband loves this dish so much that I've even scaled it up to serve for a crowd with great results. You know it's a big deal when I'm creating a recipe that works for more than two people!

Do you have a favorite date night dish? If not, I beg you, try this one just once. You'll be head over heels from the word go – I promise.

Need more date night inspiration? Don't miss Christina's Avocado Pasta recipe or Ricotta Gnocchi recipe, both perfect for two!

Apple Wrapped Salmon Recipe

Print This Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium fuji apple
2 salmon filets, 4 ounces, wild
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
4 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 medium head green cabbage, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray an 8"x8" dish with cooking spray. Use a mandolin to make thin apple slices. Stop before getting to the core—you only need about 1/4 of the apple.
Place the salmon fillets in the baking dish. Sprinkle them with salt.
In a small bowl, stir together the maple syrup and mustard. Brush the salmon fillets evenly with the mixture. Next, wrap apple slices around the salmon. Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the bacon to the pan.
Thinly slice the cabbage, and chop the remaining portion of the apple.
Let the bacon cook for about 5 minutes until crisp, and then remove it with a slotted spoon.
Return the pan to the heat and add the cabbage and apple. Cook while stirring frequently until it wilts down. It will take about 15 minutes, or until the salmon is done baking.
Before serving, stir in the vinegar and add the bacon pieces back in.
Serve the salmon fillets on a bed of the warm slaw.